Aaron Russo was an American entertainment businessman, film producer
and director, and political activist. He was best known for producing such movies
as Trading Places, Wise Guys, and The Rose. Later in life, he created various
Libertarian-leaning political documentaries including Mad as Hell and
America: Freedom to Fascism. After a six-year battle with bladder cancer,
Russo died on August 24, 2007. Early life
Aaron Russo was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1943. Growing up on Long
Island, Russo worked for his family's undergarment business.
Entertainment career In April 1968, Russo opened the
nightclub Kinetic Playground in Chicago, Illinois, originally naming it the
Electric Theater. He booked numerous prominent rock groups and musicians at
the club such as The Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Jefferson Airplane, Janis
Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Rotary Connection, and The Who.
In addition to owning his own nightclub, Russo managed several musical acts
throughout the 1970s including The Manhattan Transfer and Bette Midler.
Russo then moved into producing and directing movies, six of them receiving
Academy Award nominations and two receiving Golden Globe Award
nominations. His final film would be America: Freedom to Fascism, a political
documentary critical of the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve
System and warning about the coming of the New World Order.
Political career Russo became involved in political
issues in the early-1990s when he produced and starred in the documentary
entitled Mad As Hell in which he criticized the North American Free Trade
Agreement, the federal government's War on Drugs, the concept of a National
Identity Card, and government regulation of alternative medicine.
In 1998, Russo took his political interests to a higher level, running for
governor of the state of Nevada as a Republican. Placing second in the
Republican primary with 26% of the vote to candidate Kenny Guinn, Russo later
endorsed the Democratic nominee, then-Las Vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones,
who would eventually lose to Guinn. Russo was planning to run again for
Nevada governor in 2002 as either an independent or Libertarian but was
sidelined by cancer. In January 2004, Russo declared his
candidacy for the President of the United States initially as an
independent but then as a Libertarian. At the Libertarian National Convention
in May 2004, Russo received 258 votes to Michael Badnarik's 256 votes and Gary
Nolan's 246 votes, short of the majority required to receive the presidential
nomination. Russo would eventually lose the nomination on the convention's third
and final ballot to Badnarik by a vote of 423–344.
On February 14, 2004, Russo gave his full endorsement to the Free State
Project, saying in his letter, "I encourage my fellow Libertarians and all
freedom-loving Americans to consider joining the Free State Project."
In 2007, Russo created the political grassroots organization, Restore the
Republic, to fulfill the political ambitions laid out in his final movie
documentary, America: Freedom to Fascism. Regarding the organization,
Russo said his goal was to "try and get the word out to the public about what's
happening to America – and give them an opportunity to try to change things".
Death On August 24, 2007, Russo died at the
age of 64 of bladder cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles. References
External links America: Freedom to Fascism, Russo's
last film Appearances on C-SPAN
Virtual Memorial Aaron Russo at the Internet Movie
Database