- Shannen Doherty, remembered for her roles in “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed,” is celebrated for her strong on-screen presence.
- Fans and colleagues honor Shannen Doherty’s impactful career, recognizing her lasting influence in television.
- See More: Shannen Doherty Said She ‘Desperately’ Wanted Children and ‘Would Love’ Being a Mom Before Her Death
Fans are mourning US actress Shannen Doherty, who died at age 53 from cancer. “With a heavy heart, I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty,” said her publicist, Leslie Sloane.
Doherty had a four-decade-long screen career, starring in hit TV shows like “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed.” Even though her characters lived in glamorous worlds, viewers could always relate to her. She was also known as a “badass” in real life.
Born in Memphis, Doherty started acting as a child. She appeared in TV series like “Voyagers,” “Our House,” and “Father Murphy” before joining “Little House on the Prairie” as Jenny Wilder at age 11 in 1982.
In 1985, Shannen Doherty starred in her first major film, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt.
Three years later, she played Heather Duke, part of a high school clique in the cult teen drama “Heathers” with Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk, and Kim Walker. When a new version of the show was made in 2016, Doherty played the mother of one of the new Heathers.
In 1990, Doherty landed her biggest role as Brenda Walsh in the original “Beverly Hills, 90210.” The show followed a group of teens dealing with relationships and family issues in glamorous Beverly Hills.
While working on the show in the 1990s, Shannen Doherty gained a reputation for being a troublemaker, with reports of heated arguments with her co-stars.
Jennie Garth, her co-star, admitted in 2014, “There were times when we wanted to fight each other.” But as they got older, they became close friends.
Doherty herself admitted struggling with fame. “Back then, I was really confused about what I wanted, and all the attention was too much,” she said. “I didn’t always handle it well. Honestly, I made it worse by fighting against it. The more I resisted being a celebrity, the more the press focused on that instead of my acting.”
In another interview, she said, “Maybe things would have been different if I had been wiser and older, but I wasn’t. I started young, and success from ‘90210’ came early when I was just a scared kid.”
Doherty left “90210” after four seasons. Her character, Brenda, attended the prestigious drama school Rada in London.
As she grew older, Doherty became more private and embraced her image. In 2010, she wrote a book called “Badass,” which shared her story and encouraged young women to embrace confidence and live boldly.
After her time on “90210,” Doherty starred in several TV shows like “Charmed,” where she played one of three powerful witches, and “North Shore,” set in a Hawaiian hotel. In 1995, she also appeared in the quirky comedy film “Mallrats.”
Off-screen, Doherty’s love life was quite eventful. She married Ashley Hamilton, son of actor George Hamilton, just two weeks after they met in 1993, but they divorced six months later. Her second marriage to Rick Salomon in 2002 was annulled after nine months. Finally, in 2011, she married her third husband, photographer Kurt Iswarienko, and they remained together until her passing.
As she grew older, Doherty became passionate about protecting animals and joined campaigns against animal cruelty.
She also tried reality TV when it became popular in the 2000s. In 2010, she appeared on “Dancing With The Stars,” the American version of the UK’s “Strictly Come Dancing.”
Though she was most famous for “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Doherty returned to the show in 2008 for a new version. Her character, Brenda Walsh, had become a successful theater actress and director in the reboot.
But in her personal life, Doherty faced health challenges. She learned she had breast cancer in March 2015. The next year, she had surgery to remove her breast and went through chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Initially, she shared that her cancer was in remission by 2017, but it came back two years later. During this time, Doherty was involved in a reboot of “90210,” a show she wanted to do to honor her former co-star Luke Perry, who passed away from a stroke at 52.
“It’s strange for me to be diagnosed and then see someone seemingly healthy pass away first,” Doherty reflected. “Luke’s death was shocking. Doing the show was the least I could do to honor his memory.”
In the latest version, called BH90210, they did something different. Instead of just redoing the show, they had Shannen Doherty and many other original actors play funny versions of themselves.
When her cancer came back, Shannen didn’t tell most of her co-stars on the show, except Brian Austin Green. “There were times when I thought, ‘I can’t do this,'” she said. “But Brian always called me before filming to say, ‘I’ve got your back.’ That helped me.”
Shannen has been sharing her fight against cancer on social media, posting videos of her workouts with the hashtag #cancerslayer. In November 2023, she talked to People magazine about her stage four breast cancer spreading to her bones. “I’m still fighting,” she said. “I’m not done living, loving, or creating.”
The BBC first published this news story.
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