Kelly Taylor
Comments27this wiki
| Kelly Taylor | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Birth date |
1975 |
| Occupation |
Guidance Counselor at West Beverly Hills High School |
| Relationships | |
| Family |
Jackie Taylor (mother) |
| Romances |
Ross Webber (one-night stand) |
| Series information | |
| Series | |
| Portrayed by | |
| First episode | |
| Last episode | |
Kelly Marlene Taylor, portrayed by Jennie Garth, was the lead female character of Beverly Hills, 90210 for the majority of the show's duration. Introduced in the original series' premiere, Kelly appears prominently in a majority of the shows which compose the Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity. She was instrumental in launching the franchise's first spin-off, Melrose Place, and returned for the third spin-off, 90210.
A survivor of several perils and personal challenges, Kelly is presented as a young woman who grows from self-absorbed teenage beginnings toward a gradually more sensitive and mature adulthood. Along the way, she gains the romantic attention of many, but begins to cherish a select few. Having appeared in the most series premieres, as well as the most episodes of any figure throughout the continuity, she is the de facto central character of the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise.
Contents |
Beverly Hills, 90210
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Season 1
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(the character's first scene)
Added by James26When introduced, Kelly was presented as a popular, privileged girl who placed high value on posh appearances and material possessions. However, the character's layers would become increasingly revealed throughout the progression of the continuity's first series.
Kelly is the daughter of Jackie and Bill Taylor. Her father was largely absent during Kelly's childhood.
Kelly met Steve Sanders and Dylan McKay when they were each children, and would know both of them well into her adult years—initially dating the former, while harboring a recurring crush on the latter. Another pivotal introduction in Kelly's life came during her high school years, when she met a family that had recently moved from Minnesota to Beverly Hills.


Added by Silver09In the Season 1 episode "Perfect Mom," Kelly's mother Jackie was revealed to have a drug addiction, which created an occasionally difficult home environment. During the episode "Slumber Party," Kelly revealed that her first sexual experience occurred when she was essentially date-raped by an attractive jock named Ross. This had led her into an irresponsible and promiscuous lifestyle that she would later regret, as it eventually hurt her self-esteem.



Added by Silver09Season 2
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Added by Silver09Kelly soon met Jake, a construction worker in his twenties who was an old friend and mentor of Dylan's. While she was openly drawn to him, Jake ultimately refused to embrace their attraction due to the fact that Kelly was still a teenager. This story line was used to launch the series Melrose Place—the first spin-off in the Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity. After pursuing Jake throughout Los Angeles and eventually releasing her hold on him, Kelly returned to Beverly Hills.
Season 3
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Added by Silver09Brenda and Dylan had been romantically linked, off and on, for the first two seasons when Brenda left to spend a summer in Paris, accompanied by her and Kelly's friend Donna. During this time, an attraction developed between Dylan and Kelly at the Beverly Hills Beach Club. Kelly revealed a conscience as the fling progressed, often being the one to express guilt and reluctance, while at the same time finding it difficult to resist her nearly lifelong crush. The pair's feelings began to progress from simple flirtation to genuine affection. Once the summer ended, Kelly often found it hard to watch Brenda and Dylan together again.
After Dylan and Brenda had broken up, Kelly questioned Brenda about her feelings on Dylan's new love life. Brenda stated that he was free to date whoever he wanted, and Kelly began seeing him next. Upon discovering this, however, Brenda became angered and felt betrayed. After all three had reconciled, Dylan was told that he would eventually have to choose between the two girls.


Added by Silver09  Following a comment about her figure, Kelly began abusing diet pills. She was further stressed by the discovery that her mother planned on selling the home she'd grown up in. The anxiety eventually led her to be briefly hospitalized after passing out, with strict orders to eat normally upon her recovery.
Kelly's appearance is shown to play a noted role in her development. Along with winning the title of Spring Princess in Season 1, she was voted her s


Added by Silver09At her high school graduation, Kelly was reunited with her father, Bill, for the first time in years.
Season 4
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Added by Silver09As the teens entered their first year in college, Kelly and Dylan continued their romance, breaking up and reconciling several times throughout the fourth season. Kelly became a stronger person throughout her senior year of high school and freshman year of college, a trend that would continue throughout the series. Kelly majored in Psychology and was a devoted student throughout her time in college.



