Love Boat Writer-Producer Henry Colman Dies

Henry Colman, a veteran TV producer whose credits included The Love Boat, The Beverly Hillbillies and the original Hawaii Five-O, died last week at his home in Los Angeles, according to the Archive of American Television. He was 89.

Born in Altoona, Penn., Colman served in World War II as a B-29 navigator, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He later graduated from Columbia University with a degree in theater arts. Colman got his start in the television industry in New York before relocating to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and working as an associate producer on Dr. Kildare and Peyton Place.

In the 1960s, Colman was an executive producer with CBS Television, where he oversaw shows like Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Hawaii Five-O. He later went on to serve as an executive at Paramount Studios and Screen Gems.

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From the 1970s to the 1990s, Colman produced a number of TV movies, including two Love Boat films. After helping to develop the Love Boat series, which debuted in 1977, Colman was a producer of the show for its first seven seasons, and also wrote full or partial scripts for 12 of its episodes. In 1984, he began producing the ABC drama series Hotel.

In his later life, Colman also completed more than 33 interviews for the Archive of American Television's oral history collection. "I'd like to be remembered as being generous and kind and with enough talent that I got the job done, and did it well," he told the Archive.

He is survived by his wife, Donna Brainard; two children, Cathy and Richard; and a sister, Hedy Roche, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Watch part of a 2001 interview Colman did with the Archive about his life and career below: