28/08/06 - TV & showbiz section

Angels reunite to pay Emmy salute to Spelling

The Emmy awards audience was united in tribute to Aaron Spelling on Sunday - but his feuding wife and daughter kept their distance.

Actress Tori Spelling, 33, sat with her husband Dean McDermott, rows away from her mother Candy and brother Randy during the two and a half hour ceremony.

As a host of stars spoke kind words about the legendary producer, Tori sat clasping her husband's hand while Candy wept into a tissue.

The relationship between the actress and her mother reportedly took a turn for the worse after Aaron left his daughter just $800,000 out of his $500 million fortune.

Aaron - the mastermind behind a host of classic shows including Dynasty, Hart to Hart and Charlie's Angels - died on June 23 this year.

Tori fell out with her father last year but claims she made up with him on his deathbed.

It had been reported that Candy wanted to keep her daughter away from the Emmys and prevent footage of her Beverly Hiils 90210 days being used in the tribute.

But contrary to speculation both mother and daughter were present for the ceremony and shots of Tori as Donna Martin featured in the celebration of Aaron's life.

The original Charlie's Angels stars - Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd and Kate Jackson - also reunited on screen for the first time to bid a tearful farewell to the producer who made them famous.

"I'm sure he's looking down on us and smiling on us, knowing he brought us together as only he could," Smith said as Candy Spelling wiped away tears in the crowd.

Joan Collins (Dynasty), Stephen Collins (7th Heaven) and Heather Locklear (Melrose Place) also paid special tributes to the late producer. Locklear called him a "warm, generous and loving man" who was always deemed more famous than his shows.

"Aaron always called me his lucky penny, which was very sweet, slightly embarrassing and just a little bit confusing at times," she said.

"I wondered if Aaron was using the word penny as part of some brilliant but subtle negotiating strategy." Collins said: "Aaron understood what a star was. He helped to create many stars and, in my case, he reinvented one.

"Thank you Aaron, I owe you one baby." She added: "He was a brilliant, creative, hands-on producer who cared about everything from scripts to skirts, because he understood that both really mattered."