Added by Silver09
As Kelly neared and entered her 20s, she started living in a beach house apartment along with Donna and initially David. During her freshman year in college, she began helping Brandon out by serving as his date at special school-related events. As these parties progressed, romantic feelings emerged once again between Brandon and Kelly—eventually leading them to kiss. Due to her commitment to Dylan, however, Kelly and Brandon wound up acknowledging but suppressing their attraction once more.



Added by Silver09Season 5
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Added by Silver09As Brandon and Kelly deepened their relationship, it was made difficult by the downfall of Dylan, who was regressing into drugs and alcohol.
During a rave held by Steve Sanders and Griffin Stone, Kelly was trapped with Alison Lash and both were burned very badly, resulting in Kelly's self-esteem plummeting.
As a result, Kelly became pulled into The New Evolution, a cult led by Patrick Finley,


Added by Silver09Dylan, following several therapy sessions, confronted Kelly with rekindled romantic feelings. He then asked her to join him on a trip around the world. Brandon later responded by proposing to her. Kelly eventually chose neither, later stating that she didn't want the matter to harm their friendship.
Season 6
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Added by Silver09After her father, Bill Taylor, came to visit and promised to move back to Los Anegeles, Kelly was thrilled, but when Bill no-showed the purchase of his house, she realized that he had disappointed her again. As a result, she got pulled into Colin's cocaine habit and quickly got hooked on the drug. Despite interventions by David Silver and Brandon Walsh, Kelly soon found herself attacked by an associate of Danny Five.



Added by Silver09Tara later took Kelly hostage at gunpoint and tried to perform a murder-suicide by Carbon Monoxide poisoning. However, Kelly escaped and Tara was committed to a psychiatric institution.



Added by Silver09However, by the last episode, Kelly, Valerie, Brandon, and Steve had located Colin and her was taken to prison. Kelly was later shocked to hear Dylan and Brenda were together in London and asked a newly single Brandon if they would ever have another chance. He hinted they might as both went their separate ways for the summer.
Season 7
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Added by Silver09She also began working at an AIDS hospice, where she befriended a gay AIDS patient named Jimmy Gold. they shared a special bond before Jimmy passed away.
Kelly began seeing Mark Reese after he pursued her for weeks. However, after Brandon won a scholarship over Mark in which Mark thought he had in the bag, Kelly and Mark had a falling out and she broke up with him on the spot.



Added by Silver09After Brandon returned the engagement ring he bought Kelly two years earlier, Kelly went into the jewelry store and bought it herself, not ready to give up on him.
Kelly later encountered a young boy, Joey Evers, who had slept on the beach. After failing to locate the boy's mother, Kelly took him in and bonded with him, but ultimately had to turn the matter over to the police, despite Joey's objections.
Kelly spent time with Mariah Murphy, who encouraged her to not give up on Brandon. Later, Brandon and Kelly kissed.


Added by Silver09However, once Brandon and Kelly gained their happiness, Valerie began scheming to break them apart. She sent Kelly a letter from Dylan, which caused Brandon some jealousy. Valerie also revealed that she hated Kelly because she cost her a chance with Brandon two years earlier.
However, Kelly got pregnant late in the season and considered an abortion, but ended up having a miscarriage.
She later graduated college with Brandon and her friends, but her night was overshadowed by the news that her father, Bill Taylor, was going to prison for fraud and embezzlement.
Season 8
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Added by Silver09However, when they were leaving the airport to go home, Kelly was shot by two gang bangers after they stole a car. Brandon and the others got her to the hospital, where Dr. Sturla performed emergency surgery and saved her life.



Added by Silver09Brandon and Kelly later came across Erica Steele, who had returned to Beverly Hills and begun working as a prostitute for a pimp named Riggs. With the help of Pam Ahern, the woman who ran the foundation where Kelly worked, they began searching for her, eventually coming into contact with Riggs, who pulled a knife on them. After Brandon and Kelly got her off the street, she and her friend Ricky robbed Brandon's house.



