Vale: Gary Coleman

Gary Coleman, the pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom Diff’rent Strokes who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood’s D-list, died on Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42.

Coleman was taken off life support and died with family and friends at his side in a hospital in Utah, the state he had made as his home after shunning life in Hollywood.

He had suffered the brain hemorrhage because of an accident at the home, but no further details have yet been released.

Coleman’s family, in a statement read by his brother-in-law said information would be released shortly about his death.

Best remembered for Diff’rent Strokes character Arnold Jackson and his “Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?” catchphrase, Coleman baulked at his permanent association with the show, feeling forever typecast in the child role.

Every Reality TV role and TV appearance always harked back to his sitcom role. Many wanted him to repeat the catchphrase. He became notorious for his temper. Having already made financial losses from the show after mismanagement of his funds, he remained estranged from his parents. He battled major medical problems including an on-set seizure, several operations, transplants and a lifelong kidney condition.

His adult life was also marked with legal and financial troubles, suicide attempts and even a 2003 run for California governor. He had several small run-ins with the law, and his attempts to stay in show business often forced sad roles upon him: a stint in The Surreal Life and an appearance on Divorce Court with his wife trying to solve some of their marital problems. He once worked as a security guard in a Los Angeles shopping mall.

Even as he lay in a critical condition he was still the target of media jokes.

The death of Coleman adds to the ‘curse’ of the young Diff’rent Strokes cast. Dana Plato died at the age of 36 from an intentional overdose of pills. In 1998 Todd Bridges was tried for the attempted murder of an LA drug dealer. And in 1993, prosecutors dropped charges after he was found to have stabbed his tenant to death in self defence.

TV Tonight interviewed Gary Coleman in 2008 when he became a spokesperson for an Australian DVD website enterprise entertainme.com.au for Sony. It was a bizarre phone interview, and I had no idea what he was talking about for much of the time. Either he had just had an angry interview before mine or the delay through the phone line was messing with his head.

He was living in Utah at the time and making a living via eBay because it allowed him the freedom from the jaws of media.

“I’m kind of focussing on that because I can control my income and how fast it grows. It’s my business and I don’t have to worry about ten people’s opinions. I don’t have to worry about good press, bad press, no press. I’m just out there in the internet and I’m just doing my thing,” he said.

He wanted to correct myths about Diff’rent Strokes, especially that it was a vehicle built around him. It was Conrad Bain’s project. He envied film actors now working in television.

“They come with a fanbase that knows their work and knows their name. And knows what kind of entertainment to expect out of that person. That’s wonderful. I am so jealous of that. I come from a generation, and it’s still pervasive today, where you start on TV and that’s all you’re known for. And that character is all you’re known for. And that’s ‘typecasting’ as it is written in the dictionary. That’s hard to shake. I’ve been trying to shake it for 32 years now.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he admitted. “A double edged-sword that I deal with everyday of my life.

“There’s not much in my past that I look back on fondly. I look with very bright eyes upon the future.”

You can read more of that interview here.

Source: Associated Press