SPELLING GETS TEARY TRIBUTE FROM `ANGELS'.

Byline: SANDRA BARRERA Staff Writer

Sunday night's Emmy telecast was stopped cold during the TV mogul Aaron Spelling tribute with a surprise appearance of the original ``Charlie's Angels,'' who spoke eloquently of the man who made them into stars.

Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith all paid teary tribute to Spelling.

``I'm sure he's smiling right now, knowing he brought us back together again as only he could,'' Smith said.

Other stars of Spelling-produced shows also turned out for the emotional remembrance, including ``7th Heaven'' star Stephen Collins, who called his boss ``a surprisingly gentle mogul'' and ``Melrose Place'' star Heather Locklear, who said he was a ``warm, generous and loving man.''

Added ``Dynasty's'' Joan Collins: ``He was a brilliantly creative, hands-on producer who cared about everything from scripts to skirts because he understood both really mattered.''

During the tribute, the camera cut to Spelling's daughter Tori and her husband, Dean McDermott, as well as his widow Candy and son, Randy, who dabbed tears from their eyes during the tribute.

Spelling died in June at age 83 after suffering a stroke.

After it was announced, the tribute for the prolific producer became controversial. Tori, who was part of the '90s ensemble hit ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' originally had no plans on attending over ongoing bad blood with her mother, Candy.

Before his death, Spelling forgave his daughter for mocking the family's ``eBay room'' -- a room in their home dedicated to the Internet auction site -- on her reality TV show ``So noTORIous.''

Candy Spelling has not. And so, neither mother nor daughter (or actor-son Randy) appeared on stage as part of the tribute to eulogize the prolific producer, whose hit series ranged from ``The Mod Squad'' and ``Charlie's Angels'' to ``Dynasty'' and ``Melrose Place.''

Spelling's other hits included ``S.W.A.T.,'' ``Starsky and Hutch,'' ``Fantasy Island,'' ``The Love Boat,'' ``Hart to Hart,'' ``T.J. Hooker,'' ``7th Heaven,'' ``Summerland'' and ``Charmed.'' He also produced more than 140 made-for-TV movies, including 1976's ``The Boy in the Plastic Bubble'' starring John Travolta and 1992's ``And the Band Played On'' about AIDS.

Born in 1923, Aaron Spelling was raised in Dallas as the son of immigrant Jews from Poland and Russia. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at Texas' Southern Methodist University, where he got involved in theater.

Spelling's theatrical pursuits brought him to Los Angeles in the '50s, where he acted in TV and film, including as a gas station attendant in a 1955 episode of ``I Love Lucy,'' a beggar in the 1955 MGM musical ``Kismet'' and an executive in a limo in a 1995 episode of ``Beverly Hills, 90210.'' He also wrote for television. But it was as a producer that Spelling made his mark, despite only two Emmy wins to his name.

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- color) The Emmys on Sunday night paid tribute to TV mogul Aaron Spelling, who died in June.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

(2 -- color) The original stars of the television series ``Charlie's Angels,'' from left, Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith, pay tribute Sunday to late producer Aaron Spelling.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press