SHANNEN DOHERTY
Born: April 12, 1971 – July 13, 2024 Height: 5'3"
Shannen Maria Doherty was an American actress and director. During her career in film and television, Doherty played a number of notable characters, including Jenny Wilder in
Little House on the Prairie (1982–1983); Maggie Malene in
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985); Kris Witherspoon in
Our House (1986–1988); Heather Duke in
Heathers (1989); Brenda Walsh in
Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–1994),
90210 (2008–2009), and
BH90210 (2019); Rene Mosier in
Mallrats (1995); and Prue Halliwell in
Charmed (1998–2001).
Dorherty was born in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1982, Doherty had guest spots on TV series including
Voyagers! and
Father Murphy, which was created and produced by Michael Landon. The same year, 11-year-old Doherty won the recurring role of Jenny Wilder in
Little House on the Prairie, which Landon starred in and produced.
Doherty's first major motion picture role was in
Heathers, in 1989. She went on to star in the Aaron Spelling-produced TV series
Beverly Hills 90210 for four years, from 1990 to 1994. Although her departure from the series was reportedly acrimonious, it didn't stop Spelling from casting her in another series,
Charmed. She left that series in 2001, after three years (rumors persisted that her departure was against her will, due to a feud with co-star
Alyssa Milano). She hosted
Scare Tactics on the Sci Fi channel until the 2004 season. She was on the failed TV series
North Shore, a return to her prime-time soap roots.
In 2005, she was cast in the new TV comedy Love Inc. but was dropped from the show just months before the debut in fall. She recently starred in the popular British sitcom
Bo In The USA. Doherty is now starring in her own show,
Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty on the Oxygen network. Doherty posed for a nine-page pictorial in the December 2003 issue of Playboy magazine.
Her private life has also been turbulent, with a six month marriage to Ashley Hamilton, son of George Hamilton. She was also married to Rick Salomon (most famous for starring in the
Paris Hilton sex tape). That marriage was later annulled. Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. The divorce from Kurt Iswarienko was finalized just one day before she died after a long battle with cancer.
Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, which spread to her lymph nodes in 2016. In 2017, she said her cancer was in remission, but her illness returned in 2019 and in 2023 she revealed the cancer had spread to her brain and was terminal. On July 13, 2024, Doherty died from cancer at her home in Malibu, California, at the age of 53.
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