Aaron Spelling

In 1953, he married Carolyn Jones, an Academy award winning actress. The couple separated in 1963 and was eventually divorced in 1964.

In 1968, he married Carole Jean Marer, Los Angeles Parks Commissioner. The couple was blessed with two children: a daughter Tori Spelling and a son Randall Gene Spelling.

He died on June 23, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, U.S. from complications following a stroke. He was interred in a mausoleum in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, Culver City, California.

He was born on April 22, 1923 in Dallas, Texas, U.S. to David Spelling, a tailor and his wife, Pearl Spelling, a homemaker. He had a sister, Rebecca, and three brothers, Samuel, Maxwell and Daniel.

He received his early education from the Forest Avenue High School, Dallas, Texas. He was traumatized due to bullying when he was eight and psychosomatically lost the use of his legs. After being confined to bed for a year, he recovered from it.

After high school, he joined the US Air Force and served as a war correspondent during World War II, from 1942 to 1945. Then he attended the Southern Methodist University and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1949.

In 1953, he moved to Hollywood, California to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He made his debut as an actor in a generally forgotten noir piece, ‘Vicki’ (1953). He also acted in some other movies such as ‘Three Young Texans’ (1954), ‘Alaska Seas’ (1954) and ‘Black Widow’ (1954).

In 1954, he started his writing career when he sold his first script to the Jane Wyman Theatre. He wrote for television series such as Dick Powell’s ‘Zane Grey Theatre’ (1956–61); ‘Playhouse 90’ (1956–61) and ‘Wagon Train’ (1957–65).

From 1956 to 1965, he worked at Four Star Studio Productions and gradually became a producer. Some of the early shows made under his productions were ‘The Lloyd Bridges Show’ (1962–63), ‘Burkes Law’ (1963) and ‘Honey West’ (1965).

After leaving Four Star, he worked almost exclusively on the business side of filmmaking and created Thomas-Spelling Productions, along with Danny Thomas. The company produced the successful ABC TV detective series ‘The Mod Squad’ (1968–73), which became an instant hit.

In 1972, he formed Spelling-Goldberg Productions in collaboration with Leonard Goldberg, a fellow producer, and served as its co-president. It produced hit television shows such as ‘The Rookies’ (1972), ‘Starsky and Hutch’ (1975) and ‘S.W.A.T.’ (1975).

The weekly hour-long drama ‘Family’ (1976) is considered by many as one of his best production works in television series. His other notable productions were ‘The Mod Squad’ (1968) and ‘Dynasty’ (1981).

Among his major works in made-for-television films include ‘Day One’ (1989) about the building of the atomic bomb, and ‘And the Band Played On’ (1993) about the discovery of AIDS.