Luke Perry’s Sudden Death Shocks Fans
Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry has passed away after suffering a massive stroke and was hospitalised last week. Acccording to a representative for the actor, “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. 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.”
Perry was raised in a small community of Fredericktown in Mansfield Ohio, he then moved to Los Angela to pursue acting after graduating from high school. He worked a series of odd jobs as he tried to make it in Hollywood. During an appearance on the radio show Sway in the Morning Perry had said, “ It took me 256 auditions before I scored my first gig. I just kept thinking, you know, I just walked out of a room full of fools,'” Perry said of how he maintained the confidence to keep going.
It was his role as bad boy Dylan McKay Beverly Hills 90210 in 1990, which shot Perry into instant fame. The series was both wildly popular and also criticised because of its willingness to take on topics such as teens being sexually active. Perry’s character was so popular among fans that in 1991 an expected crowd of 2,000 at a Florida mall turned into a stampede of 10,000 when he appeared at an autograph signing. Several people were hospitalised and the mall was forced to shut its doors after the chaos. Perry famously left the show in Season 6, seeking to break away from the Dylan character, but returned in Season 9.
More recently, Perry took on the role as Archie Andrews’ father Fred in the hit drama Riverdale, based on the characters from the Archie comics. Perry is also in director Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which set for release in July.
Tributes for the star have been pouring in on social media
Source: CNN International
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