The life and career of Shannen Doherty was made up of staggering highs and shattering lows. I’m sure there was something in-between from time to time, but relative tranquility seldom makes the trades. Doherty struck a chord in a way that was highly unusual. While undeniably talented, her acting itself was seldom the point of discussion. Doherty was both an “it girl” and a “bad girl” during her peak years. She scored iconic roles and then would often sabotage them with a remarkably consistent tendency for unprofessional on set behavior. For several years she managed to stay afloat because she was gifted and she had something that few actors have. You could call it a firestarter appeal, I suppose. If Doherty was a part of a project, eyes would inevitably turn in her direction. Before I get too far ahead of myself, maybe we should go back to the start.
Doherty was on the cusp of ten when she got her first guest acting role on network television in an episode of the family drama Father Murphy. Additional guest spots and the occasional small part on film would follow over the subsequent years. In her pre-massive fame era, her highlights include 18 episodes of Little House on the Prairie, the film Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and three seasons of another family drama, Our House, starring Wilford Brimley.
1988 would bring her the first iconic role of her life as one of the Heathers in the stunningly dark high school assassination comedy Heathers. Perhaps transgressively, Doherty played the meekest of a trio of well-heeled Heathers. Doherty’s Heather desperately wants to fit in with as a quartet of the most popular girls at Westerberg High (including Winona Ryder as the only non-Heather, Veronica). It’s seldom mentioned when the cult classic film directed by Michael Lehmann is written or talked about, but Doherty’s character is arguably the one who evolves the most–from a potential nice girl to an embracer of the wickedness once directed at her. In a somewhat cryptic statement made on his Facebook page following the announcement of Doherty’s passing, the film’s screenwriter Daniel Waters’ stated “RIP Shannen. She didn’t know it was a comedy.”
Whether Doherty saw the film as a comedy or not is secondary to the fact that the film proved to be a springboard to her most famous role as “Brenda” in Beverly Hills 90210. The series about twin teens (played by Doherty and Jason Priestly) who move from Minnesota to the heart of Hollywood was not an instant success, but took off like a rocket when Fox execs had the brilliant idea to release the second season during the summer–making it one of the very few series airing original episodes in an era when reruns dominated the small screen during the warmest months of the year. The show and its cast became instant sensations by the time summer gave way to the fall. Despite the show’s continued success, Doherty left the series in 1994, leaving a trail of well-reported “behind the scenes” debris in her wake. She was known for being relentlessly late to set, verbally abusive to cast and crew, and on at least one occasion physically violent towards co-star Jennie Garth.
The dividing line between infamy and fame can be a slender one, and Doherty rode that rail like few others. While it’s hard to say that her reputation for being exceedingly difficult was helpful to her, there’s also little evidence that it hurt her post Beverly Hills 90210. Doherty made a string of TV movies over the next four years and played the female lead in Mallrats, Kevin Smith’s follow up to his surprise indie-hit Clerks. Mallrats was a flop during its theatrical release, but later earned a sizable following.
Despite the issues producer Aaron Spelling had with Doherty on Beverly Hills 90210, he cast her again in another series, Charmed, that became a cornerstone success on the fledgling WB network. Co-starring at the series’ inception with Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs, Charmed ran for eight seasons, but Doherty would again make an early exit from a hit show. Reports of on-set issues between Doherty and Milano were rampant, and Doherty’s character was killed off at the end of season three.
After leaving (or being forced out) of Charmed, Doherty continued to work steadily, but never regained her ‘90s fame. She did reprise her role as Brenda for seven episodes on 90210, a rebooted version of her first great TV success that began airing in 2008. She also went back to the well with a short-lived TV version of Heathers that lasted just five episodes in 2018.
While Doherty’s on-camera work was seldom given much attention, her personal life continued to be tabloid fodder. She went through the dreadful experience of three failed marriages, and in 2018, her house burned to the ground. Doherty also suffered from a number of health issues. She was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in the ‘90s, a miserable affliction with a number of side effects including abdominal pain, fever, gastrointestinal issues, anemia, and fatigue, just to name a few. In 2015 Doherty revealed she had breast cancer. The disease had progressed in such a way that Doherty had to forgo a lumpectomy in favor of a unilateral mastectomy. After declaring herself to be in remission in 2017, her cancer returned just two years later and progressed quickly to stage four. By 2023 the cancer had spread to her brain and her bones. Her condition had become terminal.
I suppose the simplest way to describe Doherty is to say that she was a fighter. She fought with her fellow actors. She fought with crew members. She fought with producers and directors. She fought with everyone–including herself, I suspect. She fought even when the fighting did her no favors. She fought and fought and fought. Later in life, Doherty became more reflective (as one would hope we all would) and took ownership of her mistakes. But she was still a fighter. When cancer came calling, by all accounts, she stayed on brand. She fought like hell. That’s a fight she deserved to win.
Shannen Doherty died on July 13, 2024. She was 53 years old.
