Diff’rent Strokes is one of the most well-known and loved American television series abroad. In the USA it aired for eight seasons, from 1978 to 1986, for a total of 189 episodes. The show was broadcast in our country for the first time in 1980 by several local private TVswith the title Harlem versus Manhattan. However, the great success came only a few years later, when the rights to Diff’rent Strokes are purchased by the Fininvest group of Silvio Berlusconi and the sitcom is broadcast throughout the national territory, first on Canale 5 and then on Italia 1, with the name we all know: My friend Arnold.
The synopsis is very simple. A wealthy white widower, Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain), decides to adopt two African-American brothers from Harlem, Arnold (Gary Coleman) And Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges), to respect the last wishes of his terminally ill housekeeper, that is, the natural mother of the two boys. There extended family also consists of the biological daughter of the wealthy Manhattan businessman, Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato).
The initial episodes focus mainly on the adaptation difficulties of the Jackson brothers, experienced by serious bereavement and suddenly catapulted into a socio-cultural context completely different from the popular one from which they come. As time passes, the themes covered by the series expand considerably: My friend Arnold it even touches on very delicate topics, such as drug addiction, youth gangs (a real plague for New York in those years), adolescent love relationships or even pedophilia. At the end of each episode, as is practically obligatory for American TV series of the period, there is almost always a moral.
From Different Strokes a TV series is born spin off very popular in his homeland, The Facts of Lifebroadcast in Italy only from small regional broadcasters with a title in our language: The apple tree.
As we have already seen latelyit is not uncommon that after a great success the actors are not able to replicate the initial glories, moreover often ending badly. This is precisely the case of the three young protagonists of My friend Arnoldon which fate was fierce without any mercy.
Gary Colemanborn in 1968, was struck by a terrible disease at a very young age, la focal glomerular sclerosis, which leads him to have severe kidney failure. In preparation for a transplant, the child undergoes some corticosteroid-based therapies which block his growth (his height in adulthood stops at 142 centimetres). In 1973, at just five years old, Gary underwent his first kidney transplant, but it all ended with a rejection (it frequently happens that the recipient’s immune system identifies the new organ as a harmful foreign body and attacks it, nullifying the entire process). In 1978, after the possibility – which later faded – of becoming part of the cast of a possible remake of Nice rascalsits existence has a twist: My friend Arnold changes little Coleman’s life and turns him into a child star of TV. In 1984, during the break between one season of the show and the next, he was attempted a further transplant – the second and last of his life – but with the same negative outcomes obtained eleven years earlier.
Due to his precarious health conditions, Gary is intractable on set: he often even has outbursts of angerwhich sometimes lead to violence.
In 1986 My friend Arnold closes its doors. Coleman, who has just turned 18, has many projects and can finally get his hands on the huge fortune accumulated thanks to the sitcom of which he was actor-pivot for almost a decade: in the first season it grossed approximately thousand dollars per episode, which then became, in step with the progressive increase in the audience, even 70 thousand per episode. However, there is a nasty surprise waiting for him: his parents, assisted by a trustee, have squandered a large part of his earnings. Gary decides to take legal action to try to recover the stolen goods and partially succeeds, but among back taxes, very expensive medical expenses, consultants and lawyers ends up bankrupt.
The nineties for the former Arnold are a source of other troubles: to survive he is forced to carry out various jobs, especially the security guardand his television career is reduced to a few cameos: show business has definitively eliminated him lap that counts. During a work shift in a supermarket, a customer recognizes him and approaches him very insistently: Gary gets nervous and punches her.
In the early 2000s the massif revival of the 1980s which spreads to the USA resurrect Ours: Coleman is hosted by various programs on the topic and makes some appearances in sitcoms. Italy, as a consequence, is also partially infected by this mania: in 2002 an evening program of Italia 1, Freshmen & Meteorsin that edition hosted by Enrico Papi, sends to the United States Sabrina Salerno to interview the ex child prodigy, now over thirty years old. Although the cut is light, Gary’s words they bring out a certain sadness: the actor says so repentant of having been the protagonist of a long TV series that inevitably has him trapped in a role and also highlights his disabling condition as a dialysis patient.
In 2003 Coleman ran for office governor of California. He obtained 14,282 preferences and placed eighth. Another actor is elected, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In August 2007 Gary married Shannon Price, a girl he met on set. The marriage barely lasts eight monthsbut the two continue to live together even after the legal end of their union.
