Through his production company Spelling Television, Spelling holds the record as the most prolific television producer in US television history, with 218 producer and executive producer credits.[2][3]Forbes ranked him the 11th-highest-earning deceased celebrity in 2009.[4]
Early life
Spelling was born in Dallas, Texas. He was the son of Pearl (née Wald) and David Spelling, Russian Jewish immigrants.[5] His father worked as a tailor and changed his surname from Sperling (German for Sparrow) to Spelling after immigrating to the United States.[6] His mother had previously been married to Sam Seltzer, who was murdered in 1911, the year before she married Spelling's father.[7] Spelling was the youngest of five children. He had two older brothers, Sam (1916–2001) and Daniel Spelling (1921–2009),[8] and two older half-siblings, Max (circa 1909–?) and Becky Seltzer Giller (1910–1978).[9][10]
At the age of eight, Spelling psychosomatically lost the use of his legs due to trauma caused by constant anti-semitic bullying from his schoolmates, and was confined to bed for a year. He made a full recovery.[11]
Spelling made his first appearance as an actor in a film as Harry Williams in Vicki, directed by Harry Horner, in 1953. That same year, he appeared in the TV series I Led Three Lives and Dragnet (six episodes, 1953–55).[13] Spelling appeared in episode 112 of I Love Lucy ("Tennessee Bound", season 4, 1955);[14][15][16] in Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Breakdown", 1955);[13] and as Weed Pindle in Gunsmoke's season one, episode 35, "The Guitar" (1956). He continued to appear in films and TV (often uncredited) over 25 times by 1957, appearing briefly as an actor in 1963, 1995, and 1998 (all uncredited.)[17]
He guest-starred in 1954 as a dogcatcher in the premiere episode of the CBS situation comedy, Willy, starring June Havoc as a young lawyer in New Hampshire, who later relocates to New York City to represent a vaudeville troupe.[18]
Spelling sold his first script "Twenty Dollar Bride" to The Jane Wyman Show in 1956. He gained experience as a producer and additional credits as a script writer working for Four Star Television on the series Zane Grey Theater, which aired between 1956 and 1961. Of the 149 episodes in that series, he wrote 20 of the teleplays and produced many others. Spelling produced Burke's Law while at Four Star.[19] The show was the first success for Spelling and pioneered the multiple guest star format, later seen on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.[20] In 1965, he quit Four Star to set up his own production company with a two-year agreement with United Artists Television to produce television shows and movies.[21]
Thomas-Spelling Productions was a televisionproduction company formed by comedian Danny Thomas and producer Aaron Spelling on April 15, 1966, as a partnership with 24 properties. Thomas continued his existing partnership, T&L Productions, with Sheldon Leonard.[22] The company adapted its name by July 18, 1966, when it announced the financial involvement of ABC with its first show, Range (later Rango), a half-hour comedy western starring Tim Conway[23][24] and its rented space on Desilu Productions' Gower lot. ABC also picked up another show for a pilot, just in an outline treatment, in The Guns of Will Sonnett.[23] Thomas-Spelling Productions' active operations ended with the last season of The Mod Squad in 1972. Spelling formed a new partnership with Leonard Goldberg, Spelling-Goldberg Productions.
Spelling married actress Carolyn Jones in 1953, when he was 30 and she was 23. They divorced in 1964.[29] He briefly dated actress Jill Haworth when he was 42 and she was 19.[30] Spelling married the former Candy Marer in 1968 when he was 45 and she was 23. The couple had daughter Tori in 1973 and son Randy in 1978.[31]
In 1988, Spelling bought the 6-acre (2.4 ha) property of Bing Crosby's former Los Angeles mansion.[32] He demolished the property and built a 123-room home on the lot in 1991. Known as "The Manor", it has 56,500 square feet (5,250 m2) of floor space and as of 2006 was the largest single-family home in Los Angeles.[33][34] Spelling's widow Candy listed the home for sale in 2008 for $150 million.[34] Heiress Petra Ecclestone ultimately purchased the property for $85 million in 2011 through a brokered agreement that was developed by Brandon Davis, the brother of Jason Davis and grandson of wealthy industrialist Marvin Davis.[35][36][37]
In 1992, Candy, Spelling's second wife, commissioned pinball manufacturer Data East to produce a personalized table as a gift to Spelling. The game, a modified version of Data East's Lethal Weapon 3 table, has since appeared publicly at collector's expos.[38]
On June 23, 2006, Spelling died at The Manor, his estate in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, from complications of a stroke he suffered five days prior.[41][42] He also suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[43] A private funeral was held several days later, and Spelling was entombed in a mausoleum in Culver City's Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
7th Heaven's May 13, 2007, episode, the last before the series finale, was dedicated to Spelling.[44] When 7th Heaven ended its run, it was touted by the network as being Spelling's longest-running series and the longest-running "family drama" in American television history.[45]
Filmography
Spelling was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
^Idato, Michael (September 19, 2005). "The Great Escape". The Sydney Morning Herald. SMH.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
^ abBroadcasting, Dec 12, 1966, pg. 103 "Aaron Spelling -partner with Danny Thomas in Thomas/Spelling Productions and president, Aaron Spelling Productions."
^Chung, Juliet; Jackson, Candace (June 14, 2011). "L.A. Mansion for U.K. Heiress". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2011.
