Although he never went beyond secondary school, Aaron Russo became a millionaire in show business. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943, he worked in his family's business and later managed the Chicago nightclub, the Kinetic Playground, from 1968 to 1973 (with a long hiatus due to a fire). There he booked The Doors, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and other popular bands of the day. For a while, Russo managed the careers of The Manhattan Transfer and Bette Midler. In 1979, he produced "The Rose" which gave Midler her first starring role. After producing a string of films and directing "Rude Awakening." Russo turned to blending politics with entertainment. He tried to sell a pilot for a television show called "Aaron Russo's Mad As Hell" in the early 1990s. When he was unsuccessful in selling the program to networks, he began selling the pilot as a video in 1996. In 1994 he tried to start a political party called the Constitution Party. In 1998, however, he ran for the Republican party nomination for governor of the state of Nevada but lost. In 2004, he ran for the Libertarian party's nomination for president, losing 423 to 344 on the third ballot.He nevertheless offered to produce the winning candidate's campaign ads. His final film was a documentary that he produced, wrote and directed, entitled "America: Freedom to Fascism" (2006). He died from bladder cancer in Los Angeles, California in 2007.
