Child actor Gary Coleman - best known for his role as Arnold Drummond on the sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes - has died at the age of 42.

Coleman suffered an intracranial brain hemorrhage when he fell at his Utah home on Wednesday. He eventually slipped into a coma and was placed on life support at a Utah hospital. Coleman was taken off life support this morning and died at 12:05 p.m. MDT, according to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank. Coleman's wife Shannon Price was at his side at the time of his death.

After finding fame as a television star in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to appearances in several movies and commercials, Coleman suffered a series of medical problems and run-ins with the law. Most of the years following Diff'rent Strokes were little more than tabloid fodder. From working as a security guard and hitting a woman he said was harassing him to hitting another man with his truck at a bowling alley after an argument, Coleman's arrests always made the news.

Coleman and his wife also appeared on the show 'Divorce Court.'

Coleman sued his parents for spending most of the fortune that he earned as a child actor. He also suffered from kidney problems for years, leading him to undergo two kidney transplants. In addittion to his seizure, Coleman also had heart surgery last fall that was complicated by pneumonia.

In January, he was arrested on a domestic violence warrant and eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge.


On Diff'rent Strokes Coleman was best known for his magnetic personality, chubby cheeks and his popular catchphrase, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" The phrase was aimed at his brother on the show who was played by equally troubled child actor Todd Bridges.

It was Coleman's personality that led to him being discovered as an acting talent. In a 1979 interview, Coleman's mother Edmonia Sue Coleman described her son as a "ham." Coleman had starred in commercials before being chosen to star on Diff'rent Strokes.

Although the show - which was on the air for eight seasons and lives on in re-runs - was a success, it was also a burden for Coleman. He told the AP that he would only do another show if it was "an ensemble cast and that everybody gets a chance to shine. "I certainly am not going to be the only person on the show working," Coleman said. "I've done that. I didn't like it."



In 2003, Coleman dabbled in politics when he ran in a bizarre election for Governor of California following the recall of Gray Davis. According to the AP, "Coleman, who advocated drastic steps for California's faltering economy such as lowering income taxes and raising sales tax, came in eighth place with 12,488 votes, or 0.2 percent, just behind Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt."

Running for office gave him a chance to show another side of himself, he told The Associated Press at the time. "This is really interesting and cool and I've been enjoying the heck out of it because I get to be intelligent, which is something I don't get to do very often," he said.

It was not just Coleman who became troubled after starring as a child actor on Diff'rent Strokes. In addition to his medical and money problems, Coleman said he tried to kill himself twice by overdosing on pills. Bridges - who once told Oprah Winfrey that he was an automatic weapon-toting drug dealer - was once tried and acquitted of attempted murder. Dana Plato, who played Coleman's white, older sister on the show, died of an accidental drug overdose.

Coleman, sadly, reminds me of Michael Jackson. Although he never made it as big as Jackson, Coleman was clearly a talented and funny child actor. He just could not seem to escape the shadow of the fame that being a child star brought. At times, he seemed tortured. Throw in his health issues and problems with family and money and you have a recipe for a difficult life.

Ultimately, Coleman felt trapped by his fame, and subsequent infamy.

"I want to escape that legacy of Arnold Jackson," he told the New York Times when he was running for office. "I'm someone more. It would be nice if the world thought of me as something more."