Still their Dylan McKay. The cast and crew of Beverly Hills, 90210 has continued to keep Luke Perry’s memory alive since he passed away in 2019.
The late actor starred as Dylan on the ‘90s drama alongside Shannen Doherty (Brenda Walsh), Jason Priestley (Brandon Walsh), Tori Spelling (Donna Martin), Jennie Garth (Kelly Taylor), Brian Austin Green (David Silver), Ian Ziering (Steve Sanders) and Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea Zuckerman).
“[Aaron Spelling] had made a personal investment and an emotional investment in Luke Perry,” 90210 writer and executive producer Charles Rosin recalled on the “Beverly Hills, 90210 Show” podcast in October 2020, confirming that Perry’s role wasn’t locked in during season 1.
After solidifying his place in the cast, Perry became the third original star (after Doherty and Carteris) to leave the series with his 1995 exit, but he returned as a full-time cast member for seasons 9 and 10.
“Dylan McKay was not going to go to college. … So that was always a problem, but it wasn’t really a problem because we loved writing for him and he was challenging,” 90210 writer and producer Larry Mollin explained on the podcast in September 2020, referring to Perry’s season 6 exit. “Also, it gave us a chance, for the last year or two, to run a little bit of an action plot. We kind of really were able to work on some of [Dylan’s] demons. … So, he was an action character for us in a lot of ways. So, we lost that and there was really no one to replace that after he left.”
Perry died in March 2019 after suffering a stroke at the age of 52. He is survived by his two kids, Jack and Sophie, whom he shared with ex-wife Rachel “Minnie” Sharp, and fiancée Wendy Madison Bauer.
“The past 11 and 1/2 years with Luke were the happiest years of my life, and I am grateful to have had that time with him,” Bauer said in a statement at the time. “I also want to thank his children, family, and friends for their love and support. We have found comfort in one another and in the knowledge that our lives were touched by an extraordinary man. He will be dearly missed.”
Scroll through for the cast’s sweetest quotes about Perry:
“There’s always eight of us and you count, and Ian turned around and said, ‘Where’s Luke?’ And then I just saw him catch himself,” Spelling recalled about filming the quasi-revival on her “9021OMG” podcast in November 2020. “He turned away and I could just see his heart breaking and he started to cry. It was what we were all thinking though. We didn’t feel complete. And we still don’t. … Although [the fans] never got to see the behind-the-scenes, the view into him that they did see, they nailed it. He was just as special as they all thought he was or wanted him to be. Even more so.”
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“That character you saw a lot of who Luke Perry really was,” Garth told Spelling on their podcast. “They were very similar in their makeups. With Luke, you loved him the minute you met him, you were just engaged by his charisma, but it wasn’t over the top, it was just like this really calm, easy vibe that he would give off to everyone and I think that Dylan did that too. And that’s why America and the world fell in love with him. … I was just riveted every time he was on camera. I don’t know if that was because I was a fangirl and excited for Dylan or if that was because of missing him or what it was, but I loved it. I loved watching every second of it.”
Spelling added that “the only thing different” between Perry and Dylan was he had a better sense of humor in real life: “He was hysterical and never minded making himself the butt of the joke.”
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“As an actor, I loved Luke’s commitment. He committed to things and he went for it,” Priestley recalled on an August 2020 episode of the “Beverly Hills, 90210 Show” podcast. “He wasn’t afraid to just go for it. … When he had to be, you know, a guy who was on the edge, who was coming unglued, he wasn’t afraid to reach for that. That sort of commitment and that sort of bravery is awesome. … And he was like that in life too. He was an awesome, big-hearted guy and he wore his heart on his sleeve. He was a warm, kind, loving guy. He had it all.”
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Green recalled his final conversation with Perry during an interview on the “Beverly Hills, 90210 Show” podcast in October 2020. “Luke just had that ability of literally just putting everything else going on his life aside and just completely focusing on you for however long you spent with him, which was amazing,” he said. “I remember when I had first heard that he had a stroke, I had gone through — not physically similar things — but I had a lot of neurological things recently and so I thought, ‘OK, well, this is something that, knowing Luke, I can help him a bit with all of this.’ And then finding out that he had passed, at first, I was hurt by it. I’m still hurt about it, but you know, honestly, if Luke was comprised at all, I don’t think Luke would have been happy being Luke. He liked having his senses and being 100 percent of who he could be. I think because he knew how much he could give to other people and how important he can be in everyone’s lives. I think for me, he went out on top.”
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“When I’m in certain situations, I’ll ask myself, ‘How would Luke handle this?’ Because he was an inspiration for me … who he was and the choices he would make,” Green said. “And how he would handle situations. And he’s still very much a voice of conscience for me.”
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“He welcomed me on my very first day of #90210 with open arms. A day that was not an easy one for me. I was coming in to a show, a family really, that had been together for over 4 years,” the actress, who joined the cast during season 5, wrote in 2019. “But this man took me under his wing and made me feel at home. Made me feel like I belonged in his TV family. He was sincere, sweet, warm, kind, professional and funny as all heck. And most of all, the definition of a gentleman. Luke, our world has a hole in it now that you aren’t here. But heaven definitely gained you as an angel. #RIP #LukePerry #gonetoosoon.”
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“His kids are so loving. Madison, his fiancée, his ex-wife — they all got along. They made it work. In the midst of life where there’s ups and downs, they were able to come together — [even] before he had passed away — and be friendly,” Ziering told Vivica A. Fox on her “Hustling with Vivica A. Fox” podcast in 2020, revealing that he and Perry had previously talked about the Riverdale star’s plan to wear an eco-friendly mushroom burial suit. “[At the funeral] it was like water was just falling from everyone’s faces. To bury a friend, but …. he had such strong convictions in life. Luke was so passionate about so many things in life. He was an environmentalist. He was a farmer. I had to kind of snicker through my tears: Son of a gun, he buried himself in that mushroom suit.”
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“Luke was a smart, quiet, humble and complex man with a heart of gold and never-ending well of integrity and love. Luke reached out to me during my cancer journey and we picked right back up, albeit older and wiser, but that connection remained intact,” Doherty said in a statement in 2019. “There is a special kind of love one has for each other when you are experiencing the journey we did on 90210 and of course life in general. Luke and I were working on show ideas for us. We wanted to work with each other again and create something special and meaningful for our fans at this stage in our lives. I will miss him every day. Every minute. Every second.”
Doherty also revealed that she saw Perry “a couple of weeks” before he passed.
“Luke and I met up for lunch. He chose the restaurant based on who would allow his dog,” she said. “I walked in and there he was, smiling, with his dog Penny and her bed under the booth, happy as can be. I will never forget — and will miss — Luke looking at me with that smile of his saying … Shan.”
Courtesy of Shannen Doherty/Instagram
Noley Thornton, who played Dylan’s sister Erika on 90210, revealed on the "Beverly Hills, 90210" show podcast in October 2020 that he was like a brother to her in real life. “He always treated me like I was his little sister,” the actress said. “He was super protective, he was always trying to help me out, whether it was on set or in real life.”
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