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 Publicist Arnold Robinson said Perry died in a Los Angeles area
hospital surrounded by his family and close friends, including
his former wife Minnie Sharp, his two children, and his fiance
Wendy Madison Bauer.
"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," Robinson said in
a statement.
Perry was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital on Wednesday after
suffering the stroke at his home, celebrity website TMZ.com
reported last week. TMZ said on Monday that Perry never
recovered consciousness.
Perry was taken ill the same day that Fox television announced
it was reviving the "Beverly Hills 90210" series with many of
the original cast, including Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth and
Tori Spelling. Perry was not among those announced as returning
for the limited run of six new episodes this summer.
Since 2016, Perry had played Fred Andrews, father of Archie
Andrews, in the television series "Riverdale," a dark twist on
the Archie comic books, but more than 20 years earlier the actor
had been a heartthrob who adorned the cover of scores of
magazines aimed at adolescent girls, thanks to "Beverly Hills
90210."
Perry's death prompted an outpouring of grief.
"Riverdale" producers in a statement called Perry an "incredibly
caring, consummate professional." Molly Ringwald, one of his
co-stars on the show, said on Twitter, "My heart is broken."
"Beverly Hills, 90210," which aired on the Fox network, was
about a group of attractive high school students living the
sweet life amid Southern California affluence while dealing with
teen angst, as well as a raft of more serious issues such as
date rape, AIDS and teen pregnancy.
Perry was in his mid-20s when he started playing high schooler
Dylan McKay, a brooding loner on a motorcycle with prominent
sideburns and bad-boy tendencies. An avalanche of comparisons to
the late James Dean soon followed.
"Beverly Hills 90210" got off to a slow start in the ratings in
1990 but built a cult following that grew to become a cultural
phenomenon with its target demographic. One of the key plot
lines was Perry's character developing a romance with Brenda, a
wholesome Midwestern transplant to Beverly Hills, played by
Shannen Doherty, before moving on to her best friend, Kelly,
played by Garth.
Along the way Perry, Doherty, Garth and co-stars Priestley,
Spelling and Ian Ziering became stars.
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MOB SCENES
Perry's fame was such that he was getting 4,000 fan letters a week
and drawing crowds of thousands of teenage girls to his personal
appearances. Once Perry had to be smuggled out of a Seattle mall
hiding in a laundry hamper because of overzealous fans and at
another appearance, some 20 people were injured rushing a stage.
He eventually gave up the personal appearances for security concerns
and did not like being considered a "teen idol."
"My problem with that is it's inaccurate for two reasons," he said
at a news conference in 1992. "One, I'm not a teenager. Two, I don't
think anyone idolizes anybody."
Perry left "90210" after its sixth season but returned two years
later as the show finished its 10-year run. By the time it was over,
Perry's Dylan had endured a drinking problem, cocaine and heroin
abuse, financial hardship, a near-fatal car crash, his father's
faked death, various romances and a marriage that ended when his
wife was mistakenly killed by a hitman hired by her mobster father.
Perry also was in the 1992 movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" that
preceded the TV series of that name and during his "90210" run
portrayed real-life rodeo star Lane Frost in "8 Seconds." He learned
to ride bulls and did many of his own stunts in the film.
Perry's other TV credits included "Windfall," a 2006 series about a
group of friends who win a big lottery jackpot; two seasons of
"Jeremiah," a post-apocalyptic drama; and a season on "Oz," a prison
drama on which he played a preacher convicted of embezzlement.
His stage work included starring in London stage adaptation of "When
Harry Met Sally" in 2004 and playing Brad in "The Rocky Horror Show"
on Broadway in 2001.
Perry grew up in Fredericktown, Ohio, population 2,300, and after
graduating from high school headed to Los Angeles to pursue acting
while working construction jobs and in a doorknob factory. In the
late 1980s, he took on soap opera roles and television commercials
in New York before landing the "Beverly Hills 90210" part.
(Reporting by Bill Trott in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by
Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish and Diane
Craft)
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