Luke Perry, the actor who stole hearts as teen heartthrob on Beverly Hills, 90210, and dad heartthrob on Riverdale, has died at age 52. Perry suffered a massive stroke at his home in California last week and passed away Monday morning in hospital.
Family, friends and fellow cast members past and present have publicly shared support, and now mourning for Perry. In honour of the remarkable career Luke Perry had in Hollywood during his lifetime, we are taking a trip down memory lane to some of the roles that you might have forgotten he blessed us with.
But first we’ll start with Perry’s two major roles that we all know and love.
Berverly Hills, 90210
Perry’s career kicked off in the 80s when he came on the scene as the pinnacle teen bad boy to reign over TV bad boys for all time. No one compares to Luke Perry’s Dylan McKay, who graced our screens from 1990 to 2000.
Riverdale
Luke Perry has been a staple character on Riverdale since the start, and the show will be worse off without Archie’s dad Fred Andrews around. Right up until his death, Perry was a core part of the Hot Dad Club and he will be missed.
Luke Perry… you were a joyful and vibrant soul. You will be missed but most certainly your legacy will be remembered forever. Rest in love and peace, friend. #Riverdale
— Riverdale Writers Room (@RiverdaleWriter) March 4, 2019
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Do not forget that in 1992, Luke Perry played Pike in the Buffy movie, and killed it.
The first time I met Luke Perry we talked about what kind of movie we wanted “Buffy” to be. I asked if he’d ever seen “Near Dark” and he gave me a look of HOW DARE YOU SIR and I knew we’d get along. Funny, committed, and always gracious. He shouldn’t be gone.
— Joss Whedon (@joss) March 4, 2019
The Simpsons
In the 1993 episode, ‘Krusty Gets Cancelled’, Luke Perry plays himself. In The Simpsons universe, he is also Krusty the Clown’s maternal half-brother. To refresh your memory, he was shot out of a cannon on the Krusty Comeback Special and smashed through several buildings. But he survived! And he makes it to the after party at Moe’s.
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
in 1996, Perry voiced Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat animated TV series.
The Fifth Element
In 1997, the world was blessed with one of the best science-fiction films of all time – The Fifth Element. And Luke Perry was a part of that. He has a minor role at the beginning as Billy, has a few lines, shoots an alien (accidentally). 10/10 would revisit this movie.
Oz
From 2001-2002 Perry played Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier in HBO’s series Oz.
Community
Never forget that Perry was Inspector Spacetime in Community in 2013, a parody of Doctor Who and an all round hero.
Perry also filmed a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Charles Manson movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, so we have that to look forward to. But other than that we can only look back at the great career Luke Perry had during his too-short lifetime.