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| Shannen Doherty succumb to cancer. |
Actress and activist Shannen Doherty passed away. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A lifelong smoker and supporter of animal rights, Doherty spent her final years asking for Americans to donate to cancer research and animal charities.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” said Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane.
Doherty, 53 was candid about her cancer and how it took a toll on her.
This reputation gained further ground during her three seasons on Charmed, when tabloids fueled rumors of a feud with co-star Milano. In both instances, Doherty departed the shows acrimoniously after a few seasons; on Charmed, she was allegedly fired by producer Aaron Spelling after an ultimatum from Milano.
Lifelong Republican but supported liberal causes.
In June 2023, she shared an emotional post on Instagram revealing that her cancer had spread to her brain at the beginning of the year.
Doherty was best known as Brenda Walsh, the iconic character and hotty from Beverly Hills 90210. She also was in the series Charmed with Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs and Rose McGowan.
The initial premise of 90210 was based on the adjustment and culture shock that twins Brandon (Jason Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (Doherty) experienced when they and their parents, Jim (James Eckhouse) and Cindy (Carol Potter), moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Beverly Hills, California. In addition to chronicling the characters' friendships and romantic relationships, the show addressed topical issues such as sex, date rape, homophobia, animal rights, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, racism (including antisemitism), teenage suicide, teenage pregnancy, and AIDS.
After poor ratings during its first season, the series gained popularity during the summer of 1991, when Fox aired a special "summer season" of the show while most other series were in reruns. Viewership increased dramatically, and 90210 became one of Fox's top shows when it returned that fall. The show became a global pop culture phenomenon with its cast members, particularly Jason Priestley and Luke Perry, who became teen idols; the series also made actresses Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth household names in the United States. The show is credited with creating or popularizing the teen soap genre that many other successful television shows followed in the years to come.
The show had many cast changes; Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Brian Austin Green, and Ian Ziering were the only actors to appear during its entire run and appeared on the first episode of the spin-off Melrose Place. On February 27, 2019, it was announced that a six-episode reboot had been ordered by Fox and that the show would simply be titled BH90210. The revival premiered on Fox on August 7, 2019, and was cancelled on November 7, 2019.
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| One summer run of a show changed the lives of eight young actors. |
Doherty, 53 was candid about her cancer and how it took a toll on her.
She was known for her many roles in television and film, including as Jenny Wilder in Little House on the Prairie (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985); Kris Witherspoon in Our House (1986–1988); Heather Duke in Heathers (1989); Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–1994), 90210 (2008–2009) and BH90210 (2019); Prue Halliwell in Charmed (1998–2001); and Dobbs in Fortress (2021).
She dismissed the claims of being the "bad girl". She earned it from on screen feuds with several on Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed. Notably, Jennie Garth and Alyssa Milano were confirmed feuds. Beverly Hills, 90210, Doherty gained a reputation in the media for bad behavior that dominated her public image for many years. People magazine called her the "iconic Hollywood 'bad girl' of the nineties". Between 1992 and 1994, coverage alleging fighting between Doherty and her co-stars dominated tabloid headlines, particularly concerning her heated feud with Garth, and further reports of heavy partying, on-set lateness, and physical fights. The zine Ben Is Dead, which published a newsletter called "I Hate Brenda" at the height of the show's popularity, even opened a hotline called the "Shannen Snitch Line" to which people could call in and report gossip about Doherty.
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| Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty. |
This reputation gained further ground during her three seasons on Charmed, when tabloids fueled rumors of a feud with co-star Milano. In both instances, Doherty departed the shows acrimoniously after a few seasons; on Charmed, she was allegedly fired by producer Aaron Spelling after an ultimatum from Milano.
90210 executive producers Darren Star and Charles Rosin both confirmed that Doherty was difficult to work with on-set; Rosin commented that "...she had habitual lateness. Her lateness was appalling, and she had a callous attitude and an indifference." Jennie Garth admitted that the two of them "often wanted to claw each other's eyes out" several times. At one point in 1993, an argument between Doherty and Garth on the Beverly Hills, 90210 set escalated into physical violence; nonetheless, Garth said the feud was mutual and based more on immaturity than true animosity, and that the feud has been long over. Doherty, for her part, admitted to making mistakes, blaming her behavior on the pressures of fame, her youth, and problems in her personal life. In 2010, she stated: "I have a rep. Did I earn it? Yeah, I did. But, after a while you sort of try to shed that rep because you're kind of a different person. You've evolved and all of the bad things you've done in your life have brought you to a much better place."
Her dysfunctional reputation inspired the Billy Bermingham-written satirical farce Shannen Doherty Shoots a Porno: A Shockumentary which featured Alexandra Billings and was performed at Chicago's Torso Theatre for three years from 1994 to 1997.
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| Doherty with Jennie Garth. |
Lifelong Republican but supported liberal causes.
Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but she went into remission two years later. That reprieve wouldn’t last. In February 2020, court documents in a lawsuit Doherty filed against her insurance company over damage to her home said she was “dying” of Stage 4 breast cancer, which metastasized to the point of being incurable.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways,” Doherty told “Good Morning America” at the time. “There are definitely days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do.”
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| Doherty with Alyssa Milano. |
In June 2023, she shared an emotional post on Instagram revealing that her cancer had spread to her brain at the beginning of the year.
“On January 5th, my scan showed Mets in my brain,” Doherty captioned a video of her receiving radiation.
“My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life,” said Doherty. “But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”
Born on April 12, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee, to a mother who owned a beauty salon and a father who worked in a bank, it didn’t take long for Doherty to go Hollywood. It happened by the time she was 10, when she made her acting debut on the short-lived series “Father Murphy” just three years after her family moved to Los Angeles.
Series producer Michael Landon noticed the fledgling actor and cast her on his hit show “Little House on the Prairie” the following year as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s adopted daughter for an 18-episode run.
That exposure led to a succession of roles, including a three-year turn (1986-88) on the Wilford Brimley family drama “Our House” as one of the leads and a starring turn in the 1989 high school dark comedy “Heathers.”
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