Remembering Luke Perry and His Famous Roles From ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘90210’ to ‘Riverdale’ and More

‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ (1990-95; 1998-2000)

The TV series that turned Luke into a star, casting him as the angsty Dylan McKay, “bad boy” love of Shannen Doherty’s Brenda Walsh. He stuck around with the gang until 1995, when he decided to strike out on a movie career. He was back three years later for financial reasons and remained with the show for two more seasons.

Prior to 90210, he had an uncredited role in the sci-fi series Voyagers in 1982, played Ned Bates in the soap Loving (1987-88) and Kenny on Another World (1988-89).

‘Terminal Bliss’ (1992)

Luke, Tim Owen and Estee Chandler are a trio of affluent teens who think they’re deeper than they are as they immerse themselves in the worlds of sex, drugs and philosophy.

‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1992)

People forget this (or at least try to), but Joss Whedon’s Buffy Summers first came to life on the big screen in the form of Kristy Swanson. Luke plays Oliver Pike, her love interest. Joss tweeted the following in the aftermath of Luke’s passing: “The first time I met Luke Perry we talked about what kind of movie we wanted Buffy to be. I asked if he’d ever seen Near Dark and he gave me a look of how dare you, sir and I knew we’d get along. Funny, committed, and always gracious. He shouldn’t be gone.”

‘8 Seconds’ (1994)

Set in the 1980s, Luke plays cowboy Lane Frost who becomes a professional bull-riding champion, while simultaneously dealing with the challenges of married life and the injuries he endures as a result of his career. Besides playing Lane, Luke also produced the film “just as much as anybody,” he told americancowboy. “And it was my first time to be in that position. I was there to protect the story, the character, and Lane’s legacy. That’s what was important to me. One of the hardest parts of doing a movie about a real-life person is that you owe — I think — a measure of integrity to the story and who they were. There’s always going to be a time that you have to take dramatic license, but I try to make sure those times wouldn’t stretch the truth too far. There were some elements of the story I could protect and some [I couldn’t]. It’s like anything else that gets done by committee; you win some and you lose some.”

‘Normal Life’ (1996)

This does not sound like a mix that’s going to work: Luke is a cop named Chris and Ashley Judd is his lover turned wife, Pam, a drug addict. They nonetheless marry, he loses his job and, to keep the little woman happy, he is hired as a bank security guard, eventually deciding to rob the bank so the couple won’t have to struggle. Sure, that’s one way to go.

‘American Strays’ (1996)

A number of sordid characters (including a masochist and a serial killer) run into each other in an isolated desert community. The cast includes Luke, Eric Roberts, Jennifer Tilly and John Savage.

‘The Fifth Element’ (1997)

This Luc Besson adventure set in the 23rd century is focused primarily on New York City cabbie Korben Dallas, whose life is changed when Milla Jovovich’s Leeloo ends up in his cab and reveals the fact that the world will end if she — the fifth element — is not reunited with the other four. Luke has a supporting role as Billy Masterson.

‘Oz’ (HBO Series, 2001-02)

Luke appeared in a total of 10 episodes of HBO’s brutal prison series playing Jeremiah Cloutier. He joined the show in season four when his character is jailed for embezzling funds from his church. Once in Oz, he continues to serve as a preacher, converting prisoners to Evangelical Christianity. Sadly there’s a disagreement with a biker gang and things don’t end up too well for Jeremiah.

‘Jeremiah’ (Showtime Series, 2002-04)

Speaking of Jeremiah, that just happens to be the name of his next show and its lead character. Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, Wikipedia describes his character as follows: “While roaming the country on a quest to locate a mysterious place called Valhalla Sector, which his father claimed might hold some hope for the survivors of the big death, Jeremiah comes in contact with a group who not only has information on Valhalla Sector, but also the resources to rebuild the world. In Season 2, Jeremiah is put in charge of rebuilding the town Millhaven.” There was no Season 3. Malcolm-Jamal Warner from The Cosby Show costars.

‘Windfall’ (TV Series, 2006)

In a nutshell, this television series is about a group of people in a small town who win a near-$400 million lottery, and the focus is on how the money impacts on them and their various relationships. Luke is Peter Schaefer. The show lasted a total of 13 episodes.

‘Alice Upside Down’ (2007)

Definitely a supporting role for Luke as a father who, following the death of his wife, moves his kids to a new town where his daughter, Alice McKinley (Alyson Stoner), finds no refuge in this new place. To “survive,” she escapes into her imagination.