In 2008 a further legal problem arose: after a dispute, Coleman intentionally runs over a person in the parking lot of a club and ends up in jail. In 2009, Shannon reported him for mistreatment. In February 2010, an entire episode of the television program was organised TheInsider about his life. The purpose of the program, at least on paper, is to attempt to clean up the public image of the African-American actor. During the episode, however, Coleman, heavily annoyed, insults the host and leaves the studio. It is his last public outing: on May 26, 2010, Gary falls in his apartment, he hits his head violently and goes into a coma. Two days later dies at the Provo hospital where he is hospitalized. Some speculate that it was Shannon who caused the lethal incident domestic accident, but in the end the death was dismissed as an accidental consequence of an epileptic seizure. He was 42 years old.
Todd Anthony Bridges was born on May 27, 1965 into a family very deep into the world of entertainment, between acting teachers and impresarios. At four years old he shot his first commercials, at ten he got his first small part in a sitcom, Barney Millerwhile in 1977 he came to the attention of the general public by acting in a very successful dramatic TV series – which was also widely followed in Italy – Roots (Roots in our country). It then appears as guest stars in several episodes of well-known TV series, such as Little House on the Prairie And Love Boat. The definitive consecration came at the end of 1978, when he became one of the protagonists of Diff’rent Strokes.
Todd, a very young actor a little recommended, he seems launched at full speed towards the next logical step, Hollywood, but in 1982 his parents’ divorce hits him like a rock. The Arnold’s older brother start making use of drugs gradually more and more heavy, becoming practically unmanageable. As if that wasn’t enough, over the course of the seasons of the series, despite the ban imposed by the production, he has a clandestine love story with his stage girlfriend, Janet Jackson, sister of king of pop Michael. In 1986, at the end of My friend Arnold, Bridges has no other job offers and is a drug addict. After one crack overdoseat the end of the 1980s the former child actor ended up in court accused of attempted murder. According to the prosecution, you almost shot and killed a drug dealer in a settlement of accounts. The trial ends with an acquittal, but his public image is obviously destroyed.
In the second half of the nineties he gets married, rediscovers the Christian faith and it totally detoxifies. In 2002 she got a part in the soap opera Fever of love and from 2007 to 2009 he played Monk in the sitcom Everyone hates Chris.
In 2018 he returned to being talked about negatively: an ex of his reported him for sexual violence And stalking and a restraining order is placed on him. The judicial process is still ongoing.
In 2022 he gets married for the second time to the stylist Bettijo. He is the only member of the original cast of My friend Arnold to still be alive.
The descending parable of Dana Plato it is most likely one of the most sudden and tragic of the world of entertainment. At 7 years old he began recording his first commercials, then moved on to cameos in various TV series, while at 14 years old the jump and is cast as Kimberly Drummond in Diff’rent Strokes. Everything goes well until 1984, the year in which the actress, now twenty years old, communicates to the producers of the series that she has remained pregnant. It is the beginning of the end: it comes immediately eliminated from the cast de My friend Arnold (in the script his character goes to study in Paris and reappears sporadically in some subsequent episodes) and here it begins the drama. Her agent runs away, stealing much of her money, her beloved adoptive parents die, and her marriage to guitarist Lenny Lambert ends stormily. Dana and her ex-husband – as well as the father of her child – end up in court: at the end of the proceedings Plato loses custody of the child. Dana finds herself alone and desperate and ends up in the abyss of depressionwhich he tries to fight using psychotropic drugs and above all alcohol and drugs. In an attempt to get back on top and at the same time shake off the image of the good upper-class girl that she has portrayed for years, Plato poses naked for Playboy. Nefarious choice: her already low prices fall further and to survive Dana is forced to accept the proposals of the erotic cinema by B seriesuntil you get to soft porn.
On February 28, 1991, Plato robs a video store in Las Vegas holding a toy gun. The loot it’s ridiculous: just over 100 dollars. The cashier at the business recognizes her. The complaint to the police is tragicomic: “You won’t believe this, but I just got mugged by Kimberly from Diff’rent Strokes.”
Dana is now one convicted alcoholic/heroin addict fully fledged and as such lives day by day. To make ends meet and above all to get punctured he does anything: he asks for loans from anyone, gets help from charities, makes appearances practically everywhere and periodically carries out even very humble jobs.
On May 7, 1999, a popular American talk show, The Howard Stern Showinvites her for tell his story. Dana omits virtually nothing, but also claims to be completely clean for years now. The next day Plato comes found dead by her partner, Robert Menchaca, inside the trailer where they live: overdose from psychotropic drugs. Eleven years after his painful passing, in May 2010, his son Tyler Lambert, a twenty-five-year-old drug addict and alcoholic, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. (The Mexican)
