Luke Perry, ‘90210’ and ‘Riverdale’ Star, Dead at 52

Luke Perry, star of the iconic ’90s teen drama 90210 and The CW’s Riverdale, has died at the age of 52, TMZ reports. The actor reportedly passed away on Monday morning at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank, California.

On Feb. 27, Perry was taken by ambulance to a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a “massive” stroke. According to reports, Perry was conscious and communicating when paramedics arrived at his home in Sherman Oaks, but his condition worsened and doctors had to eventually sedate him.

Perry’s publicist confirmed his death in a statement to BuzzFeed News, sharing that the actor passed while surrounded by family and friends including his two children, Jack and Sophie, his fiancée, Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, step-father Steve Bennett and other family and friends.

“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,” the statement read. “No further details will be released at this time.”

In 2017, Perry revealed that in 2015 he went through a colorectal cancer scare, after a colonoscopy revealed some precancerous growths. Luckily, he was able to have the growths removed.

“Right now, there are 23 million Americans who haven’t been screened who need to be screened,” Perry told Fox News. “If I had waited, it could have been a whole different scenario.”

“When I heard that this was the most detectable cancer that we know of yet it’s the second most lethal, I just couldn’t figure out why that was and I wanted to get out there and tell people about it,” he added.

Perry shot to stardom in the 1990s, starring as Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990-1995 before returning from 1998-2000.

In a past interview, Perry revealed that initially he was not actually supposed to be on the show for as long as he was.

“I was a guest star, and Aaron wanted to make me a regular. The studio didn’t want to pick up the deal, and he used that instance to illustrate an important principle: He gets to pick who’s on the show,” he revealed to THR. He didn’t want me to have to go in the room with the network, but he calmly looked at me and said, ‘Go get ’em, kid.’ “

“With other producers, you get hired; with Aaron, you were chosen. He watched the pilot and realized there was a note we weren’t hitting. He wanted to create this fantasy world and have some dark ballast to pull it down,” he also said, recounting the evolution of his role.

“So my character, Dylan, was a poor little rich kid — everybody thinks he’s got everything going, and it’s just not always that great — but he drove a cool car and had cool hair,” Perry added. “There was a running joke in the wardrobe department: People are going to be watching for the clothes. Get ’em upscale and get ’em trendy.”

After 90210 ended, Perry starred in a number of other TV series, such as Oz, Jeremiah, Windfall, John from Cincinnati, and Body of Proof. He also appeared in films like Redemption Road and Red Wing.

More recently, he was part of the main cast of Riverdale, the live-action adaptation of Archie comics characters. Perry played Fred Andrews, Archie’s father, and has been a major character since the show’s first season. He had also filmed a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

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