Brenda on ‘Beverly Hills 90210’

Shannen Doherty, known for her roles in the wildly popular series ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ and the witchcraft fantasy ‘Charmed’, has died after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She was 53.

“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 battling the disease,” Doherty’s publicist Leslie Sloane said in a statement to People.

Doherty rose to fame in 1990 as the fresh-faced brunette Brenda Walsh on Fox’s ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’. Along with her twin brother Brandon, played by Jason Priestly, the Walshes were the classic fish-out-of-water family who had recently moved from Minnesota to Beverly Hills and were constantly amazed by the antics of LA’s rich kids.

The romance between Brenda and Dylan, played by Luke Perry, caused controversy in the first season over the storyline in which Brenda considers losing her virginity. Their later breakup, when Dylan hooked up with her best friend Kelly, played by Jenny Garth, was also big news, and the show was considered groundbreaking in its willingness to tackle topics like drug abuse and racism.

The show was a huge hit, and with its success came an inordinate amount of scrutiny and gossip surrounding the cast, including the teenage Doherty. Although the show had started with Garth’s Kelly as the less likable character, the perception quickly changed and Brenda became the cast member everyone loved to hate. She was labeled a diva in the press and there was even a pre-internet newsletter called ‘I Hate Brenda’. Doherty appeared in 111 episodes before leaving the series at the end of season four, amid reports of friction with other cast members, most notably Garth.

By the time the show was rebooted two more times, everyone had mellowed out with the years and Doherty returned as Brenda in the 2008 revival ‘90210’ for one season and in the later 2019 revival ‘BH90210’.

After her stormy departure from ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’, Doherty found her footing in ‘Charmed’, the supernatural drama that follows three sisters who discover they are witches and must work together to fight evil. She played the eldest of three sisters, Prue Halliwell, alongside Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs. In 2000 and 2001, she directed three episodes of the series: “Be Careful What You Witch For,” “The Good, The Bad, and The Cursed,” and “All Hell Breaks Loose,” the final episode in which she appeared. character was killed off when she left the series at the end of the third season.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family as a child and began appearing at the age of 10 with a role on the series “Father Murphy.” Michael Landon saw her on the series and cast her as Jenny Wilder in “Little House on the Prairie” at age 11.

Doherty then had a recurring role in the family series ‘Our House’ with Wilfred Brimley,

In feature films, she appeared in another teen classic, ‘Heathers’, as well as Kevin Smith’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ and ‘Mallrats’ and ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’.

Among the other shows she appeared in were ‘North Shore’ and ‘Riverdale’, as well as in a number of TV movies.

In 2006, she produced a reality show, ‘Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty’, in which she helped people in relationship peril who wanted to get out but couldn’t do it alone, and later appeared in another reality show, ‘Off the Map with Shannen and Holly. ”

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2015 and in 2017 said she was in remission. But by 2019, the cancer had returned and spread. She continued to work, with roles in TV movies including “Dying to Belong” and “List of a Lifetime.” Doherty also hosted a popular podcast, “Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty,” in which she discussed her career and opened up about how breast cancer had affected her life.

In June 2023, she said she had received radiation treatment for cancer that had spread to her brain.

She was briefly married to George Hamilton’s son Ashley Hamilton and poker player Rick Salomon, and in 2011 she married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. They filed for divorce in 2023.