LORETTA YOUNG DROPS OUT OF ‘DARK MANSIONS’ SERIAL

Loretta Young, who had been set to return to series TV next season after an absence of 24 years, dropped out of the show Thursday. Her agent and producer, Aaron Spelling, cited “creative differences.”

Young, 72, had been scheduled to report Thursday for a get-acquainted meeting with other cast members signed for “Dark Mansions,” a Gothic serial that ABC plans to introduce next season.

Instead, her agent, Norman Brokaw of the William Morris agency, released a statement saying the Academy Award-winning actress “will not be rendering her services because of creative differences over the story.”

Spelling also released a statement saying, “It’s true we had creative differences over the way her character was developing.”

Young, who hosted her own dramatic anthology series on NBC from 1953 to 1961, was to have played the matriarch of a mysterious family in “Dark Mansions.” Other cast members include Dan O’Herlihy, Michael York, Linda Purl, Lois Chiles, Melissa Sue Anderson and Raymond St. Jacques.