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American film producer
Renee Valente Smidt
(July 15, 1927 ? February 20, 2016) was an American film and television producer, as well as casting executive. Valente produced more than 70 films and television movies, including
A Storm in Summer
, which earned her a
Daytime Emmy Award
in 2001.
[1]
She also received an
Emmy
nomination 1979 as the producer of the
Blind Ambition
, a
television miniseries
which starred
Martin Sheen
and
Rip Torn
.
[1]
Valente became the first female President of the
Producers Guild of America
(PGA) during the 1980s.
[1]
She also served as the female Vice President of
Screen Gems
& Columbia Pictures Television, the first woman to hold that position.
[1]
Valente, who was from New York, began her career as a part-time secretary for producer
David Susskind
at his
production company
, Talent Associates.
[1]
She was eventually promoted to Talent's head of production. Valente departed Talent Associates to become a producer at
NASA
, where she produced a series of specials for the space agency.
[1]
She then joined Screen Gem as the executive of talent and casting.
[1]
Her credits as a television casting executive during the 1970s and 1980s included
Circle of Fear
,
The Partridge Family
and
Police Woman
.
[1]
In 1985, the
Casting Society of America
(CSA) honored Valente at the first annual
Artios Awards
.
[1]
She also received a
Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award
from
Women in Film
in 1987.
Renee Valente died at her home in
Studio City, California
, on February 20, 2016, at the age of 88. Her husband, art director
Burr Smidt
, died in 2000 after 40 years together.
[1]
Valente and Smidt had originally met on the set of the 1961 television film,
The Power and the Glory
, which starred
Laurence Olivier
,
Julie Harris
and
George C. Scott
.
[1]
References
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