Added by Silver09Kelly went to work at the Wyatt Clinic, an urgent care facility where Dr. Gary Monahan was the doctor. He began sexually harassing her and after a few weeks of Kelly dodging his advances, she busted him by broadcasting his advances over the intercom system, where the boss to the clinic heard it and fired him.
To make life harder, Kelly learned from Emma Bennett that she had been carrying on an affair with Brandon. She left Brandon and moved with Donna and Carly Reynolds at the Beach House. Valerie began deflecting Brandon's messages of apology and pushed Kelly towards the new doctor at the clinic, Jeff Stockmann. She later counseled an abuse victim named Leah away from her husband Lenny


Added by Silver09Kelly later got involved in the life of Leanne, a teenage girl who left her baby in a dumpster. When Leanne took the baby back out of homophobia, Kelly talked her into giving up to a loving home when she knew she wasn't ready to care for the baby.
The five-year high school reunion took place and Kelly had to confront her past with Ross Webber, a jerk who took her virginity and left her in the bushes when she was a freshman. With surprise help from Valerie, she got her revenge.
Season 9
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Added by Silver09


Added by Silver09A new rivalry formed between Kelly and Donna's cousin, Gina Kincaid, over Dylan. Just as Matt and Kelly were finally beginning to have a real relationship, Matt's wife, Lauren Durning, returned after being released from a mental institution. When she needed clozapine to help with her schizophrenia, Dylan and Kelly flew to Mexico to smuggle some back to her. While there, they had sex.



Added by Silver09One night, after Dylan had a fight with Gina, he called Kelly to stop himself from getting high. She came out to meet with him, but was attacked and brutally raped by Joe Patch. After a failed by Dylan and Matt to find the rapist, Kelly and Joe came face to face at Now Wear This, where Kelly shot Joe in self-defense and killed him.
Season 10
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Added by Silver09She traveled with Dylan to Ojai with Steve and Janet to plan their wedding. While there, they watch the pink sunset. However, after Gina found out they were by themselves, she made a point of busting up their good time and physically went to Ojai to see Dylan.
She and Gina also quarreled over the breakup of Mel and Jackie, which she blamed on Gina for trying to blackmail Mel.



Added by Silver09Kelly eventually quit Now Wear This and went to work for a public relations firm with Pia Swanson. Although she felt she could do the job, she was unable to voice for an opposing view and promptly quit the job. She later started her own P.R. firm.
Matt's brother, Patrick, and his wife, Juliane came to visit and wanted Matt to donate sperm so that they can have children since Patrick is infertile. Kelly and Matt disagreed on whether it was a good idea, but Kelly ultimately changed her mind and let Matt make his own choice.



Added by Silver09After Matt cheated on Kelly with a girl named Amy while on a road trip with Dylan, she began to notice his strange behavior and suspected he had cheated, but Dylan covered for Matt.
Kelly and Matt broke it off after Kelly realized she still had feelings for Dylan and Matt inadvertently confessed to sleeping with Amy. Dylan and Kelly concluded the series beginning their relationship.
Notes
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Below: An adult Kelly living in the home.
Added by James26Additionally, Kelly's constant bond with the Walsh family was shown to have progressed from the early seasons through the later ones.
During her teenage years, she was presented as a familiar presence around the Walsh Family House while bonding with Brenda and the others. Following her romantic reunion with Brandon in Season 7, Kelly finally moved into the home on a permanent basis.
Valerie, an occasionally naughty girl who was an old friend of the Walsh family, soon moved to Beverly Hills and often served both as Kelly's nemesis and foil. Just before Valerie's departure, however, the two women had formed a truce.
Kelly faced and gradually overcame many trying experiences throughout the course


Added by Kevin notholtAt the end of Season 8, she and Brandon were to be married after a tumultuous year together. On the day of the wedding, they decided at the last minute to not go through with the ceremony, expressing a lack of being truly ready. They later parted on good terms after he left town for a new job in journalism.
As the series neared its end, Dylan returned to Beverly Hills after a three-year absence. He and Kelly resumed their friendship and, in the finale, Kelly broke off her engagement to lawyer Matt Durning, citing unresolved feelings for Dylan. At the series' conclusion, the matured Kelly had drawn on some of her roots by running a fashion business with best friend Donna, and then opened her own P.R. firm.
Melrose Place
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Added by James26In 1992, Kelly helped to introduce the first spin-off in the Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity. Melrose Place saw its beginnings via Kelly's brief romance with Jake Hanson, a twenty-something man who'd done a construction job at her home. When it became clear that Jake was avoiding her due to their age difference, she eventually visited him at his apartment complex. During the discussion, Kelly boldly asserted that she wasn't a mere lovesick teenager, and offered to end the relationship if he didn't take it seriously. Jake eventually responded by kissing her. In time, however, he began to vacillate once again between attraction and reluctance. Though Jake settled on wanting a platonic relationship, Kelly continued to express a romantic interest. Reluctantly, he then led Kelly to believe he was cheating, which finally prompted her to leave him. Despite his discomfort with a romance, Jake expressed an affection for Kelly's friendly demeanor, citing his fondness for her nature both during and after their relationship.
Missing Years
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Four years prior to the events of the series 90210, Kelly and Dylan had a son named Sammy (Riley Thomas Stewart), who appears in the spin-off. Dylan departed Beverly Hills following a break-up with Kelly, heading off to travel the world in support of various causes. After leaving the fashion business behind, Kelly earned a Master's Degree in psychology and began her career as a guidance counselor.
90210
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Season 1
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In her 30s, Kelly is seen working as a guidance counselor at her old school, West Beverly High. She remains close to her younger half sister Erin, a.k.a. "Silver," who attends the school. Their mother's problems with alcohol eventually prompted Kelly to bring Erin home to live with her.


