“Little House on the Prairie”’s“ ”Dean Butler Remembers 'Determined' Shannen Doherty: 'She Was Going to Succeed' (Exclusive)

"There just was something about her — Shannen knew where she was going," Butler tells PEOPLE

When Dean Butler reflects on his time working with Shannen Doherty, he remembers a young actress destined for stardom.

Doherty, who died on July 13 at age 53 following almost a decade with cancer, landed her first major role as Jenny Wilder on Little House on the Prairie when she was 11. While working with her, Butler — who played Almanzo Wilder, the uncle of Doherty's character — observed a “determined, intentional young girl.”

“There just was something about her — Shannen knew where she was going,” Butler, 68, tells PEOPLE. “She was a very determined, and you just knew that she was going to succeed. You just knew she had something.”

At that point, Doherty was already a confident performer who was “always focused on the scene.”

“I never got the feeling that Shannen was self-conscious about anything she was doing, but rather that she was fully connected to what she was trying to accomplish in the given scene,” he says. “I think she had a very good instinct about the work that she was doing, and I never felt working with Shannon that she had any kind of anxiety about the work that she was doing at all."

He adds: "She was just all in.”

Related: Little House on the Prairie Cast: Where Are They Now?

After Doherty's time on Little House on the Prairie, she played several iconic roles that would become highlights of her acting career. In 1989, she showed off her darker side in Heathers, playing a member of a high school’s clique.

Soon after, she portrayed the rebellious Brenda Walsh in Beverly Hills, 90210. She also played Prue Halliwell, the eldest of three sisters-turned-witches in the WB supernatural drama Charmed.

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On Sunday, July 14, Doherty's longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed the actress' death exclusively to PEOPLE.

"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease," she said in a statement. "The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace."

The Beverly Hills 90210 star was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, but announced she had gone into remission in 2017. However, by 2019, the cancer returned. Doherty announced her diagnosis of metastatic stage 4 cancer publicly in 2020 and in June 2023, shared that the cancer had spread to her brain.

Related: Shannen Doherty's Beverly Hills, 90210 Costars Pay Tribute After Her Death: 'I Know Luke Is There with Open Arms'

Prior to her death, Doherty often spoke fondly about her time on Little House on the Prairie from 1982 to 1983, and working with Michael Landon on the Western series.

On the May 27 episode of her podcast, Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty, the actress and her mom Rosa looked back on the early days of her career, with Doherty admitting, "That show – Little House – shaped me in so many ways and it still is the best experience of my entire career."

Reflecting on the particularly strong bond she formed with Landon, who played the family patriarch and died in 1991 from pancreatic cancer, Doherty said: "I adored him. He was a mentor. He taught me so much."

“It's kind of amazing because, when I think about the long span of my career, but also how rough some jobs were — and unenjoyable to be a part of, a little bit toxic — it was really the experience on Little House that spurred that passion on for being an actor," she told her mom. "And it was having a mentor like Michael Landon — and I don't care what anybody else's experience was like, I know the truth about that man, and he was just unbelievable."

Doherty also previously said that among her "favorite memories" from her time on Little House on the Prairie, which aired from 1974 to 1983, was getting to "work with Michael Landon."

"Just the things I learned from him. He directed some of the episodes and wrote some of the episodes," she said on a March episode of her podcast, adding that Landon taught her to "be true to myself" and "embrace my voice, to stand up for myself."

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