DEATH NOTICE: SHANNON DORHETY, AGE 54

I remember Shannon in television commercials ... I was just a kid, but a bit older than her ...

I remember Shannon on "Little House on the Prarie" ... she played Laura and Almonzo Wilder's niece - placed with them (I want to say her parents died, but if I remember correctly, her father comes for her later on) ... I remember the episodes where she was trapped under water - she basically drowned, but came back to life - but she had suffered the same symptomes as a stroke.

And that's when I learned what ACTING really looked like!
She played it so well!

Then she grew up ... she starred in "Beverly Hill 90210", the original, as the female half of  fraternal twins ... oops - didn't realize all that was in italic.
She left the show - I'm not sure if she left of her own accord ... or if ...  there were several different rumors out there:
~She wanted a huge raise, they said no, she walked
~She was constantly late for shooting, so they let her go
~She didn't get along wih Tory Spelling (duaghter of Aaron Spelling), and Troy got her fired
~She simply wanted to move on to other projects

I know it was said, she was a horrid to work with for the majoriy of her career ... but .... isn't that just Hollywood?

I mean - well, I'll wait on that one ...

Then we didn't hear from her for quite a bit ...
I'm sure she was working - but I'm going to guess that I simply didn't watch those shows.

Then she starred in "Charmed" ... Pru Halliwell ... I have 2 daughters - and they absolutely love this show ...
Still watch it on cable ...
And we found that EACH of us fit into that catagory of the sisters (I didn't have sisters, so I find this kind of interesting) ...

My youngest was very much a "Piper" personality - cook, caring, but she was NOT the middle sister.
My oldest was a bit more like Pheobe - intuitive, romance, self-reliantt.
I was more the Pru - of course I was, after all, she was "mother" to them all.

So, when they killed Pru off ... we were all very sad ... my girls, although they knew it was a show - learned about"death" in a new light.

And I think it helped them, well one of them, with the passing of my mother, their Babka ... and later with the passings of their other grandparents, as well.

We hadn't heard much of Shannon Dorhety, for the longest time ... we heard she was still getting residuals from the Charmed series (since she is still listed as a producer) ... and that she was having some issue with the other cast members on that show as well ...

Did you know that the gal who played Piper, actually was NOT the original one cast for that roll?
If you watch very closely at the beginning of Season 1, Episdoe 1, you will see a woman standing in front of the Halliwell house, there's a woman holding an umbrella - this scene was shot while the original actress was still "Piper" - but since it was a "pilot", they couldn't see reshooting it - they clipped it down, making sure her face couldn't be seen.

But - that's getting off subject.

I heard she had cancer about 10-15 years ago - and it took it out of her ... I remember an interview she did, with her head wrapped with a scarf, because the chemotherapy had attacked her hair ...

Then she disappeared.
We had assumed she had died from that cancer ...

Then there was a clip of her with a new project - we were shocked, but glad to see she had survived (don't know why we never simply checked IMdB.com) ...
But that project fell through.

Then, again, a long silence ... she didn't show up on our radar at all.

Then there was talk about yet anoher bout of cancer ... but we never heard much about it ...

Apparently, this must have been the round that has eventually taken her life.
[omg - have I been spelling "apparently" wrong all this time?]

She will be missed ... perhaps not as much as Piper or Pheobe - I'm sorry, but they will forever be known by those names ...
In fact, when I let my oldest daughter know, I didn't say "Shannon Dorhety died" ... I said "Pru died".  She didn't understand so I had to explain - but she said Shannon Dorhety/Pru had just put out a new podcast ... 

My daughter, needless to say, was completely shocked.

We send our sympathies to Shannon's family, friends, and collegues ... here's hoping bad feelings can be set aside (I'm talking to you, Phoebe) ... 

She's at Peace ... she's no longer in pain ... and she is on the greatest adventure of all.