The creator of the ABC sitcom “The Love Boat” has died.
Deadline reported Jeraldine Saunders died Tuesday in her Glendale, California, home at age 96. The author, former model and horoscope columnist was suffering from complications from a December kidney stone surgery.
Before the hit series, Saunders wrote the book "The Love Boats" in 1974, which looked at her time as the first full-time female cruise director for Princess Cruises. The book first inspired the 1976 TV movie "The Love Boat," which then sprung the series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series ran from 1977 to 1986 and was produced by Aaron Spelling. When it ended, three hourlong specials aired in 1986, 1987 and 1990.
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Saunders was in the process of working on a Broadway musical based on the show when she died. THR reported she was also working on the second edition of her 1980 book, "Hypoglycemia: The Disease Your Doctor Won't Treat." Her only child, daughter Gail Maureen Phillips, died of the disease in 1970.
“Jeraldine was so happy this year and was basking in the limelight of the celebrations of her 40th Anniversary of her TV deal and the first episodes of ‘Love Boat,” he’r representative Edward Lozzi said in a statement. “Jeraldine was an active woman who never lost her interest in dancing, younger men, and the written word. She was a terrific, grateful, class act who refused to grow old. She was indomitable. She broke the gender barrier in a major industry, the cruise lines.”
Saunders leaves no immediate family. Memorial services are pending.
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