Shannen Doherty, Star of ‘Heathers,’ ‘Charmed,’ and ‘Beverly Hills, 90210,’ Dies at 53
Shannen Doherty, best known for her roles in TV series “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210,” died on Saturday at the age of 53. The actress, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, revealed in November her cancer had metastasized and spread to her bones.
“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,” Doherty’s publicist told People. “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace.”
In 1990, she and the rest of the cast of “Beverly Hills, 90210” shot to immediate stardom when the Aaron Spelling series debuted to hit ratings on the then-new network Fox. She played Brenda Walsh, sister to Jason Priestley’s character Brandon. Tabloids dubbed her the “bad girl” of the series and reported that she and Jennie Garth were rivals on set. Doherty left after the fourth season, but reprised her role as Brenda in the 2008 reboot “90210” and also returned to play herself in the meta-reality series “BH90210” in 2019.
In 1999, she was cast along with Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs as magical sisters in The WB series “Charmed,” also from Spelling. She directed three episodes, but her exit after the third season was thought to be due to a long-running feud with Milano.
Milano owned up to her part of the “tension” on the “Charmed” set: In 2021, she told Entertainment Tonight, “I could take responsibility for a lot of our tension that we had. I think a lot of our struggle came from feeling that I was in competition [with her] rather than it being that sisterhood that the show was so much about. And I have some guilt about my part in that.”
Doherty talked to Parade magazine about dealing with the “bad girl” label in her 2010 autobiography “Badass: “It’s very poignant because it’s sort of telling the things that I went through and the mistakes that I made when I was in my 20s. I had this amazing career in front of me and because of some things I did, my career really suffered. Thank God that I’ve had some second chances.”
One of her last acting roles was in the 2021 Lifetime movies “Dying to Belong” and “List of a Lifetime, which was part of the network’s Stop Breast Cancer for Life program.
Born April 12, 1971 in Memphis, Tennessee, she got her start on the Michael Landon-produced Western TV drama “Father Murphy” in 1981 in a two-episode arc. The following year, she landed the role of Jenny Wilder on Landon’s “Little House: A New Beginning,” a spinoff of the hit ’70s series, “Little House on the Prairie.”
She memorably played Heather Duke, one of the popular mean girls in the 1988 black comedy cult favorite “Heathers,” which starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. She also costarred with Ben Affleck and Jason Lee in Kevin Smith’s 1995 comedy “Mallrats.”
Upon hearing that Doherty’s cancer had spread to her brain last year, Smith wrote on Instagram, “Rooting for you, my irreplaceable friend. You have been such a fearless fighter your whole life” and praised her “indomitable Doherty spirit.”
In a 2020 Elle article titled, “Shannen Doherty Is Not Signing Off Just Yet,” she talked about the devastating wildfire that damaged her house and the return of her cancer. “I try to treasure all the small moments that most people don’t really see or take for granted… “The small things are magnified for me. We have this endless well within us, and it’s just about continuing to dig in that well for the strength to face adversity — and so that we can also see all the beauty.”
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