WhenLuke Perrylanded the role of West Beverly Hills High’s bad boy, theseductive, brooding Dylan McKayonBeverly Hills, 90210, he became a superstar nearly overnight — but it never went to his head.
Speaking to PEOPLE in this week’s issue, costarCarol Potter, who played matriarch Cindy Walsh on the prime-time soap opera, remembers Perry — whodiedMonday at 52, five days aftersuffering a massive stroke— as “charming” and a “sweetheart.”
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Potter, 70, says Perry “was always ready to banter and have a little fun.”
“He could be funny,” she says. “He always seemed to be in a pretty good mood in terms of the way he showed up. He was so easy to work with.”
“Luke would go to a signing and thousands of people would show up. It was the first sign that, ‘Oh something is going on here,'” she recalls. “But I always had the sense that he had his feet on the ground, despite the brouhaha that they all went through. You had this sense that he was very grounded. I don’t know where that came from, but it’s valuable.”
Still, Potter says the fame wasn’t easy for the teen heartthrob, who was in his early 20s at the time.
Potter says Perry’s death feels “unreal.”
“It’s unimaginable,” she admits. “When you work together, there is a family-life intimacy that comes up and that never goes away. I always hoped our paths would cross again and I could get to know the incredible man that he seems to have become.”
“The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.”
In lieu of flowers, the Perry family has asked that donations be made toFight Colorectal Cancerand St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
source: people.com
