Editorial Content for A Good Bad Boy: Luke Perry and How a Generation Grew Up
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The almighty pretty boy duo of Luke Perry and Jason Priestley came around once in a generation, and they had their faces plastered everywhere in the ’90s. We all heard about the fights on the set of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” the possible romances, the smart-aleck responses to the first generation of internet journalists. A monolith like Aaron Spelling’s enormously successful drama was impenetrable; we all thought it would go on forever.
So did Margaret Wappler. In her book, A GOOD BAD BOY, she takes us on a journey into the life of the kind and gentle idol who played the most James Dean-esque bad boy network TV has ever seen. She also gives us a look into her growing up alongside Perry, a never-ending fandom writ large enough to turn him into an icon forever.
"This book will appeal to anyone who loves the ’90s, remembers what life was like before we were all online, and recalls the first time they fell in love. Luke Perry certainly would be honored to have been remembered so graciously and lovingly as he is in these pages."
Luke Perry is an American success story. He came to the West from the Midwest, a gentle-voiced kid with a great sense of humor and charisma pouring out of him. As a young actor, Perry lived in seedy places, took classes and had lousy jobs --- all the usual actor-trying-to-make-it stuff. However, what separated him from the pack was an innate intelligence and a love of commitment and dedication to his craft. He never acted like he was better than anyone else. In fact, there is only one story about him being gruff towards the end of his career when he was working with unruly kids and animals.
And Perry was, according to everyone from his costars to other celebrities, the kindest, nicest, most focused actor any of them had ever worked with in any format. Whether it was on stage or on screen, a short or a feature, he was prepared, serious about what he was doing, and always ready to impart some wisdom and a caring hand to anybody who needed it.
Wappler splits her chapters between her own tales of growing up and the timeline of Perry’s career, ending with his untimely death. Her reminiscences about her attachment to “90210” --- as well as her growing up, leaving home, and following her favorite actor’s trajectory almost as closely as her own through marriage, divorce and remarriage --- is a nice idea, but it does tend to overshadow Perry's story, which is a compelling drama in itself. As I read Wappler’s account of her life, my mind kept drifting back to where I was at that time, and her stories of getting older found a real foothold in my own memories. I was more than engaged.
Wappler is a good writer, with an easy style and a way of putting deep emotions and events into digestible chunks. A GOOD BAD BOY is a fairly wholesome series of stories about love and commitment in many different guises, led by the rollercoaster career of one of contemporary television’s most legendary stars. It’s two interesting stories put together, but like a newfangled holiday Oreo, its two tastes are fighting for attention. And the celebrity story wins.
This book will appeal to anyone who loves the ’90s, remembers what life was like before we were all online, and recalls the first time they fell in love. Luke Perry certainly would be honored to have been remembered so graciously and lovingly as he is in these pages.
Teaser
Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills 90210,” Luke Perry was 52 years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of ’90s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished icons --- with recent roles in the hit series “Riverdale” and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood bringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture. In A GOOD BAD BOY, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers.
Promo
Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills 90210,” Luke Perry was 52 years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of ’90s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished icons --- with recent roles in the hit series “Riverdale” and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood bringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture. In A GOOD BAD BOY, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers.
About the Book
An artful and contemplative tribute to the late actor famed for his role as Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210."
Best known for playing loner rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills 90210," Luke Perry was 52 years old when he died of a stroke in 2019. There have been other deaths of '90s stars, but this one hit different. Gen X was reminded of their own inescapable mortality and robbed of an exciting career resurgence for one of their most cherished icons --- with recent roles in the hit series "Riverdale" and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood bringing him renewed attention and acclaim. Only upon his death, as stories poured out online about his authenticity and kindness, did it become clear how little was known about the exceedingly humble actor and how deeply he impacted popular culture.
In A GOOD BAD BOY, Margaret Wappler attempts to understand who Perry was and why he was unique among his Hollywood peers. To do so, she uses an inventive hybrid narrative. She speaks with dozens who knew Perry personally and professionally. They share insightful anecdotes: how he kept connected to his Ohio upbringing; nearly blew his "90210" audition; tried to shed his heartthrob image by joining the HBO prison drama "Oz;" and, in the last year of his life, sought to set up two of his newly divorced friends. (After his death, the pair bonded in their grief and eventually married.) Amid these original interviews and exhaustive archival research, Wappler weaves poignant vignettes of memoir in which she serves as an avatar to show how Perry shaped a generation’s views on masculinity, privilege and the ideal of “cool.”
Timed to the fifth anniversary of Perry’s death, A GOOD BAD BOY is a profound and entertaining examination of what it means to be an artist and an adult.
Audiobook available; read by Jennifer Jill Araya and George Newbern, with Margaret Wappler
