PERRY

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Obituaries reported the world lost an actor.

But those in the bull riding community, including the mother of a famous Oklahoma bull rider, tell stories that suggest the world lost a heck of a guy.

“He was a great person,” Elsie Frost told the Tulsa World.

Luke Perry, best known for the television series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” died March 4 in Los Angeles. He was 52.

Perry forged a lasting bond with the bull riding world when he played Lane Frost in the 1994 movie “8 Seconds.”

Frost, a 1982 graduate of Atoka High School, was fatally injured when he was rammed by a bull at the 1989 Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming. Frost died at age 25 and is buried near a rodeo hero, Freckles Brown, at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Oklahoma.

Elsie Frost, Lane Frost’s mother, lives near Atoka in Lane, Oklahoma. During a phone interview after Perry’s death, she said Perry did a “super” job of portraying her son and indicated the actor will always have a place in her heart.

“He wasn’t someone that thought he was a movie star and couldn’t talk to people,” she said.

“He was very down-to-earth. When we made the movie, he said he had never played anyone that was a real person before, and he was so conscientious of wanting to do it the way it should be done. He would come to us and ask us, ‘How would Lane talk in a situation like this?’ And he watched a lot of video of Lane, so he actually had some mannerisms like Lane and actually he looked quite a bit like Lane once they got his hat on him and stuff. It was kind of eerie.”

Elsie said her family got fairly close with Perry during the making of the movie. Christmas cards were exchanged for years.

“I still have his phone number,” she said. “He had told me I could call any time, and I knew he meant it. He was truly a nice person, and we are just so saddened by his death. Our heart just goes out to his family. He has got two kids and a brother and a sister and his mother. My heart just breaks for her.”

Stock contractor and former bull rider Jerome Davis is connected to Perry through “8 Seconds” also. Jerome did stunt work for the movie, which was filmed in 1993. Jerome suffered paralysis five years later when he was thrown by a bull.

After the tragedy, the phone at Jerome’s home rang.

Jerome’s wife, Tiffany, picked up the receiver and heard these words: “Hey, this is Luke Perry. Is Jerome around?”

“I thought it was one of Jerome’s buddies playing pranks because they are always playing pranks,” she said. “I said, ‘Yeah, hold on.’ But it was actually for-real.”

Perry had heard about Jerome’s misfortune and a planned benefit for him in North Carolina. Perry said he wanted to come to the benefit and asked if someone could please pick him up at the airport. Arrangements were made and Perry lent his presence to the benefit.

“It just kind of shows you what kind of guy Luke Perry was,” Jerome said, adding that the actor was a cowboy at heart.

“He actually got on some bulls for that movie. He really just liked, I think, taking care of the cowboys. I feel like he felt like he was one of us a little bit, and he was. He just fit in when he was around. He fit right in as one of the guys. I didn’t know him as the ‘90210’ star or whatever. Whenever he was around, he was just humble old Luke, it seemed like. I just can’t say enough good about him. He was a super good guy, and it really bothered me when I heard he passed away just because he had such a good heart, what he had done for me.”

Before leaving the benefit, Perry left his phone number with Jerome and told him to call if he ever needed anything. “Jerome never called because he didn’t want to bother him, although Luke would randomly call Jerome just to check up on him and make sure he was doing OK,” Tiffany said in a Facebook post after Perry’s death.

Professional Bull Riders CEO Sean Gleason released a statement about Perry. “Luke once said that while he had played other athletes, he never felt more connected to a sport than bull riding. He was a good friend of the PBR family until his passing. The PBR’s thoughts are with Luke’s family and friends during this very sad time.”