“Beverly Hills, 90210” star dies at 53

Shannen Doherty, the actress known for her roles in “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210,” has died after a battle with cancer. She was 53 years old.

Doherty’s death was confirmed Sunday by spokeswoman Leslie Sloane in a statement she shared with USA TODAY after People broke the news of the star’s death. On Saturday, the actress “lost her battle with cancer after battling the disease for many years,” Sloane’s statement said.

“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones and her dog, Bowie,” the statement said. “The family asks for privacy during this time so they can grieve in peace.”

Doherty has been open about her health in recent years after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. In November, she shared on the cover of People magazine that the cancer had spread to her bones.

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The actress played Prue Halliwell, one of the sisters with magical powers in the television series “Charmed” and had roles in the television series “Little House on the Prairie” as well as in the film comedies “Mallrats” and “Heathers”.

Her big break came in the Fox teen soap “Beverly Hills, 90210,” in which she plays high school student Brenda Walsh, who adjusts to life among the rich with her twin brother Brandon (Jason Priestley) when the family moves from Minnesota to California.

In 2016, she told USA TODAY that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. For a brief time, it seemed Doherty was out of the woods. After a single mastectomy that same year, she completed radiation and chemotherapy in February 2017 and announced two months later that she was in remission.

Then, in February 2020, Doherty announced that her breast cancer had metastasized to stage 4. In June 2023, she announced on Instagram that a CT scan months earlier had shown that the cancer had spread to her brain, for which she was receiving radiation. “My anxiety is obvious,” she wrote in her post. “I am extremely claustrophobic and have had a lot going on in my life. … The turmoil … the timing of it all … This is what cancer can look like.”

When she announced in November 2023 that the cancer had spread to her bones, she tried to dispel the impression that she was helpless.

“People don’t know a lot about cancer. I think they assume it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work. They put you out to pasture at a very young age – ‘You’re done, you’re retired’ – and we’re not,” she told People. “We’re full of energy and have a very different outlook on life. We’re just so grateful for every second, every hour, every day that we get to be here. We’re people who work and embrace life and want to keep going.”

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Shannen Doherty began her career with roles in “Little House on the Prairie” and “Father Murphy.”

Doherty was born on April 12, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee, the second child of Rosa and John Thomas Doherty. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 7 years old. Just a few years later, Doherty landed her first acting job, appearing in two episodes of the 1981-83 western drama “Father Murphy,” created by Michael Landon of “Little House on the Prairie” fame. Doherty fondly remembered the job, sharing a photo of herself in costume on Instagram in 2021.

“We worked in Tucson, Arizona in 100-degree heat wearing suede and I loved every minute,” she wrote under the photo of her radiant younger self. “It remains one of my fondest memories.”

Landon later cast Doherty as Jenny Wilder in the ninth season of the frontier drama Little House on the Prairie, a role she reprised for three TV movies. Doherty also enjoyed success on the big screen, landing roles in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985), a light-hearted teen dance film, and Heathers (1988), a scathing comedy starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder.

The actress cemented her place in pop culture with “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed”

Doherty played Brenda on Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1994. Although there were reports that she was fired because of her behavior, executive producer Aaron Spelling denied the rumors in a 1998 interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“I’ll tell you the truth, all those stories about Shannen were so exaggerated,” said Spelling, who died in 2006. “Was she late to the set a couple of times? Sure, but who isn’t? Shannen wasn’t fired from ‘90210.’ She had gotten some offers to do TV movies, and we sat down and talked about it, and she made the decision.”

Spelling and Doherty worked together again in 1998 for “Charmed”. He served as executive producer, but left after three seasons because her character was killed off.

Although Doherty was reportedly at odds with her co-stars from the two Spelling-produced series, she said in an interview with Parade to promote her 2010 book, “Badass: A Hard-Earned Guide to Living Life With Style and (the Right) Attitude,” that she was ready to leave her old habits behind.

“I have a reputation,” she admitted. “Did I earn it? Yes, I did. But after a while, you try to get rid of that reputation because you’re a different person. You’ve evolved and all the bad things you’ve done in your life have brought you to a much better place.”

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Since then, Doherty has appeared in a number of television horror films, including Satan’s School for Girls (2000), Gretl (2012) and Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys (2014).

Doherty returned to the role of Brenda for several episodes in 2008 and 2009 for the CW’s “Beverly Hills” reboot “90210.” She also appeared in the short-lived 2019 series “BH90210,” in which her former co-stars played caricatures of themselves. The series was canceled after six episodes.

Shannen Doherty battled breast cancer while her 90210 co-star Luke Perry died of a severe stroke

Doherty worked despite her health problems. During an appearance on “Good Morning America” in February 2020, she decided to take part in the reboot, in part to honor Luke Perry, who played Brenda’s lover Dylan McKay and died on March 4, 2019 after a massive stroke. Doherty also wanted to be an example for others battling cancer.

“I thought people can look at this and say, ‘Oh my God, yes. She can work, and other people with stage 4 cancer can work, too,'” she said. “Our lives don’t end the moment we get that diagnosis.”

Doherty continued to work, appearing in television movies and feature films. She explained her decision to continue working as an actress in a Q&A with Variety published in October 2021.

“I couldn’t imagine not doing the things I love in life,” she said. “Whether that’s acting or directing, or playing with my dog or riding horses or hanging out with my family and friends, I can’t imagine not being able to do any of those things. So when you can’t imagine not doing them, you just say to yourself, ‘Well, I’m going to keep doing all of those things!'”

Doherty was married to poker player Rick Salomon (2002 to 2003) and actress Ashley Hamilton (1993 to 1994), but expressed regret about these short relationships.

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“I probably shouldn’t have married the people I married,” she told the Washington Post in 2011. “I didn’t have the best instinct for good men.”

She and photographer Kurt Iswarienko were married from 2011 until Doherty’s divorce in April 2023.

They did not have children, partly due to Doherty’s fear of a premature death, she revealed to Health in 2019.

“Will I last five years? Ten years? I certainly don’t want my ten-year-old to bury a mother,” she said. “I always wanted a child. But maybe I’m meant to be a mother in a different way.”

Contributors: Hannah Yasharoff

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