and pop cultural benchmarks: "Beverly Hills 90210," "Charlie's Angels,"
"Dynasty," "The Mod Squad," "Starsky & Hutch," "The Love Boat,"
"Fantasy Island," "Melrose Place," "T. J. Hooker" and "Twin Peaks." All were all
products of the Spelling assembly line, suggesting his skill at riding prime
time updrafts across four decades of network programming. The Dallas native
worked his way up through the ranks on '50s movie and TV sets while married to
actress Carolyn Jones (TV's original Morticia on "The Addams Family"), divorcing
in 1965. He subsequently married Carol Jean "Candy" Maerer, and had daughter
Victoria (Tori) and son Randall (Randy), both of whom would become actors.
Spelling's splashy, big budget production style was mirrored off the lot, with
Spelling and wife Candy famously upsetting Beverly Hills neighbors with the
scale and indulgence of the 55,000 square foot mansion they built in the late
1980s.
(Image: Paul Smith/Featureflash/Retna Ltd.)
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