Jeraldine Saunders

Geraldine Loretta Saunders (September 3, 1923 – February 26, 2019)^[1] known under pen name Jeraldine Saunders was an American writer, TV creator/screenwriter and lecturer.

Jeraldine Saunders
Born	Geraldine Loretta Glynn (1923-09-03)September 3, 1923 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	February 26, 2019(2019-02-26) (aged 95)
Occupations	Television creator/writer author lecturer cruise director model
Years active	1974–2019
Spouses	Russell Phillips ​ ​ (m. 1942; div. 1950)​ Sydney Omarr ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1966)​ Arthur Andrews ​ ​ (m. 1972; died 2003)​
Children	Gail Maureen Phillips (b. 1943, d. 1970)

Biography

Saunders was best known as the creator^[2] of TV series The Love Boat, an ABC Television series and its associated made-for-TV films portraying the humorous and romantic adventures of various itinerant passengers. Saunders had worked as a model, an astrologer, an numerologist and palm reader.^[3]

The program was based on her 1974 book, The Love Boats,^[4][5] her anecdotal account of her time employed as the first full-time female cruise director. From 2003 until her death Saunders was the author of Omarr's Astrological Forecast.^[6] The nationally syndicated horoscope column, read by hundreds of thousands worldwide, was originally created by Sydney Omarr, to whom she had been briefly married in 1966.^[3]

In 1968 Saunders discovered her fiancé, the actor Albert Dekker, dead in his Hollywood home. The death was ruled to be accidental.^[7]

References

1. Sobel, Barbara (February 26, 2019). "Jeraldine Saunders Creator and Author of 'The Love Boat' Dies at 96". Guardian Liberty Voice.
2. "Jeraldine Saunders". IMDb. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
3. Neil Genzlinger (February 26, 2019). "Jeraldine Saunders, Whose Book Begat 'The Love Boat,' Dies at 95". The New York Times. p. A23. Retrieved September 13, 2020. But her biggest claim to fame was her book "The Love Boats," which inspired three television movies: "The Love Boat" in 1976 and "The Love Boat II" and "The New Love Boat," both in early 1977. That fall, the concept was turned into an Aaron Spelling series, which ran for 250 episodes, making it one of the most successful shows of the period.
4. Saunders, Jeraldine (1974). The Love Boats. Pinnacle Books. ISBN 978-0-523-00698-7.
5. Saunders, Jeraldine (1998). Love Boats: Above and Below Decks (2nd ed., rev. and expanded ed.). Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-1-56718-607-9.
6. "Omarr's daily astrological forecast". Tribune Content Agency. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 21, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
7. Frasier, David K. (September 11, 2015). Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth Century Cases. McFarland. ISBN 9781476608075.