Aaron ‘Red’ Doff; Talent Agent, Publicist and Movie Producer

Aaron “Red” Doff, Hollywood publicist, talent agent and producer whose clients included Mickey Rooney, Frankie Laine, Liberace and Doris Day, has died. He was 76.

Doff died Friday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder at the Veterans Administration Nursing Home in Los Angeles, said his daughter, Melody Doff Legget.

Rooney became Doff’s longest-term client after the two joined forces in 1952. In addition to serving as Rooney’s manager, Doff produced the film “Andy Hardy Comes Home,” which returned one of Rooney’s must durable characters to movie theaters.

Doff also produced such motion pictures as “Baby Face Nelson,” “The Big Operator,” “Platinum High School,” “The Private Lives of Adam and Eve” and “Everything’s Ducky.”

In 1963, he produced the first Composers and Lyricists Guild concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

Doff was a founder and former president of the Conference of Personal Managers.

Born in Chicago, he moved to California with his family and graduated from Los Angeles High School. He was a child actor on radio, including a regular role on the children’s program “Uncle Whoa Bill.”

Doff served in the Army in Germany during World War II, rising to the rank of captain and earning Purple Heart and Bronze Star decorations.

His other publicity clients included Ray Anthony, Margaret Whiting, Billy Eckstein, the Ames Brothers and Les Paul and Mary Ford. Doff began working as a personal manager when he signed Jerry Colonna.

In addition to his daughter Melody, Doff is survived by four other children, Casey Travers, Charles Doff, Andrea Adams and Larry Pike; a brother, Jerry Doff, and two grandchildren. His wife, the former Marilyn Morrison, died in 1995.

Funeral Mass is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday at Good Shepherd Church in Beverly Hills with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.