Tributes poured in for the ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ and ‘Insecure’ actress after her death was announced by her sister Tracey on Instagram. “I want to take this moment to thank our friends and family for all the love and prayers,” she wrote. “It is with a very heavy heart that I am letting everyone know that my sister, Denise Dawes, has gone on to join our family in eternal life,” Tracy wrote. “Denise Yvonne Dowse was the most amazing sister, a flawless, brilliant actress, mentor and director. She was my best friend and last member of my family. Denise loved you all. I know he watches over us with all the love he has.” Her death was first reported by TV Line. Dawes was in a coma for at least a week after suffering inflammation in the protective membranes surrounding her brain and spinal cord. Dowse at the tribute concert for the late legendary Ray Charles on October 22, 2004. Paul Mounce/Corbis via Getty Images Ian Ziering, who played Dowse’s West Beverly Hills High vice-principal student Yvonne Teasley on “90210,” remembered her as a great actress and a “dear soul.” “So heartbreaking to say that Denise Dowse has passed away. All the years I worked on Beverly Hills 90210, my scenes with Denise will always be [sic] remembered with the utmost respect for her talent and affection for the loving soul she was. “Some of my heartiest laughs off camera were between her and me pulling the [sic] discipline her. Mrs. Tesley was giving my Steve Sanders. My sincere condolences to her family, and all others who were loved. God bless you Denise, pay Legacy Key A,” she wrote on Instagram. Dowse at the 26th Annual NAACP Theater Awards on November 21, 2016. Leon Bennett/Getty Images Dowse appeared frequently on network television in the ’90s, with credits on such shows as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The X-Files,” “Criminal Minds,” “Bones,” “House,” “Monk,” “Law & Order, “Gilmore Girls”, “Charmed”, “The Bernie Mac Show”, “Nip/Tuck”, “Moesha”, “Sister, Sister”, “ER”, “Step by Step”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer ,” “Seinfeld” and “Full House” — among others. Tracy told Page Six that her sister was most proud of “Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story,” a film she recently directed that premiered at the 2022 Pan-African Film Festival in April. “It has won several awards for best director at this year’s film festivals,” Tracy said.
