Shannen Doherty, star of Beverly Hills 90210, has died
The 53-year-old actress, director, activist and TV presenter had been fighting a long battle with cancer since 2015
3' min read
3' min read
The choice since the breast cancer announcement in 2015 to share the struggle with the disease. A tale of truth (even brutal), hope and irony through social media and since 2023 a podcast, to defeat the prejudices and silences linked to those facing cancer. It was the path, parallel to wanting to continue working anyway, also to defeat another prejudice, taken in recent years by Shannen Doherty, who died at the age of 53 on 13 July in Los Angeles. A death revealed through People by Leslie Sloane, the actress' publicist.
Born in Memphis in 1971, an actress since she was 11 years old (early roles include those in the series Father Brown's Kids, Little House on the Prairie, 21 Jump Street and in films such as Splinters of Madness), she became a generational pop star in the 1990s as the co-star of the mix of teen series, soaps and comedy/dramas, between excesses, sex, fights, reunions, Hollywood-sized coming-of-age novel Beverly Hills 90210 (1990 to 1994), as Brenda, Brandon's (Jason Priestley) twin sister and the focus of a romance with the other idol of the drama, Dylan (Luke Perry, who died prematurely in 2019).
A global fame that, long before social media, also made her the target of haters, in the wake of the troubled-girl character, on set and off, sewn onto her by the tabloids. On her exit from the series (she will however return to the world of Beverly Hills with roles in the 2008 sequel, and, as a tribute to her friend Perry, in the 2019 reboot) she also became a face of Kevin Smith's indie cinema in films such as Generation X (2005) and Jay & Silent Bob... Stop Hollywood! (2001).
A new great television success came in 1998 with the series Witches, where she is Prue Halliwell, who together with her sisters Piper (her friend Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) discovers and must learn to manage, amidst supernatural enemies and challenges, the magical powers that have been linked to the family for generations. After a mixed exit from the series (where she also tried her hand as director of some episodes), in the third season, she alternated between participating in reality shows such as Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty - A friend like Shannen (2006) or Off the Map with Shannen & Holly (2015) , in programmes such as Dancing with the stars (2010), many roles on the small screen, from series such as North Shore (2004 - 20005) and Heathers (2018) to various TV films.
A career to which he combines his commitment as an activist in defence of animals (he supports Sea Shepherd with various initiatives) and the environment. He married three times: the first in 1993 to Ashley Hamilton, a liaison that ended after a few months. In 2002 with Rick Salomon, a marriage that ended after just under a year, and in 2011 with photographer Kurt Iswarienko, from whom she divorced in 2023.
