Aaron Spelling Has Died

[musicradio77]

This is sad news for "Charmed" fans. Over the weekend, I've heard the news that Aaron Spelling, the executive producer for so many hit TV shows has died. He was 83 years old. I found this article from the Daily News:

TV icon Spelling dead at 83

BY MICHELLE CARUSO
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF

LOS ANGELES - Legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling, who created trend-setting hits including "The Mod Squad," "Charlie's Angels," "Dynasty" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" during his 50-year-long career, died yesterday. He was 83.

The fabulously wealthy entertainment mogul, father of actress Tori Spelling, died at home, said his publicist, Kevin Sasaki. Spelling had battled ill health since 2001, when he developed oral cancer, the result of his longtime pipe smoking. He suffered a stroke Sunday at his Beverly Hills home, a sprawling, 123-room mansion known as The Manor that he built on a 6-acre estate once owned by entertainer Bing Crosby.

Word of his death sent sadness through Tinseltown, where he had helped shape the careers of top-shelf starlets like Heather Locklear, who starred in multiple Spelling hits including "Dynasty," "T.J. Hooker" and "Melrose Place," and Farrah Fawcett, whose fluffy, winged coiffure on "Charlie's Angels" sparked a nationwide fad.

Spelling, born in Dallas, came to Hollywood in 1953. Working first as an actor, he took small parts on TV shows, including "I Love Lucy."

But he soon gravitated toward his first love - writing - and penned episodes for Dick Powell's "Zane Grey Theater," "Playhouse 90," "Wagon Train" and "The Jane Wyman Theater."

During this time, he wed his first wife, actress Carolyn Jones, who later played Morticia on "The Addams Family." They divorced in 1965.

His second marriage, to Candy, would last 38 years. The couple had two children: Tori, who rose to fame playing Donna on her father's wildly popular "Beverly Hills, 90210" and now has a reality show on VH1, and Randy, who appeared on "90210" and "Malibu Shores."

Spelling's star began to rise when he paired with entertainer Danny Thomas in the 1960s to produce "The Danny Thomas Show," "The Guns of Will Sonnet" and the groundbreaking "The Mod Squad," which won the hearts of restless young viewers with its offbeat multiracial cop trio played by Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams 3rd and Michael Cole.

"I was very proud of that show. It's the first time an African-American guy kissed a white girl [on network television]," Spelling once said. His color barrier-breaking stories won him six NAACP Image Awards during his career.

But it was Spelling's second pairing, with producer Leonard Goldberg from 1972 to 1977, that sent him to TV's stratosphere with top-rated shows "The Rookies," "Starsky & Hutch," "Hart to Hart" and "Charlie's Angels," all of which tapped youth-friendly themes.

By the 1980s, Spelling, who founded Spelling Entertainment and Spelling Television, was on his own and king of the airwaves, with nine series airing on ABC in that decade: "Charlie's Angels," "Family," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "Dynasty," "Hotel," "Finder of Lost Loves," "The Colbys" and "Nightingales."

The network was jokingly called "Aaron's Broadcasting Company."

Spelling's soaring success continued in the '90s and this decade, with the glitz-heavy "90210," "Melrose Place" and "Models Inc.," the witchcraft-themed "Charmed" and the Christian family-friendly "7th Heaven."

RIP - Aaron Spelling

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...Aaron Spelling's talents was "discovered" by Dick Powell in 1956, and was eventually given an exclusive contract to write and produce for Powell's Four Star Television company. By the time Powell had died of cancer in 1963, Aaron was just about running the company, having his greatest success with "BURKE'S LAW". However, after the disappointment of "HONEY WEST" and "THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS SHOW" (and a change of management), Spelling left Four Star in 1966 to begin his partnership with Danny Thomas
{and by the way, it was "THE GUNS OF WILL SONNETT". "THE DANNY THOMAS HOUR" was an unsuccessful anthology format tailored for Danny in the 1967-'68 season}.

Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg entered into their production partnership about 1970, when they began producing several of ABC's 90 minute "MOVIE OF THE WEEK" features (around the time Spelling and Danny Thomas amicably dissolved their professional relationship). Their last collaboration was "T.J. HOOKER", which Goldberg produced an additional season for CBS' late-night schedule in 1985-'86.

1984 was a pivotal year for Spelling, as his "golden touch" started to fade;
"GLITTER"- a highly anticipated series in the tradition of "THE LOVE BOAT" and "HOTEL"- was cancelled after three weeks on the air (the remaining episodes were burned off on ABC's late night schedule in December 1985), and "FINDER OF LOST LOVES" didn't make it to a second season. "MACGRUDER AND LOUD", a mid-season replacement about secretly married cops on the 'LSPD' force, went on ABC in January of 1985, and was outdistanced by the show that followed it on Tuesdays..."MOONLIGHTING". That's what the network executives seemed to want, and were gravely disappointed when all Aaron seemed to be able to come up the following season were "SUNSET BEAT" and that "DYNASTY" spinoff, "THE COLBYS"- neither of which made much of an impact, and "THE LOVE BOAT" went off at the end of the 1985-'86 season. When the last of Spelling's ABC series, "DYNASTY", was cancelled in 1989, the network had dissolved their exclusive agreement for Spelling to produce shows for them. Aaron then discovered that the pilots he had produced for CBS weren't wanted, either, as was his proposed revival of "CHARLIE'S ANGELS" for the Fox network.
Personally and professionally, he went into a "deep funk", feeling he was "washed up" in the industry.....

....that is, until Fox bought "BEVERLY HILLS 90210" in 1990....and Spelling's "empire" towered again, and continued to be a powerful force in TV until his death. "7th HEAVEN", the last series his organization produced, will continue on the CW network this fall---without Spelling's guidance.

[Superstar]

R.I.P

[EmoJoe]