sborn Walters took on the role in October 1994, he was
already a veteran of one failed Aaron Spelling produc-
tion, The Heights, in which he played... another strug-
gling singer. That show ended fast but gave him a No. 1
hit with “How Do You Talk to an Angel. ”
For Walters, Ray’s intimate relationship with Donna
and his Peach Pit After Dark performances seemed the
perfect spotlight for a real-life musical career. Until,
that is, Ray ruined everything by pushing Donna down
the stairs. “They started twisting him into this abusive,
evil boyfriend,” Walters said of a story line that grew
increasingly dark. When the singer, who had a popular
debut album in 1994, took the stage as himself, crowds
would hold up signs reading, “Leave Donna Alone!”
“I was like, ‘You either got to change the character or
you’ve got to let me off the show,’ ” Walters recalled tell-
ing 90210 producers. The show did orchestrate an exit
for Ray in 1996, but Walters’s singing career still fell fl at
a few years later when his label dropped him after his
second album. Today he’s a dad of four who lives in L.A.,
where he became a paramedic for the Los Angeles Fire
Department in 2002.THE WORKING MAN WITH THE
HEART OF AN ARTIST TURNED OUT
TO HAVE A DARK SIDE AS WELL
(^)
(^)
(^)
(^)
(^)
(^90)
2 1 0
B
EV
E R L Y^ H
IL
L
S
Jamie (^) Wal
ters
as
RAY
BOYFRIEND MATERIAL
“People would come up to me and say, ‘You gotta stop treating Donna so bad,’ ”
Walters told VH1 in 2002. Right: With then-girlfriend Drew Barrymore (in 1992).