On Monday, March 4, 2019 the news of Luke Perry’s death spread across the internet like wildfire. My Facebook news feed was filled with people, mostly women my age, expressing heartbreak and disbelief. I also saw a lot of posts mocking the fact that people were upset about the death of a person they had never met.
When I first heard the news on Monday, I was somewhere in the middle. I was shocked and sad. Though I heard he had a stroke the previous week, I just assumed he’d recover and get some rehab, maybe have a speech or mobility impairment. But it never occurred to me that he would die, at 52, of something I only think of as affecting people in their 80s. The realization that something like a stroke could claim the life of a person who I considered a contemporary was a hard thing to reconcile. And with his death I was also reminded of what a huge part of my life Dylan McKay (Luke Perry’s Beverly Hills, 90210 character) really was.
And it seemed the more I thought about it, the sadder I became.
I first met Dylan McKay when I was twelve. I was in seventh grade at Margaret Milliones Middle School in Pittsburgh. West Beverly High was as foreign a place as I could imagine, like a gilded castle on the Moon or a circus tent on Venus. The characters, while only supposed to be a few years older than me, were so grown up and glamorous. Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that many of the actors playing high school students were in their 20s. Beverly Hills 90210 was the first show that I watched that featured characters around my age that wasn’t a corny sitcom or wasn’t broadcast on a kiddie channel like Nickelodeon.
Twelve is an interesting age. You’re not a little kid but you’re certainly not a grown up. The tween concept didn’t really exist back then. At 12, Puberty is in full swing and hormones are raging. Stumbling on to a show like 90210 that provided equal parts scandal, sex appeal, and saccharine moments was a revelation. I loved the show, specifically, I loved Dylan McKay. He was the sensitive bad boy with perfect hair and a cool car. He was dangerous-seeming, but in a totally harmless way; like the guy who burns rubber out of the parking lot or wears his sunglasses in class. He may call your dad “pops” and ask your mom if she’s your sister. He had just enough of a rebel spirit to excite but wasn’t really causing that much of a ruckus. And it helped tremendously that the actor who played him, Luke Perry, was extremely handsome.
90201 was broadcast on Thursday night. I remember waking up on Thursday mornings a little happier. During such a tumultuous time in a young person’s life, or at least mine, there weren’t a lot of mornings I woke up excited for the day, but Thursdays were different.
You see, the Book Rack, a great used book store in Dormont was open late on Thursdays. I could walk there after getting off the bus, then I could watch 90210 later that night. Friday at school, my friends and I would analyze everything that happened in Thursday’s episode. And on extra awesome Fridays, we’d have a sleepover and maybe even watch the episode again if one of my friends had taped it! We’d stay up late imagining what it would be like to be students at Beverly Hills High. We’d compare the attractiveness of the characters, relative to each other, and also talk about what the girls on the show were wearing.
Prior to Luke Perry’s death, I hadn’t thought about 90210 or that time in my life very much. It made me fondly remember twelve year old Ryan who thought she was so grown up, but was still a little kid in so many ways. It was nice to think about the friends I had back then and how much fun we used to have doing virtually nothing.
It also was a harsh reminder of my own age and mortality.
Of course you hear of deaths every day. People are, sadly, dying all around us, all the time. But to think of the iconic bad boy Dylan McKay suffering and then dying from a stroke, just seemed unreal, My brain could not even reconcile how it was possible. I often have to remind myself that I’m 40 – but something like this is a pretty effective reminder.
About ten years ago, Luke Perry appeared at a comicon and was taking pictures with fans. One, in particular, looked like a prom picture. My friend Mamie and I had talked about our mutual fascination with 90210 in our younger years and she had shared the article and pictures with me. She and I chatted about Dylan (and the rest of the characters) and I shared with her how much I loved him back in the day. I then lamented how sad I was that he wasn’t travelling around the country taking prom-style pictures with fans. And she created this gem for me. I love it so much.
And just a brief tangent – the first time I ever met my husband, in 1995, he was at a mutual friend’s apartment watching Beverly Hills 90210. He didn’t really talk to me because he was so annoyed that my friend and I showed up and interrupted the show, you see I was taping it at home ?.
Luke Perry’s death hit a lot of people hard– no one is saying they feel the loss as greatly has his loved ones, but for a lot of people my age, it’s a huge loss. And I know my feelings are not unique, here’s what two friends (among many) had to say about how Luke Perry’s death impacted them and what Dylan McKay/90210 meant to them…
“It’s just so surreal to me. He was my first crush. You know as cheesy as it sounds, him and Brenda’s relationship may have represented certain ideals I had looking back! The bad boy charm, nice car and good hair are things that have attracted me to partners throughout my younger days. Although my husband is more of a Brandon lol. It reminds me of my own mortality too. As we remember him as a great parent and actor who we met many moons ago and approach our own winters in life…what do we want to be remembered for? Heck what do we want to remember?”- Samantha
“I was in high school when 90210 started on the air, and the characters were in the same grade as I was at the time. As they went through high school, college, and life after college, so were my friends and I. I even wore the same prom dress as Brenda and Kelly. And just like Kelly, I’d alternate crushes on Brandon and Dylan, lol!
It was easy to relate to them, because we were going through the same pivotal milestones at the same time. The show followed my growing up from a teenager into an adult.
Luke Perry’s death affected me in a way that I didn’t expect. It was as if a part of my past was ripped away. He was also not that much older than me. To see someone’s life taken from them so suddenly was a harsh reminder of how life is fragile.” – Meghan
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. And maybe I’ll see you after school at The Peach Pit.
Rest in Peace, Luke Perry.
