July 16, Rhonda Garelick, distinguished professor of English and Journalism at SMU Dallas, for a piece about the good girl/bad girl personas that shadowed Shannen Doherty for much of her life and career. Published in the Los Angeles Times under the heading Shannen Doherty was painted as a bad-girl ‘Veronica’ stereotype. She deserved better: https://tinyurl.com/5tpuxbpa
As Brenda Walsh on “Beverly Hills 90210,” Shannen Doherty represented a bit of reverse typecasting. She was a dark-haired, sultry beauty, her green-eyed gaze peeking out through long bangs, but she played the good girl — a Midwestern virgin lost in the Sodom of Beverly Hills. Similarly cast against type, an angelic-looking blond, Jennie Garth, played Kelly, a worldly and experienced SoCal vixen — Brenda’s best friend and, sometimes, treacherous rival.
Had Aaron Spelling deliberately set out to reverse the Betty/Veronica pop-culture (and deeply Eurocentric) stereotype, in which blonds are virtuous and brunets dangerous? Maybe. (The old Hollywood version of this is the 1950s tabloid feud between sexy brunet Elizabeth Taylor and sweet blond Debbie Reynolds, who were friends before Taylor “stole” Reynolds’ then-husband, Eddie Fisher.)
But the age-old dichotomy came roaring back anyway, in the form of a “90210” backstage plotline: Doherty developed an off-camera “bad girl” reputation. Rumors flew about her allegedly demanding and entitled behavior on set. She was a Veronica, after all. Co-stars — reportedly including Spelling’s daughter, Tori — complained, until finally, in a much-publicized move, Doherty was fired. The fallen angel was expelled from Eden.