Man Behind Love Boat, Wonder Woman Dies at 86

TV veteran Wilford "Bud" Baumes, who steered both The Love Boat and Wonder Woman onto American screens, has died at 86, People reports. Baumes died Sunday and grew up in Amberley Village, Ohio, before building a long career in Hollywood and a later one in interior design, according to an obituary from an Ohio funeral home. After partnering with producer Aaron Spelling, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Baumes adapted cruise director Jeraldine Saunders' memoir into ABC's The Love Boat, which ran for 10 seasons beginning in 1977 and became a staple of guest-star-packed network TV. That move came after reading a review of the "tacky three-dollar paperback" in which Saunders detailed "how easy it was to get laid aboard a cruise ship," Baumes later said.

Baumes also produced Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman series and Holocaust miniseries QB VII, alongside producer Douglas S. Cramer, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Other projects included Bridget Loves Bernie and Who Is the Black Dahlia? A Navy veteran with degrees from Denison and UC Berkeley, he later designed homes featured in Architectural Digest. His family suggests donations to the Alzheimer's Association. He is survived by an extended family of nieces, nephews, and their descendants.