Producer Aaron Spelling dies at 83

LOS ANGELES – Aaron Spelling, a onetime movie bit player who created a massive number of hit series, from the vintage “Charlie’s Angels” and “Dynasty” to “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place,” died Friday, his publicist said. He was 83.

Spelling died at his home in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke on June 18, according to publicist Kevin Sasaki.

Spelling’s other hit series included “Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Burke’s Law,” “The Mod Squad,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “T.J. Hooker,” “Matt Houston,” “Hart to Hart” and “Hotel.”

He also produced more than 140 television movies.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Spelling provided series and movies exclusively for ABC and is credited for the network’s rise to major status. Jokesters referred to it as “The Aaron Broadcasting Company.”

Success was not without its thorns. TV critics denounced Spelling for fostering fluff and nighttime soap operas. He called his shows “mind candy”; critics referred to them as “mindless candy.”

“The knocks by the critics bother you,” he admitted in a 1986 interview.

He liked to cite some of his more creditable achievements, like “Family” (1976-80), a drama about a middle-class family. Among his prestige films for TV: “Day One” (1988), about an atomic blast in middle America, and “And the Band Played On” (1992), based on Randy Shilts’ book about the AIDS crisis.

Spelling arrived in Hollywood virtually penniless in the early 1950s. By the 1980s, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $300 million. He enjoyed his status, working in a Hollywood office larger than those of golden-era moguls. He gifted his second wife, Candy, with a 40-carat diamond ring.

The Spellings’ most publicized extravagance was their 56,500-square-foot French chateau in Holmby Hills. The couple bought the former Bing Crosby estate for $10 million. It was leveled, along with two other houses. Construction cost was estimated at $12 million.

Spelling and his second wife, Candy, had two children, Tori (for Victoria), who became a star on the two Fox serials, and Randy, who appeared in the short-lived “Malibu Shores.”