Coleman, Gary 1968–

Gary Coleman 1968–

Actor

Starred in Sitcom Hit

Child Star Grew Older

Dogged by Legal Troubles

Sources

Former child star Gary Coleman had more than a ten-year run as “Arnold Jackson” on Diff’rent Strokes, one of the most popular television shows of the 1980s. He also appeared in the films The Kid With the Broken Halo and The Kid with the 2000 I.Q., among others, and had his own Saturday-morning cartoon show. After Diff’rent Strokes was cancelled, however, Coleman became something of a Hollywood casualty. He sued his parents for squandering his fortune, and was unable to find a steady stream of acting work. He ended up taking small roles in films and television movies and worked as a security guard and in hobby shops. Like his Diff’rent Strokes costars, Coleman had run-ins with the law and battles with depression during his lean years. He has been the target of more than his fair share of ridicule, but has eventually carved out a modest career making cameo appearances in movies and television ads and writing an on-line advice column.

Gary Wayne Coleman was born on February 8, 1968, in Zion, Illinois, and was adopted as an infant. His adoptive father worked for a pharmaceutical firm and his adoptive mother was a nurse. Before he was five years old, he had undergone three operations for a congenital kidney defect known as nephritis. He had his first kidney transplant in 1973, his second in 1984, and remains on dialysis. His growth was stunted as a result of his medical condition, and Coleman could never expect to grow any taller than four-foot-eight. His small stature proved to be a professional asset at the time. At age nine, he was still passing as a precocious five-year-old in Chicago-area TV commercials.

Starred in Sitcom Hit

Coleman was discovered by a talent scout for Norman Lear, who auditioned and signed him for a proposed television revival of the classic Little Rascals comedy series. The project fell through, but a network executive kept Coleman in mind and cast him as Arnold Jackson on a new sitcom called Diff’rent Strokes, which debuted on the NBC network in the fall of 1978. The series was a hit, and so was Coleman, as one of two African-American orphans who are taken in by a wealthy white man, Mr. Druthers, and his daughter, Kimberly, (played by Dana Plato). Todd Bridges played Coleman’s onscreen brother, Willis. Coleman’s catch line on the show was “What’choo talkin “bout, Willis?” The show launched Coleman, Bridges, and Plato to stardom. The ten-year-old Coleman was charming and

At a Glance…

Born Gary Wayne Coleman on February 8, 1968, in Zion, IL; adopted.

Career : Aclor. Began appearing in Chicago television commercials, c 1977; was cast as Arnold Jackson in Diff’rent Strokes., 1978-86; formed Gary Coleman Productions, c 1979; appeared in several movies and made-for-TV-movies, 1980-83; voiced himself in the Saturday morning cartoon series The Gary Coleman Show, 1983; guest appearances on various TV series; owned a video arcade, c 1991; appeared in films Party and S.F.W., 1994; voice of Kenny Falmouth in a CD-Rom video game The Curse of Monkey Island, 1997; appeared in Dirty Work, 1998; worked as a security guard and at hobby shops; co-starred in the TV-movie Like Father, Like Santa, 1998; corporate spokesperson for HoloWorld Café, c. 1999; wrote a weekly advice column for the UnderGroundOnline Website, c 2000.

Addresses: c/o Contemporary Korman, 132 S. Lasky Drive, Beverly Hills, California, United States 90212.

precocious and became a popular guest on the talkshow circuit.

Gary Coleman Productions was formed shortly after the debut of Diff’rent Strokes. The company was formed to handle the youngster’s career in films and on television. He appeared in the movie On the Right Track in 1981, and in such made-for-TV movies as Scout’s Honor in 1980 and The Kid With the Broken Halo in 1982. In 1983 The Kid With the Broken Halo was spun off into the Saturday morning cartoon series, The Gary Coleman Show, which featured Coleman’s own voice.

Child Star Grew Older

Coleman was a talented performer and comic, but the rigors of show business began to wear him out. As he grew older, his cuteness began to fade, and jobs became fewer and farther between—there were few jobs that called for a short, black actor with a limited range. Diff’rent Strokes was cancelled in 1986, when Coleman was about 18. He remained in the spotlight, but not for his acting. He was involved in a highly publicized lawsuit against his parents and his business manager, Anita D. Thomas, over misappropriation of his trust fund.

