Actress Shannen Doherty dies at 53 after long battle with cancer
Shannen Doherty, star of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Charmed” and “Mallrats,” has died at 53 after a long battle with cancer.
Shannen Doherty’s in memoriam Oscars snub was a tough pill to swallow for Tori Spelling.
In an episode of the “Let’s Be Clear” podcast released Monday, the actress said it was “heartbreaking” and “truly shocking” that Doherty, her former “Beverly Hills, 90210” co-star, was left out of the in memoriam segment at last month’s Academy Awards.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “When the in memoriam stopped and she hadn’t been included, my heart dropped. It sank.”
Spelling went on to say that Doherty, who died from cancer last year, not being honored at the Oscars “personally felt a little triggering to me because this is the third person that I love that has been left out of the” in memoriam segment after her father, producer Aaron Spelling, and her former co-star Luke Perry were also not included after their deaths.
“For all of us watching that loved her and loved her work, it felt like not only was she robbed, but we were robbed,” Spelling said.
Though Doherty was perhaps best known for her television work on shows like “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Charmed,” Spelling argued she should have been honored at the Oscars because “it’s really the big screen where her career thrived.” Doherty’s notable movie credits included “Heathers” and “Mallrats.”
Spelling spent the rest of the podcast episode looking back at Doherty’s career, offering her the tribute she felt the actress was denied at the Oscars.
Doherty, who played Brenda Walsh on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” died in July after a battle with cancer at age 53. She was one of a number of actors controversially left out of this year’s Oscars in memoriam tribute to those who died over the past year, with Olivia Hussey, Tony Todd and Michelle Trachtenberg also not included.
Perry’s absence from the Oscars’ in memoriam similarly sparked backlash in 2020 after the “Beverly Hills, 90210” actor died the previous year from a stroke.
At the time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement, “The Academy receives hundreds of requests to include loved ones and industry colleagues in the Oscars in memoriam segment. An executive committee representing every branch considers the list and makes selections for the telecast based on limited available time.”
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