In Memory of Actor Luke Perry ('Beverly Hills 90210'): 5 Years After His Tragic Death From a Stroke

Photo byPinterest.com

It's been five years since the shocking death of charistmatic actor Luke Perry, best known for his leading performance as Dylan McKay on TV's teen pop-culture phenonemom Beverly Hills, 90210 (Fox, 1990-2000). Perry was only 52 years old, when he died of massive stroke on March 4, 2019. This is his tragic story.

A Closer Look

Luke Perry was born he son of steelworker Coy Perry Sr. and homemaker Ann Perry.on October 11, 1966, in Mansfield, Ohio, which was then mostly known as a center for the home appliances and stove manufacturing industries. (The city's main employer was the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.)

It seemed Perry was destined for stardom, as he was brought into the world by Dr. Charles Brown, whose son went on to become U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Acting Soon Came Into the Picture

After graduating from Fredericktown High School in Ohio, Luke Perry moved to New York to pursue an acting career. Within a short period of time, circa 1988, his classic good looks earned in roles on daytime TV serials including Loving and Another World.

By 1984, the now-professional thespain had relocated to Los Angeles, where he was soon cast in breakthrough role as Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills 90210 (produced by Aaron Spelling of Charlie's Angels, Love Boat fame).

Perry had initially auditioned for the part of Steve Sanders, which went to Ian Ziering. Instead, he was cast as Dylan McKay. With his brooding persona, Dylan was the James-Dean-like student of West Beverly High School, who was caught up in a triangle with mid-Western-transplant Brenda Walsh, played by Shannen Doherty (who recently also died too young), and the wealthy Kelly Taylor, played by Jennie Garth.

The show's other co-stars included Jason Priestley (as Brandon, Brenda's twin), Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling (daughter of Aaron).

Together, they were a band of privledged teens living a young TV-viewers dream.

Beyond Beverly Hills and into Riverdale

After Beverly Hills 90210 ended its run, Luke Perry's career continued to flourish with countles TV show appearances, and various TV-movie and feature films for the big screen. That included the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was later adapted to the small screen in a hit TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The Buffy show ignited a new era in television programming with a hip horror, snarky bent. Many similar shows followed including The CW's Riverdale (2017-2023) series, which was based on the beloved Archie comic book, in which Perry had a featured role. (He played Fred Andrews, the father of lead character Archie Andrews.)

It was during his tenure on Riverdale that Perry was rushed to the hospital after suffering a stroke at his home in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles.

Upon hearing of Perry’s demise, Riverdale shut down production for the day in the actor's honor.

Dylan Forever

Despite the numerous non-Beverly Hills 90210 roles that Luke Perry played through the years, he will be forever remembered for his compeling portrayal of heartthrob Dylan McKay.

As fate would have it, in fact, Perry had been hospitalized the same day Fox announced it would reboot Beverly Hills, 90210 for a six-episode series which aired that summer of 2019.

To the grand dismay and disappointment of Perry's enormous fan base, however, the actor had chosen not to participate in the reprised edition of the original series. It was indeed a startling decision, for as Perry once observed, "If not for 90210, the rest of the stuff may or may not have happened."