Sunshine, laughter and beautiful people were the staples of Beverly Hills, 90210 – the frothy 1990s drama about teens growing up in a swanky area of Los Angeles – and enthralled viewers watched in their millions.
Cast members became superstars and by series two security was brought in on set to protect them from desperate fans who tried everything to catch a glimpse of their idols.
Fast forward 30 years and tragically two of the leads have died: Shannen Doherty (who played Brenda Walsh) less than two months ago after a near-decade-long battle with breast cancer and Luke Perry (Dylan McKay) in 2019 of a stroke. Both were only in their early 50s. Unsurprisingly, it’s left their pal and fellow lead Jason Priestley, who played Brenda’s brother Brandon, devastated; they were a tight-knit gang thrown in to the spotlight at a formative age.
But as he explains, losing friends is something he’s been dealing with for decades – not to mention the near-death experience he had himself aged 32, when his car crashed at 180mph.
Jason Priestly as Brandon and Shannen Doherty asBrenda in Beverley Hills 90210
In 2002 he was doing a practice lap in his Indy car in Kentucky when he lost control and hit two concrete walls on the track. He suffered concussion and had surgery for a broken back, fractured feet and head and facial injuries. He feared he’d be paralysed, but amazingly he was able to walk soon after, with intensive rehabilitation.
‘I think losing anyone who’s around your age is incredibly difficult,’ laments Jason, 55. ‘I’ve unfortunately been dealing with loss since my 20s and early 30s when I was a professional race car driver and losing friends around my age or even younger. I think it makes you look at life differently and try to make the most of every day.
‘Having a near-death experience affects you. After my accident, I was dead for a certain amount of time. My heart stopped in the helicopter on the way to the hospital; I was bleeding profusely from a couple of injuries. Luckily the physicians all met me on the roof of the hospital with bags of O negative blood and restarted my heart. Then my heart stopped again in the operating room and they had to restart it again.
‘I’d already lost one of my good friends in a race car crash, and then, as I was recovering from my accident, I lost another good friend in a crash. So those three experiences changed my perspective on life. It was tough and my recovery was difficult but also, looking back, it was an incredible growing experience for me. It taught me a lot about mental toughness, commitment and perseverance. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone, but I wouldn’t change the experience for myself.’
Priestley was airlifted to hospital after crashing his racing car into a wall in 2002
It’s that mental resilience that gave Jason the strength to deal with the deaths of his two former cast mates. It also meant he made the most of his time with Shannen before she died – including joining her in the reunion series of 90210 that they filmed in 2019. Luke had his stroke on the same day the reboot was confirmed and died five days later, and Jason admits they all found filming hard without him.
‘We all felt like family,’ he explains. ‘We had fun at work and outside of work too. Luke was a big part of our cast, we all loved him, so filming the reunion made it difficult. And Shannen was a great kid. She obviously had some struggles like everybody and was very forthcoming about all that.’ Child star Shannen had a tumultuous life and career, and stories of verbal and physical fights filled the gossip columns. Her one-time fiancé, the Max Factor heir Dean Factor, claimed that she threatened to kill him.
But Jason remained a close friend. ‘Being able to spend as much time with her as I did, especially in the last few years, is something I’m thankful for,’ he says. ‘So when she passed, I felt there was nothing left between us that had been unsaid. Shannen fought that cancer for as long and as hard as she could and was able to maintain her career and her life; she was impressive in the way she fought.’
Jason grew up in North Vancouver, Canada, and started acting in TV ads in the 1980s. He got his first major role in 1989 alongside Stephanie Beacham in orphanage drama Sister Kate, playing one of her charges. Then in 1990, aged 20, he was cast as Brandon Walsh and instantly became a teen idol, constantly on magazine covers around the globe.
Nowadays Jason spends a good chunk of his working life behind the camera,
‘It changed my life, but during the first series it was freewheeling and low key,’ he recalls. ‘I just had to be at work at 6am, was done by 8pm and I went home, ate some food and did my homework for the next day. Then all of a sudden in the second season we had security trying to keep fans away. So we’d hang out as an entire cast on Friday nights, if we weren’t working, at this Mexican place where they had a karaoke night. We’d drink margaritas, eat tacos and sing karaoke. It was super fun.’
It was on 90210 that he was given the opportunity to direct and produce alongside executive producer Aaron Spelling, whose other shows included Dynasty and Charlie’s Angels, and he ended up directing five episodes a season. ‘It was a great opportunity for me to learn from the master,’ Jason says.
Nowadays Jason spends a good chunk of his working life behind the camera, but a recent acting role is playing ice hockey talent scout Gerry McNamara in six-part drama Börje – The Journey Of A Legend, which tells the life story of Swedish ice hockey star Börje Salming. Being a fan and sometimes player of the sport, it was an opportunity Jason relished. ‘I grew up watching Börje play. He became a legend – the first European player to be inducted into the NHL [National Hockey League] Hall of Fame.’
But whatever he’s working on, Jason makes sure he doesn’t spend too much time away from the home in Nashville he shares with his wife, British make-up artist and fitness instructor Naomi Lowde, and their children Ava, 17, and Dashiell, 15.
‘I embrace getting older because it’s gonna happen either way. But for a guy who was on a show where it wasn’t necessarily focused on looks but it became a big part of the show – all the teen magazines were full of pictures of Luke, Brian [Austin Green, who played David Silver] and me every month – that now feels like a lifetime ago. And I think that’s part of growing older; the exploits you engage in when you’re young definitely feel like a different time.’
Börje – The Journey Of A Legend is streaming on Viaplay, via Amazon.
