Shannen Doherty^†

She was 19 and already a decade into the industry when Beverly Hills, 90210 made her a household name. Brenda Walsh wasn't a stretch. Doherty had done Little House on the Prairie and Heathers before most people knew her face. The show turned her into a teen idol, but her reputation turned into something bigger than any character: the difficult actress, the one who showed up late, got into fights, and eventually left after four seasons in 1994. Then Charmed in 1998, playing Prue Halliwell. Three seasons, same story.

The decade before her death was essentially a public fight. In 2015, she discovered she had breast cancer and later alleged that her former management company's failure to pay her health insurance premiums had delayed the diagnosis. She sued, settled in 2016. By 2017 she was in remission. By 2020 it was stage 4. By 2023 it had reached her brain. Through it all, she filmed podcasts, gave interviews, documented the treatments, and filed for divorce from her husband of 11 years. She didn't quietly disappear. That was never her style.

She had a reputation for being difficult that followed her from every job she'd ever had. The meta-reboot BH90210 in 2019 was built around it: all the original cast playing exaggerated versions of themselves, returning to do another 90210. She almost didn't join. Luke Perry died in March of that year and she has said that changed her mind, that she wanted to honor him. She ended up spending her last years more publicly than she'd spent her early career, documenting her treatments and sharing the parts of illness that most people keep off camera.

Co-stars posted tributes within hours of the announcement. Alyssa Milano, with whom she'd had a well-documented feud, acknowledged their complicated history but said Doherty was "someone I deeply respected and was in awe of." Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, and Tori Spelling also issued statements. On the first anniversary in July 2025, Ian Ziering and Sarah Michelle Gellar posted remembrances online.