"He was 48. Van Der Beek announced his diagnosis of Stage 3 colon cancer in November 2024. His family wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, "Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.""
"'Dawson's really came on the scene and felt different, looked different,' Bindig Yousman says. It was different, she points out, from other popular teen shows at the time such as Beverly Hills, 90210. 'It wasn't these rich kids. It was supposed to be normal kids, but they were a little bit more intelligent and aware of the world around them It was attainable in some way. It was reflective.'"
James Van Der Beek, best known for playing Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek, died at 48. He announced a Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis in November 2024, and his family said he passed peacefully and asked for privacy while grieving. Van Der Beek began acting at 13 in Cheshire, Conn., after a football injury; he led a school production of Grease, joined local theater and signed with an agent in New York at 16. He rose to fame at 21 when cast as 15-year-old Dawson Leery, starring in Dawson's Creek for six seasons and millions of weekly viewers. Dawson's Creek helped establish the WB and influenced teen dramas by portraying more attainable, reflective teenage characters compared with contemporaries like Beverly Hills, 90210.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]