Merv Adelson was a producer and co-founder of the production company Lorimar, along with developer Irwin Molasky and producer Lee Rich. Together, they were behind some of the biggest television hits of the 1970s and ’80s, gaining their first success with The Waltons in 1972. Adelson was also married to journalist Barbara Walters twice, first from 1981-’84 and again from 1986-’92.
Lorimar produced numerous hit shows, including Dallas, Eight is Enough, Falcon Crest, Alf, Perfect Strangers, Love Connection, Full House and Knots Landing. At first, however, the company was focused on television movies, often made for the ABC Movie of the Week. One made-for-TV-movie was CBS’s The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s novel The Homecoming. It aired during the 1971 holiday season, was a success, and became the pilot episode for The Waltons, which premiered the following year.
Founded in 1969 and named after a combination of the first names of Adelson’s wife, Lori, and Rich’s wife, Mary, Lorimar expanded into film production by the late ’70s and was behind the movies Being There and An Officer and a Gentleman, among others.
During the 1980s the company purchased the bankrupt Allied Artists Pictures Corporation and later merged with the syndication firm Telepictures, becoming Lorimar-Telepictures. They later purchased the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot in Culver City from Ted Turner, and in 1989 the whole company was sold to Warner Bros., where Adelson served as the vice chairman until 1991.
Merv Adelson was a producer and co-founder of the production company Lorimar, along with developer Irwin Molasky and producer Lee Rich. Together, they were behind some of the biggest television hits of the 1970s and ’80s, gaining their first success with The Waltons in 1972. Adelson was also married to journalist Barbara Walters twice, first from 1981-’84 and again from 1986-’92.
Lorimar produced numerous hit shows, including Dallas, Eight is Enough, Falcon Crest, Alf, Perfect Strangers, Love Connection, Full House and Knots Landing. At first, however, the company was focused on television movies, often made for the ABC Movie of the Week. One made-for-TV-movie was CBS’s The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s novel The Homecoming. It aired during the 1971 holiday season, was a success, and became the pilot episode for The Waltons, which premiered the following year.
Founded in 1969 and named after a combination of the first names of Adelson’s wife, Lori, and Rich’s wife, Mary, Lorimar expanded into film production by the late ’70s and was behind the movies Being There and An Officer and a Gentleman, among others.
During the 1980s the company purchased the bankrupt Allied Artists Pictures Corporation and later merged with the syndication firm Telepictures, becoming Lorimar-Telepictures. They later purchased the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot in Culver City from Ted Turner, and in 1989 the whole company was sold to Warner Bros., where Adelson served as the vice chairman until 1991.
Adelson got his start in business during his twenties when, in 1951, he opened a 24-hour grocery store in Las Vegas. His venture led to more real estate projects, including a residential development on the edge of the Desert Inn Golf Course and the 6,000-acre La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.
He also helped to launch the American Film Market international film rights trade show, which was first based at La Costa before moving to Los Angeles. He was lauded as a pioneer in the use of foreign pre-sales to help finance domestic film production.
Adelson died September 9, 2015. He was 85.
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