Sometimes the guys behind the scenes become bigger stars than most of them on screen. That was the case with Jack Valenti. The legendary film lobbyist and former White House aide died on Wednesday at the age of 85.

The 85-year-old Valenti, who died Thursday of complications from a stroke in March, led the movie industry out of the prudishness of old Hollywood and into an age of freer expression with the creation of the film rating system that has endured nearly 40 years.

The former White House aide went from politics to show business, overseeing the Motion Picture Association of America with eloquence, bullheadedness and flair.

Valenti was a passionate envoy, deflecting criticism of Hollywood with wit and humility, fostering its interests overseas and fiercely combating threats to the industry such as film piracy.

“In a very real sense, he was the ultimate leading man,” said Dan Glickman, Valenti’s successor as head of the MPAA.

A former aide to Lyndon Johnson who was in the motorcade the day President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Valenti went from Beltway insider to Hollywood baron when he took over the MPAA in 1966.

Valenti created the movie ratings system (G, PG, PG-13, R) that is still in place today.