Mary-Ellis Bunim, 57; Co-Creator of Reality TV Genre

Television producer Mary-Ellis Bunim, who is widely regarded as the “mother of reality television,” died Thursday of cancer, according to her publicist. She was 57.

Bunim and her business partner, Jonathan Murray, successfully married the worlds of soap opera and television news reporting to create the MTV series “The Real World” in 1992. The show featured a colorful mix of young adults who lived, argued and loved under the constant gaze of video cameras in the house they shared. It spawned many popular TV programs featuring non-actors in ostensibly unscripted predicaments.

“Mary-Ellis opened our eyes and our hearts to a whole new way of looking at young adult programming,” said Judy McGrath, president of MTV Networks Group. “She will certainly be imitated forever, but no one will quite get the care and elegance of her touch with young people in their stories.”

Bunim and Murray’s television and film credits include “Road Rules,” “The Love Cruise,” “Making the Band,” “The Real Cancun” and “The Simple Life.” The last is the Fox network’s prime-time reality show that stars celebrity debutantes Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

Imitators included such programs as “Survivor,” “The Bachelor,” “Joe Millionaire,” “Celebrity Mole” and “America’s Next Top Model.” But the huge success of the most popular of those programs, however, eluded Bunim and Murray.

When asked about reality programming, Bunim often said she was “horrified” by some of her imitators, and that some reality TV producers failed to understand the basic engine of such programming: clashing personalities.

“Producers don’t necessarily recognize why they put people together,” Bunim said in a Mediaweek interview last year. “They don’t understand it’s for the purpose of conflict.”

Before working with Murray, Bunim oversaw more than 2,500 hours of daytime television as executive producer of “Search for Tomorrow,” “As the World Turns,” “Santa Barbara” and “Loving.”

Before teaming up with Bunim, Murray worked in local television news in Atlanta, Cleveland and Rochester, N.Y.

Bunim, who was born in Northampton, Mass., is survived by her daughter, Juliana.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.

Memorial donations may be made to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, 1101 17th St., NW, Suite 1300, Washington, D.C., 20036.