Bill Brademan, Former President of Walt Disney Television, Dies at 87

The Emmy-winning producer also worked at ABC, Fox, Universal and Quinn Martin Productions during his career.

Bill Brademan, an Emmy-winning producer who served as president of Walt Disney Television in the 1980s, died March 21 at his home in Sherman Oaks, his daughter, Hillary Del Regno, announced. He was 87.

Brademan also was a development vice president at ABC and 20th Century Fox Television; an executive vp creative affairs at Quinn Martin Productions; and a vice president at MCA. He supervised production on more than 75 network series, telefilms and miniseries.

After his stint at Disney, Brademan launched Brademan/Self Productions with Edwin Self. The company produced such TV movies as 1987's Broken Vows, starring Tommy Lee Jones, and 1990's The Incident, starring Walter Matthau, for which Brademan won his Emmy for outstanding comedy/drama special.

Brademan's other producing credits included the 1983 telefilm September Gun with Robert Preston and Patty Duke and Help Wanted: Male, a 1982 Suzanne Pleshette starrer that at the time was the highest-rated Saturday movie of the week in CBS history.

A native of Minneapolis, Brademan served as an aerial gunner during the Korean War, flying 23 combat missions before his honorable discharge. He broke into the movie business when he landed a job in the mailroom at Columbia Pictures while on vacation in Los Angeles.

Brademan went on to serve as a casting director for Columbia and NBC before becoming vp talent at Universal.

In addition to his daughter and her husband Hugh, survivors include his brother Wayne, sister-in-law Carla and their four children.

Brademan was married for 49 years to Carlotta Smith until her death in 2014. His eldest daughter Sabrina died of complications from Type I diabetes in 2000.

His family asks that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.