Luke Perry, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ and ‘Riverdale’ Star, Dead at 52

Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills 90210 and Riverdale, died Monday at the age of 52. He was hospitalized last Thursday for an undisclosed reason, according to CNN.

Perry died at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank surrounded by his, fiancé, ex-wife, friends and family members, his rep said in a statement. TMZ reported that Perry had suffered a “massive” stroke last Wednesday, claiming that he was responsive when medical professional arrived but was later transported to the hospital and placed under sedation when his condition deteriorated.

“No words can express what my heart feels hearing today’s shocking news,” Perry’s 90210 costar, Ian Ziering, wrote on Instagram after he’d learned he’d been hospitalized. “Let us all say a prayer for his speedy recovery.”

“My friend,” Shannen Doherty wrote on Instagram. “Holding you tight and giving you my strength. You got this.”

Perry is best remembered for playing the handsome, troubled loner Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills 90210 in the show’s first six seasons; he reprised the role for seasons nine and 10. More recently, he played Archie’s father Fred Andrews on Riverdale. When news broke of an upcoming 90210 reboot, he was not named as one of the returning cast members.

Perry’s Riverdale cast mate Molly Ringwald tweeted Monday, “My heart is broken. I will miss you so much Luke Perry. Sending all my love to your family.”

Coy Luther Perry III was born in Mansfield, Ohio to a steelworker and a homemaker and grew up in that state’s Fredericktown. In a 1993 interview, Perry said that he had been auditioning for many roles before landing 90210 but to little success. His day job was laying asphalt as a construction worker. His credits during that time included a recurring role on the soap opera Another World and a couple of bit parts on TV shows.

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“The show has changed my life immeasurably,” he said in the interview. “Life is certainly never going to be the same. It has been good for the most part. It certainly has some drawbacks, but I’m not bitchin’.”

At the height of Beverly Hills 90210‘s popularity, the main cast appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone. “I know that a lot of people are casting a very cynical eye my way, in terms of what happens in the future,” Perry said in the cover story, which detailed his meteoric rise from struggling actor to teen idol. “I’m not worried about being a big star. But it makes me nervous when people talk about it like it’s already happened.”

While doing 90210, Perry also appeared in the original film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the rodeo drama 8 Seconds, the sci-fi epic The Fifth Element and he voiced himself on an episode of The Simpsons. Perry also worked as a voice actor on the series Biker Mice From Mars, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and The Incredible Hulk, among others. In the early 2000s, he played the Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier on Oz and the titular character on Jeremiah, a show about a surviving a postapocalyptic future.

He continued to make appearances on shows like Hot in Cleveland and Will & Grace in subsequent years and had recurring roles on Windfall, John From Cincinnati, FCU: Fact Checkers Unit, Body of Proof and Ties That Bind. At the time of his death, he was attached to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s comedy about an actor and his stunt double trying to make it in the motion picture business in 1969.

Off camera, Perry has played Brad Majors in a Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show and starred opposite Alyson Hannigan in a London production of When Harry Met Sally.

Perry married Rachel Minnie Sharp in 1993, and the couple had a boy, Jack, and a girl, Sophie, before their divorce in 2003.

The actor reflected on the longevity of his role on 90210 in a 2017 interview with Rachael Ray. “I am kind of surprised at the young teenagers who catch it in reruns,” he said. “They still find stories 20 years old at this point compelling. And they binge-watch them. … It’s been a good ride.”

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