Luke Perry Dies: ‘Riverdale’, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Star Was 52
Riverdale and Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry died today after suffering a massive stroke last week. He was 52.
His representative confirmed the news to Deadline
Perry had been hospitalized since Wednesday after he suffered an apparent stroke.
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Rogers & Cowan said in a statement on behalf of the Perry family: “He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiancé Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends. The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.”
Perry had starred as Archie’s dad, Fred Andrews, on the CW’s Riverdale. He began his career in the early 1980s, becoming a household name on Fox’s Beverly Hills, 90210, starring as Dylan McCay from 1990-95 and again from 1998-2000.
He once said of his Dylan role: “I’m going to be linked with him until I die, but that’s actually just fine. I created Dylan McKay. He’s mine.”
The character wasn’t in the Beverly Hills, 90210 pilot. In a 2015 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, seriescreator Darren Star recalled: “After the first episode, we got together as a writing staff and we were sort of missing a ‘bad boy,’ in a way, so we created Dylan. When [Perry] came in to read for Dylan, we loved him, and [EP Aaron Spelling] loved him. And I think it’s very well known that Aaron went out of pocket to hire him as a series regular, and the network wasn’t necessarily onboard with adding a series regular. … Aaron knew we needed this kind of character on the show, and of course Luke was fantastic.”
While starring on 90210, Perry won a supporting role in the original film version of Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He also starred in Terminal Bliss in 1992.
His other early film credits included 8 Seconds, Normal Life opposite Ashley Judd and Rodney King drama Riot. His other TV credits included HBO prison drama Oz, as the Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier, and the post-apocalyptic TV series Jeremiah.
He also recently filmed a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Charles Manson movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
It was just last week that Fox announced it had closed a deal for a reboot of Beverly Hills 90210. Titled 90210, the show from CBS TV Studios received a six-episode order to air this summer. Original cast members Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling had signed to return to the reboot, but Perry had not.
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