Gary Coleman
Gary Wayne Coleman (born
February 8 1968, in
Zion,
Illinois) is an
American actor. He resides in
Utah, having relocated from
California in
2005.
Coleman is most famous for the role of Arnold Jackson on
Diff'rent Strokes, a United States
sitcom which ran on
NBC from
1978 to
1985 and then switched to
ABC. He was particularly famous for his
catch phrase, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?", delivered to his character's older brother Willis Jackson (
Todd Bridges).
Coleman was born with a
congenital kidney disease causing
nephritis (an autoimmune destruction of the kidney), which halted his growth at an early age, leading to a notably small stature (4' 8") which became his most distinguishing feature. Coleman has had two kidney
transplants, one in
1973 and one in
1984, and requires constant
dialysis.
During the run of the show Coleman was a popular figure, starring in a number of feature films and
made-for-TV movies including
On the Right Track, and
The Kid With the Broken Halo.
The Kid With the Broken Halo eventually served as the basis for the
Hanna-Barbera produced animated series
The Gary Coleman Show from
1982.
At the height of his fame on
Diff'rent Strokes, Coleman earned $70,000 per episode. As he grew older, however, he fell from public favor. After the cancellation of
Diff'rent Strokes, his acting career declined sharply. He did play a building code inspector in a
Married With Children episode: S08E16, entitled "How Green Was My Apple," where Bundy had called him to report an illegal driveway.
In 1995, Gary also featured as character
Mad Dog on the show
Martin. Episode title: "High Noon", he played as an ex-convict which
Martin helped to imprison and once released comes looking for Martin.
In
1997, Gary did voice work for the
The Curse of Monkey Island the third installment in the
Monkey Island series of comedy adventure games developed by
LucasArts. In
2004, Coleman played a supporting role in the controversial
computer game Postal² by
Running With Scissors, Inc.Later media appearances
In 1999 Gary Coleman played himself in an episode of the Simpsons titled "Grift of the Magi".
He has been featured in one of the seasons of
The Surreal Life and was the manager of the
Surreal Life characters at the restaurant they worked at. He felt that he was used by the people who made
Diff'rent Strokes.
In
2001, he was employed as a shopping mall security guard in the Los Angeles area. A video of him trying to stop a vehicle from entering a compound while the driver (obviously a member of the
paparazzi) ridiculed him made the rounds on various late night talk shows. He also cameoed on
The Simpsons as himself (in security guard mode).
Coleman occasionally is able to cash in on his
camp value to members of
Generation X, by appearing in
cameo roles in film and TV. As with
Day-Glo,
Rubik's Cube,
Valley girls,
Care Bears,
Mr. T, the
Smurfs and other artifacts from the early
1980s, Coleman's popularity coincided with the childhood of a particularly productive generation of internet users, and he is, as of 2005, a minor
cult figure.
He has also appeared in
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar
John Cena's music video for "Bad Bad Man" in which he appeared as himself, as well as in
Kid Rock's video for "Cowboy". In this video he appeared, appropriately garbed, taking on Rock's diminutive sidekick,
Joe C. Additionally, Coleman's one-time
Surreal Life co-star,
Ron Jeremy also has a cameo, as a piano player.
Gary Coleman made an appearance on E's short-lived celebrity dating show where washed up celebrities went on blind dates with regular people.
Gary also appeared in a
Nickelodeon sitcom called
Drake & Josh. The two main characters were selling a product called the Gary Coleman Grill (a parody of the
George Foreman Grill). At the end of the show Gary appears as himself.
In June
2005,
VH-1 named Gary Coleman
No. 1 on its list of the Top 100 Child Stars Ever.
Gary Coleman in Italy
In
1986, Gary Coleman had a very short appearance in one episode of an
Italian talk-show,
Studio 5, with popular italian TV comedian actor Marco Columbro and show-girl Roberta Termali. Also, he and his Italian dubbing actor Fabrizio Manfredi had a special guest appearance in Pentatlon, a quiz show by
Mike Bongiorno.
In Italy,
Diff'rent Strokes was aired under several names:
Harlem contro Manhattan (1979-80),
Il mio amico Arnold (1981-87),
Arnold (1988-today). Original theme was often replaced by several italian music songs: the first one,
Arnold, performed by
Nico Fidenco, was a single hit in 1980.
In
2006, best episodes were still broadcast on Italia Uno (
Mediaset group), every day, at 06.00am.
Coleman famously sued his parents and manager over misappropriation of his $8.3 million trust fund, and won a $1,280,000 ruling on
February 23 1993. The basis for the lawsuit was that using the trust fund, his parents had accumulated $770,000 for themselves, leaving Gary only $220,000. Coleman filed for
bankruptcy in
1999.
Coleman appeared in court on
November 2,
2000, charged with assault. He was ordered to pay bus driver Tracy Fields $1,665 for hospital bills resulting from a fight. Fields had attempted to get Coleman's autograph while he was shopping for a
bulletproof vest in a California mall.[
1] Coleman said he felt "threatened by her insistence" and punched her in the head. Coleman was working as a security guard at the time[
2].
Coleman was a candidate for
governor in the
2003 California recall election. This campaign was sponsored by the free newsweekly the
East Bay Express as a satirical comment on the recall. After
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy, Coleman stated that he would be voting for Schwarzenegger. Coleman placed
8th in a field of 135 candidates, receiving 14,242 votes.
Coleman is a
model railroader.
He is sometimes confused with
Emmanuel Lewis, star of the
1980s sitcom
Webster, considered a knock-off of Coleman's earlier success.
In 1993, Coleman opened the Gary Coleman Game Parlor, a video game entertainment center, in
Fisherman's Village in
Marina del Rey, California. The motto of the GCGP was "Our games are easier, so you can play longer". It went out of business in 1994.
In late
2005 Coleman opened an ice cream shop in
Cheyenne, Wyoming, called Short Stuff's frozen treats. He is already making plans to expand his business and hopes that he will be taken seriously in the business world.
Gary Coleman is also a character (not an actor) in the hit
2003 Broadway musical,
Avenue Q, which won the 2004
Tony Award for best musical. In the musical, Coleman is portrayed by actress Natalie Venetia Belcon. The character is loosely based on Coleman himself, or more specifically, on the public perception of him as a
child star who lost everything. The character works as the
superintendent of the apartment complex where the musical takes place. In the introductory song, "It Sucks to be Me", he states: "I'm Gary Coleman from TV's
Diff'rent Strokes, I made a lot of money that got stolen by my folks, now I'm broke, and I'm the butt of everyone's jokes—but I'm here, the superintendent of Avenue Q!" At various times when the Gary Coleman character speaks, theme music reminiscent of an 80s sitcom interrupts the usual Broadway-style music.
In the London version of the show, Gary Coleman is portrayed by a male actor rather than a female.
Films
Coleman also had a brief appearance as a security guard in the Jim Carrey movie "Me, Myself, and Irene."
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (
guest)
Good Times (
1977'? guest)
Diff'rent Strokes (
1978–
1986)
The Kid from Left Field (
1979)
Scout's Honor (
1980)
Buck Rogers (cameo)
The Kid with the Broken Halo (
1982)
The Gary Coleman Show (1982) (canceled after a few months) (voice)
The Kid with the 200 I.Q. (
1983)
The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins (
1984)
Playing with Fire (
1985)
Like Father, Like Santa (
1998)
Drake and Josh (
guest)
A Carol Christmas (
2003)
*
CNN's take on Coleman's 2003 candidacy for the governorship of California*
Another popular internet meme; a photograph of Gary Coleman and David Hasselhoff*
Rotten.com bio
