Shannen Doherty obituary: Remembering the Beverly Hills 'badass'

Remembering Shannen Doherty, the Beverly Hills 'badass' 9 hours ago Share Getty Images Fans are mourning US actress Shannen Doherty, who has died the age of 53 of cancer. "It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty," her publicist, Leslie Sloane said. Doherty enjoyed a screen career spanning four decades as the star of hit TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed.

Although Doherty and the characters she played usually seemed to inhabit a glossier, more beautiful world, she was always someone viewers could relate to on screen, and was a self-proclaimed "badass" in real life. The Memphis-born star began acting as a child with appearances in TV series such as Voyagers, Our House and Father Murphy, before joining the cast of the long-running Little House on the Prairie as Jenny Wilder at the age of 11 in 1982. Her first major film role came in 1985 with Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which also starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt.

Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty dead at 53 Getty Images Left-right: Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker and Winona Ryder in 1988's Heathers Three years later, she played Heather Duke, a member of the high school clique in cult 1988 teen drama Heathers, starring alongside Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk and Kim Walker. When a rebooted television series was commissioned in 2016, Doherty played the mother of one of the new generation of Heathers. In 1990, Doherty landed the biggest role of her career.