It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of Aaron Spelling. No matter if you love him and his shows or hate them you have to admit that he is probably the most successful producer in Hollywood history. He was originally from Texas. In his autobiography, A Prime Time Life, he answers how a Jewish man can come from Texas. He said that when one of his ancestors came to America he only knew three words in English. They were New York and cowboy. Immigration didn’t want to have too many Jewish in one area. So since he knew the word cowboy he was sent to Texas. The Spelling family stayed there till Aaron wanted to go into showbiz. He started out as an actor. I have seen him on some old movies and he played a hillbilly once on an early episode of I Love Lucy. By this time he had started writing TV shows. One of his first was Burke’s Law. It starred Gene Berry as a millionaire policeman who drove his limo to the scene of the crime. Nothing like working undercover. Its ratings were ok but later, Burke became a secret agent to boost ratings. It didn’t help. The show was canceled anyway. Later in the 1990’s Spelling revived the show with Mr. Berry playing an older and wiser Burke who was helped by his son. The show was enjoyable and fun to watch with guest stars from showbiz veterans but it still got canceled. Mr. Spelling got his start writing and producing TV shows for Dick Powell. Powell was the first actor to play Burke in the pilot that aired on Four Star Theater. When Dick Powell died, Spelling formed a partnership with Danny Thomas to produce more shows. Later he formed a partnership with Leonard Goldberg. With both men he produced one hit show after another. Shows like The Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, Family,Hotell, Daniel Boone, The Rookies, Charlie's Angels, Love Boat, Vega$, Hart to Hart, Dynasty, The Colbys, T.J. Hooker, Twin Peaks, Nightingales, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Kindred:The Embraced, and 7th Heaven. Another show that wasn’t a hit but my wife liked it was Summerland starring Lori Loughlin. He was very successful in the 1970’s with ABC. Some even said that ABC didn’t stand for the American Broadcasting Company. It stood for Aaron’s Broadcasting Company. Almost every hit show they had was produced by him. Many people say that Mr. Spelling brought sex into television. Especially with Charlie’s Angels, Nightingales and Love Boat. While this may be true I think he has gotten a bit of a bum rap on that. After all he wasn’t the first Hollywood producer to find out that sex sells. I am not really in favor of this but you can’t stop it either. Just teach boys to respect women and girls to respect men. That is the best I know that can be done.
Recently Mr. Spelling has made headlines in the tabloids with a lawsuit from his nurse and a family feud with his daughter Tori. I don’t know what happened to the lawsuit but I heard that Tori and her Dad made up. Just in time too. I don’t think anyone would want there to be bad blood between them and their parent when they died. You don’t want the last words they heard from you to be angry ones.
Mr. Spelling entertained millions with movies and Television. Did I forget to tell you that one of Michael Keaton’s first starring roles, Mr. Mom, was produced by Spelling/Goldberg productions? We may never see a producer as successful as he was again. He will be missed.
The above photo I got from this e-bay auction.
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