Gary Coleman dead at 42

Diff'rent Strokes Gary Coleman has died as the result of injuries he suffered during a fall earlier this week.

A spokeswoman for the Utah Valley Regional Medical Centre confirmed life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m local time.

Family members and close friends were said to be at Coleman's side.

His 24-year-old wife, Shannon, is understood to have made the decision to switch off his life support machine this morning.

TMZ, the website which broke the news of Michael Jackson's death, was the first to report the Coleman's death.

Coleman was rushed to ICU on Wednesday afternoon.

It was the 4ft 8in actor's third hospitalisation this year, after suffering seizures in January and February.

The 42-year-old, whose growth was stunted by a congenital kidney defect, had also had two kidney transplants.

Coleman, who played diminutive rascal Arnold Jackson famous for the catchphrase: 'Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?', has a deeply troubled past.

In fact, has hardly been out of the headlines in the U.S. - mostly for the wrong reasons - since Diff'rent Stokes came to an end.

In 2007 he was arrested after a 'heated discussion' with his wife, Shannon Price, who at 24, is almost half his age.

He was cited for misdemeanour disorderly conduct by Utah police.

Two years later in July 2009 he and Price were once again involved in a domestic dispute in which his wife was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.

His temper got him in hot water again in early this year when he was arrested on domestic violence assault charges. This time he spent a night in jail.

Coleman lost most of his fortune in a protracted legal battle with his adoptive parents, who had control of his wealth until he was 18. By the end, he was left with just $200,000.

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seems like those picture perfect families portrayed on tv suffer from true reality off the screen

remember v v v v Kimberly Drummond of the same show

Dana Michelle Plato was born in Maywood, California, on November 7, 1964. Her first excursion into the film world occurred when she was eleven in the television film Beyond the Bermuda Triangle (1975) (TV). Dana never really made an impact on the TV screen until she landed the part of Kimberly Drummond in the TV hit sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" from 1978-1984. After the series ended, ~> Dana had a hard time trying to find other acting work. Sometimes she would surface in a made-for-TV movie or a low-budget film for the silver screen. Times were rough. Her marriage to Lanny Lambert lasted a year, but produced a son. She was arrested in 1991 for robbing a video store in Las Vegas but was placed on probation. The following year, Dana was, again, arrested for forging a prescription for Valium. Things were at a low ebb. She had just finished an interview with Howard Stern, in the spring of 1999, when she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were headed back to California. The interview was one in which Dana hoped to revive her stalled career. They stopped at his parents house in Moore, Oklahoma, for a weekend Mother's Day visit before continuing on to California. On Saturday, May 8, 1999, Dana died of what appeared to be an accidental overdose of a painkiller called Loritab. Later, on May 21, a coroner's inquest ruled her death a suicide due to a large amount of drugs in her body and her history of past suicide attempts. She was 34 years old.

....dammit who's next, Webster....
R.I.P Gary Coleman..

wesiderider wrote:....dammit who's next, Webster....

'Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?'

with everyone in that tv show gone now `> i'd bet Todd bridges is sweating it

wolfman wrote:with everyone in that tv show gone now `> i'd bet Todd bridges is sweating it

No shit, but that is true with most television child stars, once they have outgrown their commodity or their show is cancelled, Hollywood disowns them.

The most successful child star.....imo....Ron Howard....