Over the course of his Diff’rent Strokes career, Coleman earned roughly $18 million. Coleman’s parents set up a trust fund for the money, but wrote themselves into the agreement as paid employees. When the court dissolved the trust, his parents’ share was said to be worth only $770, 000, while Coleman himself reportedly saw only $220, 000. Coleman successfully sued his parents and managers, but for nowhere near the amount he had earned during the course of the show; reports of the settlement ranged from $1.8 to $3.8 million.

After the close of Diff’rent Strokes, all three of the show’s child stars had trouble adjusting. Plato and Bridges had trouble with drugs and run-ins with the law, and Plato eventually committed suicide. In 1993 Coleman appeared on the television talk show Geraldo and admitted he had twice attempted suicide with sleeping pills. Coleman went into semi-retirement and moved to Colorado and then to Arizona, where he was trained as a security guard, a job he often worked when unable to find other employment. A longtime model train hobbyist, he also worked in hobby shops at times. He owned a video-game arcade in Santa Monica, California, in the early 1990s. He appeared on the television shows Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Married with Children, Homeboys in Outer Space, The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show, Mad TV, and The Simpsons. He took small roles in such films as Party and S.F.W. in 1994, and in Like Father, Like Santa and comedian Norm Mac-Donald’s film Dirty Work in 1998. He was the voice of Kenny Falmouth in a CD-Rom video game The Curse of Monkey Island, and was featured in a TV ad for Klondike Ice Cream Bars.

Dogged by Legal Troubles

In July of 1998, while shopping for a bulletproof vest at a suburban Los Angeles shopping center, Coleman was approached by an autograph-seeking female fan. He signed his name, but the woman pressed him for a longer, more personal message. The details of what transpired are unclear. A loud verbal fight ensued, with both parties claiming the other was being insulting. The woman allegedly told Coleman that his attitude was the reason he had no success as an actor, he then tore up the autograph. Coleman allegedly ended up hitting the woman in the face and knocking her down, and then continued hitting her after she fell. The woman, a bus driver, was five-foot six inches tall and weighed over 200 pounds, and Coleman claimed she became rude and aggressive, frightening him and provoking the attack.

“She was getting scary,” Coleman testified, according to CourtTV online. “The hair on my neck was beginning to stand on its end.” Coleman added, “I’m four-foot eight inches, 86 pounds of nothing. I was getting scared, and she was getting ugly.” Coleman originally faced up to six months in jail and a $1, 000 fine for battery. He wound up pleading no contest to a charge of disturbing the peace, received a 90-day suspended sentence, was ordered to take anger management classes, and was fined $1, 580. The woman filed a $1.25 million civil suit against Coleman only 24 hours after the altercation, which suggested to the defense that the woman had provoked Coleman in an attempt to cash in on his fame.

In 2000 Coleman announced his intention to run against California Senator Diane Feinstein for a seat on the U.S. Senate on the H.E.C.K. (Homelessness, Education, Crime, and Killers) platform, though his name did not appear on the ballot. He appeared in two music videos: Kid Rock’s “Cowboy,” and Moby’s “We Are All Made of Stars,” in which he reunited with his on-screen brother, Todd Bridges. He was hired as the spokesperson for a California restaurant and arcade called HoloWorld Café, and began writing an advice column called “Coleman Confidential” for the Under Ground Online website. Coleman has also been kept busy with regular appearances on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. According to an interview with The Celebrity Cafe, Coleman said he aspires to play a “’bad guy’ role, a character with some teeth.”

Sources

Celebrity Café, http://www.celebritycafe.com/interviews/gary_coleman.html (June 28, 2002).

CourtTV Online, http://www.courttv.com (May 28, 2002).

Diff’rent Strokes Homepage, http://www.sitcomsonline.com/diffrentstrokes.html (May 28, 2002).

El Online News, http://www.eonline.com (June 28, 2002).

Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com (May 28, 2002).

—Brenna Sanchez