Gary Coleman dead at 42

Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman dies
May 29, 2010 4:58AM

FORMER child actor Gary Coleman has died in hospital at the age of 42.

Coleman, who rose to fame as the wise-cracking Arnold Jackson on the American sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, had been in coma after suffering a head injury in a fall.

He died at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Centre in Provo where he was taken on Wednesday from his home in Santaquin, about 55 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Manager John Alcantar said Coleman had suffered a brain haemorrhage.

The actor is survived by his wife, Shannon Price, whom he met on the set of the movie Church Ball and married in 2007.

Coleman’s life was marked by one huge success - the popularity of Diff’rent Strokes, which ran from 1978-86 and made his character’s catchphrase “What’choo talkin’ bout, Willis?” famous.

But he was never able to duplicate his childhood success as an adult actor and continuing medical problems, including congenital kidney disease that resulted in two kidney transplants, and heart surgery complicated by pneumonia last fall, made health an ongoing struggle.

Most recently, he suffered two seizures earlier this year, one on the set of the CBS television series The Insider.

Legal problems and arrests also beset the diminutive (4 feet 8 inches, by one estimate) actor, who in January was arrested for failing to appear in court on a domestic violence warrant.

He eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Coleman had regularly courted controversy. He famously sued his parents for allegedly misappropriating money he earned from the show.

While he earned up to $US100,000 per episode of the show he was left with up to only a quarter of that after his parents, lawyers and advisors took a share.

Despite being awarded $US1.3 million in 1993 he filed for bankruptcy in 1999.

Coleman pleaded guilty earlier this year on charges relating to a 2009 domestic assault, follow up hearings in this case have recently been delayed due to Coleman's ill health.

In 1998 he was charged with punching a woman.

Sitcom curse

He once observed: "If I could give you fame for one day, you'd probably want to give it back to me in five minutes".

It was a sobering insight into the psyche of the actor whose name had become synonymous with the phrase "former child star".

Accounts of his adult exploits were rarely flattering: he was once forced to work as a security guard to pay the bills.

His on-screen brother, meanwhile, was making headlines of his own. Todd Bridges, who played Willis Jackson, struggled with a cocaine addiction for several years before he was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of a Los Angeles drug dealer.

Bridges pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was represented by the high-profile defence attorney Johnnie Cochrane, who portrayed Bridges as someone who had been exploited by the entertainment industry, and was now being unfairly framed. Bridges was acquitted of all charges.

Despite this descent into drug use and violence, of the three stars, it was Diffr'nt Strokes co-star Dana Plato who did most to destroy her wholesome image.

She, too, had several run-ins with the law, stealing $160 from a video store and forging a prescription for 1000 Valiums. She also posed for Playboy and appeared in a soft-porn video, Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill, which cashed in on her reputation and lampooned her past.

Just 18 months ago Coleman was asked about his response to talk of "the tragedies" that had afflicted his castmates.

His response was blunt: "Their problems are not my problems. I hate it when people make their problems my problems. They do whatever the hell they want. If they want to screw up their lives, that's their business."

Where are they now?

Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato)

Plato committed suicide in May 1999, aged 34. After Diff'rent Strokes she posed nude for Playboy but drug addiction and financial trouble led to her conviction for armed robbery in 1991. Her son Tyler Lambert committed suicide on May 6 this year, almost exactly 11 years to the day after his mother's death.

Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges)

The 45-year-old successfully battled a cocaine addiction and a murder charge in the 1980s before trying his hand at celebrity boxing, celebrity Fear Factor and celebrity championship wrestling (using the persona "Mr Not So Perfect"). Starred last year in Z-grade See Dick Run about a conman who loses his penis.

Mr Drummond (Conrad Bain)

The 87-year-old has been out of the public eye since the mid-1990s and lives in Los Angeles with wife of 65 years Monica Sloan.

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mvsf1 said:

^^ His little death.

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Daniel Andersson said:

that was taking it a little to far..

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