Gary Coleman died yesterday after falling into a coma following an intracranial hemorrhage, with some reports indicating he might have had a fall that led to the brain trauma. For many of us who grew up watching Coleman on Diff’rent Strokes, it is yet another “died too soon” on a growing list of our childhood icons.
According to an ABC article:
Celebrity website RadarOnline.com said Coleman, 42, was taken off life support on Friday, and similar reports were filed by showbiz site TMZ.com and by CNN, citing a spokeswoman at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah.
The spokeswoman, who earlier issued a statement saying the actor had been put on life support following a brain hemorrhage this week, was not immediately available for confirmation.
TMZ.com said the actor’s wife Shannon made the decision to take her husband off life support, and he died at 12:05 p.m. MT, (6:05 GMT).
The diminutive Coleman, who suffered from a congenital kidney disease that halted his growth, was hospitalized after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage Wednesday night at his home in Santaquin, Utah.
The following day he was “conscious and lucid” in the morning, but in the afternoon his condition worsened, he slipped into unconsciousness and was placed on life support.
Coleman is best known as Arnold from the hit show Diff’rent Strokes that aired from the late 70’s through mid-80s, also appeared on a number of other hit shows through the 80’s. Subsequent to that he struggled with post-childhood stardom, as many successful child actors do.
Here is a nice picture of the child stars from Diff’rent Strokes:
Image courtesy of SitcomOnline
Through the years he continued working in small roles in movies and television, though one of the biggest attractions is when he and wife Shannon Price appeared on Divorce Court in 2008 after only a year of marriage to work through their differences. The pair remained married, and mentioned above, it was Price who eventually made the decision to remove Coleman from life support.
He made a big splash in 2003 in the gaming world by playing himself in the irreverent video game Postal 2 (top photo), and in a scripted scene ended up heavily armed and taking on a crew of law enforcement officers. He enjoyed the renewed popularity and coolness, showing up at gaming conventions and on gun ranges in promo appearances, and generally enjoying the attention.
Recently Coleman was one of a number of unlikely gubernatorial candidates challenging Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. In February of this year he collapsed with a seizure on the set of an Insider interview, and in general his health had been degrading in recent years.
Source: ABC News