TV producer with the Midas touch

Aaron Spelling became the ultimate television powerhouse in the 1970s and remained a huge name up until his death on 23 June, 2006 aged 83.

Never before had so many television producer’s programmes become cultural phenomenons in their own right and to this day are still considered benchmarks of TV drama.

Mr Spelling churned out hit after hit and was the forerunner of escapist television. Of the 200 projects he worked on in his lifetime, nearly 70 were weekly television series.

Even up to his death, he remained a popular player in the industry and as new giants move in to hold a television monopoly, few can rival the consistently broad scope of Mr Spelling’s creations.

Aaron Spelling was born 22 April 1923, in Dallas , Texas , USA . He served with the United States Army Air Forces before attending Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

In 1953, he married actress Carolyn Jones and moved to California . He originally pursued writing, and a year later sold his first script to the Jane Wyman Theater .

He wrote for various other television programmes before trying his hand at acting, in which he featured in 22 programmes .

In the 1950s, he joined Dick Powell’s company, Four Star Productions. When mr Powell died, he joined Danny Thomas in creating a joint production company.

Writing for 14 programmes between the years of 1957 and 1974, he also teamed with Shelley Hull, an associate producer who had worked with Mr Spelling on shows ‘The Mob Squad’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels.’

Mr Spelling and his wife divorced in 1965 and he married again three years later to Carol Jean Marer. They had two children who both became teenage actors.

His house, appropriately entitled ‘The Manor’ is only slightly smaller than the White House – has 123 rooms and occupies an acre of space encompassed in six acres of land.

1972 saw the creation of Aaron Spelling Productions, which went public in 1986 as Spelling Entertainment.

The company produced some of America ’s best-known programmes including Starsky and Hutch, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed and 7th Heaven.

His success was so great that in the 1970s, with so many of his shows airing on the ABC channel, people in the industry joked that the network’s name stood for Aaron’s Broadcasting Company.

He smoked all his life and was diagnosed with having oral cancer in 2001. On 18 June, 2006, Mr Spelling had a stroke and died five days later.