After suffering a stroke last week, Luke Perry has died. The 90210 and Riverdale actor was taken from his home in Sherman Oaks to a Burbank hospital where he had been monitored since last Thursday. Perry was 52 years old. “He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiancé Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends,” Perry’s representative said in a statement. “The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.”
The actor had picked up just a few TV roles in the 1980s before he was cast in 1990 as the generational heartthrob Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210. The show was a massive success, and Perry appeared in nearly 200 episodes over the course of its ten-year run. During his tenure as McKay, Perry did additional work in television, and starred in films like the rodeo drama 8 Seconds and even the original film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though he worked consistently, Perry’s profile remained lower following the conclusion of 90210, but his popularity came surging back for a whole new audience with the launch of Riverdale on the CW. As Fred Andrews, Archie’s dad, Perry was the roguishly handsome working man who brought a TV veteran’s gravitas to the teen drama.
Most recently, Perry had been working on Quentin Tarantino’s next film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was also announced recently that a revival of 90210 would be getting off the ground with the original cast, but Perry was not confirmed to be a part of it.
“We are deeply saddened to learn today about the passing of Luke Perry,” executive producers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Jon Goldwater, the CW, and Warner Bros. TV said in a statement. “A beloved member of the Riverdale, Warner Bros. and CW family, Luke was everything you would hope he would be: an incredibly caring, consummate professional with a giant heart, and a true friend to all. A father figure and mentor to the show’s young cast, Luke was incredibly generous, and he infused the set with love and kindness. Our thoughts are with Luke’s family during this most difficult time.”
“Luke will be missed, a friend gone way too soon,” Chris Nassif, Perry’s former agent, said in a statement. “It seems like yesterday that I was Luke’s agent negotiating his role on Beverly Hills, 90210. I would like to express my condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”