‘The Sandlot: Heading Home’ (2007)

This second made for video sequel to 1993’s The Sandlot sees Luke as arrogant Major League Baseball star Tommy Santorelli, who, after getting hit in the head with a baseball, finds himself back at the beginning: the sandlot he played at as a kid, gradually rediscovering his true passion for the game.

‘A Gunfighter’s Pledge’ (2008)

Complications arise in the Old West when Luke’s Matt Austin, an ex-lawman, accidentally kills an innocent man while hunting for the person who murdered his family. Honoring a pledge he makes to the dying man, Matt brings his body to his sister’s farm, but there finds himself confronting a vicious land baron and an unexpected connection between them.

‘A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride’ (2008)

Here’s the film’s official description: “A wedding planner is horrified when her mother announces she intends to marry a man she has only known for a short time. Convinced this is a dreadful mistake, the desperate daughter makes every effort to put a stop to the wedding.” Luke is Charlie, the guy working with the daughter to stop the marriage from taking place.

‘Angel and the Badman’ (2009)

Pretty much a straight remake of the John Wayne 1947 original: Quirt Evans, an all round bad guy, is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth, a Quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose between his world and the world Penelope lives in. Which side of that dilemma do you think Luke falls on?

‘Redemption Road’ (2010)

Supporting role for Luke in a film about a stranger (Michael Clarke Duncan) who helps a would-be-musician (Morgan Simpson) achieve his goals, doing so for reasons of his own.

‘Good Intentions’ (2010)

When Chester Milford (Luke) spends his family’s money on various inventions he comes up with, his wife, Etta (Elaine Hendrix), hatches a plan to raise the funds her family desperately needs, including blackmailing the sheriff, robbing the grocery store and even holding up Chester’s liquor store.

‘Goodnight for Justice’ (Three TV Films, 2011-2012)

Luke plays Circuit judge John Goodnight who travels throughout the Old West in the 1880s, where he takes on a number of legal cases in small towns. It’s a character he played a total of three times in the Hallmark Channel TV movies Goodnight for Justice (2011), Goodnight for Justice: The Measure of a Man (2012) and Goodnight for Justice: Queen of Hearts (2013).

The appeal of the Old West setting of these films, he told Cablefax.com, is “just the technical difficulties that folks would have to endure for day-to-day survival … I think that would be what people today would call a Herculean effort. And it’s a testament of the better part of human character that people were able to do that and withstand that. So that’s what it is about the time that interests me. Today, with social media, you can check in on 1500 people … Back then, if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to saddle up a horse, get on that thing, ride through the distance and really think about what you were saying and who you were saying it to, how much you really needed the thing you were going to get and what it was going to cost you. It was a time when consideration needed to be applied more in life, and I find that compelling.”

‘Body of Proof’ (TV Series 2012-13, 5 Episodes)

Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) was a brilliant neurosurgeon at the top of her game until a devastating car accident ended her time in the operating room. But rather than end her medical career, Megan becomes a medical examiner — one who develops a reputation for graying the line of where her job ends and the police begin their jobs. Dylan appeared on five episodes of the series playing CDC Officer Dr. Charlie Stafford. 

‘Red Wing’ (2013)

A romantic western drama based on George Sand’s Francois Le Champi, about a young orphan, who, despite overwhelming odds, goes from being a boy to a man. Starring with Luke are Breann Johnson, Glen Powell and Bill Paxton.

‘Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise’ (2015)

Tom Selleck is retired Police Chief Jesse Stone, who is asked to work as a consultant on an unsolved murder case in Boston. Local police suspect the Boston Ripper is to blame, but Stone’s experience and expertise is needed to crack the case. Luke plays the serial killer and delivers a particularly creepy performance.

‘Riverdale’ (2017-)

The characters from Archie Comics come to life in the CW’s oftentimes dark and twisted take on the material. In it, Luke plays Archie Andrews’ father, Fred, owner of a construction company. As Luke told the New York Post, “It’s so great for me to be able to play a guy who’s a committed father, who wants the best thing for his kid. There’s no sports car, there’s no dangerousness to this guy … He just wants to keep whatever of his family he can together, and those are noble ambitions.” In the same interview, he also said that he offered this advice to his young costars: “You guys got to do the same thing we did [on 90210], just concentrate on your work. Don’t think about any of the other s- -t, the magazine covers, the this, the that — all that goes away if you don’t do your work.”

Luke’s last role is reportedly going to be Quentin Tarantino’s feature film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.