Added by Chmcr13Early on in the show, Kelly was reunited with her old friend Brenda, who she helped win a job directing a play at West Beverly. Brenda relayed a message to Kelly from Brandon, who stated that he thought she was beautiful. Kelly revealed that she, herself, had spoken to him recently over the phone. Later, while discussing Kelly's current romantic status, Brenda claimed that Kelly was still in love with Dylan, while Kelly began to suspect that Brenda was still interested in him as well. Brenda took offense to the competitive suggestion, but the women quickly reconciled before again going their separate ways. In private, Brenda was revealed to have had Dylan's number on her cell phone, which she reluctantly deleted.



Added by Chmcr13


Added by Chmcr13Following a physical examination, Brenda learned that she couldn't have children, and revealed this during a private discussion with Kelly later. Kelly provided comfort, and the two made amends once again.
Kelly was later informed by Ryan that a disturbed and shaken Silver had broken into his apartment, and then disappeared when he'd left the room after calming her down. The two then began a search. It was later revealed that Erin was suffering from bipolar disorder. After learning that Silver was at a train station, Kelly and Ryan found Erin and drove her to a hospital. They then mended their friendship.
Later, Kelly and Silver were surprised by a visit from Donna, who arrived with her and David's baby girl Ruby. Having become a successful fashion designer, Donna had been traveling the world on business. Kelly provided her with comfort after learning that she and David were in the midst of a separation. Soon afterward, David sent Donna a note expressing his affection. On the same evening, Kelly ran into Ryan again, and the two of them ended up spending a passionate evening together. Eventually, though, Kelly opted to no longer pursue a romantic relationship.


Added by Chmcr13While serving on duty at the West Beverly Prom, Kelly was reunited with Jen Clark, a former West Beverly student, and the sister of Silver's friend Naomi. Jen attended the prom with Ryan, who she'd begun a relationship with. Tension abounded between the women with Jen holding a grudge against Kelly because when Jen was graduating Kelly wrote her college professors and told them the type of person Jen was a girl who manipulated people to get what she wanted and that she stole a girls essay out of the teachers desk so that she would become Valedictorian. There was tension between her and Debbie because Debbie noticed that she had a crush on Harry. Kelly was present at the hospital shortly before West Beverly student Adrianna gave birth. Brenda, who'd bonded with Adrianna during the production of a play, returned as Adrianna gave the child up for adoption. Brenda then revealed that she'd adopted a little girl herself while in China.
Season 2
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Added by Chmcr13


Added by Chmcr13To date, Season 2 has marked Kelly's last appearance on the show.
Legacy: Queen of the Hills
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Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor
Added by Songfairy21Throughout the ongoing Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity, Kelly Taylor became the subject of significant character growth and visibility—having more of the latter than any other figure.
During "Senior Poll," a Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Kelly was named her school's most beautiful girl. As noted, she expressed appreciation for the honor, but privately resented the fact that she seemed most admired for her looks. In doing so, she began to suspect that others tended to ignore what she had to offer beneath the surface. This declaration was parallel to the time in which the writers had begun to continually explore the character's hidden layers, revealing her more sensitive and compassionate sides. True to her word, Kelly would further prove her potential via the personal and professional experiences and achievements of her adult life.
Ultimately, Kelly's progression since her introduction in 1990 is particularly notable, growing from a stereotypical type and a supporting player, to a well-developed figure and the lead character of the collective franchise.
Photos
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