Coy Luther “Luke” Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He also starred as Fred Andrews on the CW series Riverdale, had guest roles on notable shows such as Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Simpsons, and Will & Grace, and also starred in several films, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), 8 Seconds (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), his final feature performance.
From 2001 to 2002, he starred in the HBO prison drama Oz, as the Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier.[20] From 2002 to 2004 he starred in the post-apocalyptic television series Jeremiah.[21] Perry went on to star in a 2002 television movie called The Triangle.[22] In 2006, Perry co-starred in the ensemble drama series Windfall, about a group of friends who win the lottery. The series ran for 13 episodes during the summer of 2006 on NBC.[7] In 2007, he landed the role of Tommy “Santa” Santorelli on the film The Sandlot: Heading Home, and he appeared in the 2008 western A Gunfighter’s Pledge.[23][24] Perry also appeared in the 2007 HBO series John from Cincinnati.[25] He also starred in the Swedish film Äntligen Midsommar (Finally Midsummer), which was released in the summer of 2009.[26]
Perry did considerable voice-over work for various animated series, usually playing himself. He played himself (as Krusty the Clown‘s half brother) in “Krusty Gets Kancelled“, an episode of The Simpsons (1993).[27] He voiced himself in an episode of Johnny Bravo, giving Johnny dating advice after Johnny saved him from a stampede of fan girls. Perry parodied himself in “The Story on Page One“, an episode of Family Guy, in which he sues Peter Griffin for calling him gay in a newspaper article.[28] His other voice work includes The Incredible Hulk, Biker Mice from Mars, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and The Night of the Headless Horseman.[29][7]
Perry guest-starred as gay characters in the sitcoms Spin City (1997) and Will & Grace (2005); in the former, he appeared as Carter Heywood’s ex-boyfriend who subsequently fell in love with a woman, and in the latter he played a geeky birdwatcher who catches the eye of Jack McFarland.[30] In 2005, Perry was reunited with former 90210 co-star Jennie Garth when he guest-starred on What I Like About You in a loose parody of their 90210 characters’ relationship.[31] In 2008, Perry guest-starred as rapist Noah Sibert in the season premiere of the television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[32] He also guest-starred as cult leader Benjamin Cyrus in an episode of Criminal Minds. In late 2009, Perry starred in The Killers‘ music video for their fourth annual Christmas single, “¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe!“.[33]
The same year, Perry participated in the Thomas Nelson’s audio Bible production known as The Word of Promise. In this dramatized audio, Perry played both Saint Stephen and Judas Iscariot. The project also featured a large ensemble of other well-known Hollywood actors, including Jim Caviezel, Louis Gossett Jr., John Rhys-Davies, Jon Voight, Gary Sinise, Jason Alexander, Christopher McDonald, Marisa Tomei, Stacy Keach and John Schneider.[34][35]
Perry appeared on Broadway in 2001 in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show, playing Brad Majors.[36] In 2004, he appeared in the London production of When Harry Met Sally … as Harry, alongside Alyson Hannigan as Sally.[37] He played a con man/psychic in a second-season episode of Leverage in 2010,[38] and then appeared as the American version of Inspector Spacetime in an episode of Community in 2013, titled “Biology 101“.[39]
From 2017 until his death, Perry starred as Frederick “Fred” Andrews, Archie’s father and owner of Andrews Construction, on the CW series Riverdale.[4] Starting with “Chapter Forty-Nine: Fire Walk with Me”, the first episode to air following his death, all new episodes of the series would be dedicated to him.[40] He played Canadian actor Wayne Maunder in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, about 1960s Hollywood around the time of the Charles Manson murders.[41] Directed by Quentin Tarantino, it was Perry’s final film role.
