otherpeople
Gary Wayne Coleman (born February 8, 1968) is an
American actor, best known for his role as
Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom
Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986).
Personal life
Coleman was born in
Zion, Illinois. He was adopted by Edmonia Sue, a nurse practitioner, and W.G. Coleman, a fork-lift operator.
[www.filmreference.com/film/21/Gary-Coleman.html] He suffers from a
congenital kidney disease causing
focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (an autoimmune destruction and alteration of the kidney), which halted his growth at an early age, leading to a small stature (4 ft 8 in; 1.42 m). He has undergone two
kidney transplants, one in 1973 and one in 1984, and requires daily
dialysis.
Coleman secretly wed his girlfriend of five months, Shannon Price, 22, on August 28, 2007.
They met on the set of the 2006 comedy film
Church Ball.
On May 1 and May 2, 2008, Coleman and his wife appeared on the show
Divorce Court to air their differences in front of Judge
Lynn Toler.
Uncharacteristically for Divorce Court participants, they appeared on the show with the intent to save their marriage rather than adjudicate a separation.
Media appearances
While best known for his role on
Diff'rent Strokes, he had appeared earlier on
The Jeffersons, and on
Good Times as Penny's friend Gary.
Coleman also plays baseball. On August 1 2008, he was featured on
SportsCenter top ten plays. While playing for the Madison Mallards, Coleman was ejected from the game for unfair play.
On October 21, 2009 Coleman appeared on ABC's Sharktank and was promptly rejected for pitching his "Gary Coleman Bobble-head" idea.
Diff'rent Strokes
Coleman was cast in the role of Arnold Jackson on
Diff'rent Strokes, portraying a child adopted by a wealthy widower. The show was broadcast from 1978 to 1986, and was a huge success.
Coleman became the most popular fixture of the show (enhanced by his character's
catchphrase "whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"). At the height of his fame on
Diff'rent Strokes, he earned as much as $100,000 per episode. However, it is estimated he only received a quarter of that after paying his parents, advisers, lawyers, and taxes.
He later successfully sued his parents and his ex-advisers for misappropriation of his finances (see below).
Later character appearances
Coleman became 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 latter eventually served as the basis for the
Hanna-Barbera-produced animated series
The Gary Coleman Show in 1982.
In 1979, Coleman appeared in two episodes of
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century playing Hieronymous Fox, a child genius.
In 1990, Coleman appeared on an episode of
227 playing a mob boss (Season 5, Episode 17, "Knock It Off")
In 1994, Coleman appeared in an episode of
Married... with Children, playing a building code inspector whom
Al Bundy called to report an illegal driveway. (Season 8, Episode 16, "How Green Was My Apple")
In 1995, Coleman was featured as "Mad Dog No Good" on the television show
Martin, in which he played an ex-convict whom
Martin Lawrence helps to imprison. (Episode 74, "High Noon")
In 1996, Coleman played Arnold Jackson on the final episode of
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He and
Conrad Bain (as Mr. Drummond) were looking to buy the mansion from the Banks family.
In 1997, Coleman did voice work for
The Curse of Monkey Island, the third installment in the
Monkey Island series of comedy
adventure games developed by
LucasArts, as Kenny Falmouth, the lemon juice boy.
In 1999, Coleman played himself in an episode of
The Simpsons titled "
Grift of the Magi"; he also appeared in "
Day of the Jackanapes" (Episode 235).
Coleman also played himself in the 2001
Scooby-Doo parody,
Night of the Living Doo, produced by the
Cartoon Network.
In 2001, Coleman was employed as a shopping mall security guard in the
Los Angeles area. A
surveillance video of Coleman trying to stop a vehicle from entering the mall while the driver ridiculed him was broadcast on numerous television shows.
Coleman played a supporting role in the controversial 2003
computer game Postal² by
Running With Scissors, Inc. Coleman, who played himself, appeared at a shopping mall, and one of the game's objectives was to secure his autograph. Coleman's role was almost certainly based on a 1998 incident in which Coleman punched a fan who sought his autograph while he was at a shopping mall. Upon the player securing his autograph, police storm the mall to arrest him for an unknown crime, which leads to a violent shootout. Coleman was also featured prominently in the 2005 expansion pack to
Postal²,
Apocalypse Weekend.
Coleman was featured in the 2004 season of
The Surreal Life. He managed the restaurant at which the other cast members worked.
Gary Coleman made a brief appearance on the
Family Guy episode "
Brian Goes Back to College".
During 2006 and 2007, Coleman appeared in
commercials for a cash-advance loan company called CashCall. He ends the commercial by saying, "Pay your bills on time and everyone will love you." He even remarks in one commercial that "no one would lend
[1] money, not even
[2] relatives." and "What'choo talkin' 'bout, CashCall?" in another.
Appearances as himself
Coleman played himself in
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar
John Cena's music video for "Bad Bad Man", this wasn't the first time he has appeared with a wrestler. At WCW Fall Brawl 2000 he took a guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett. Coleman was also featured in
Kid Rock's video for "Cowboy", in which, appropriately garbed, he took on Rock's diminutive sidekick,
Joe C.. Coleman also made an appearance in the
Slum Village music video for "Climax".
Coleman made an appearance on
E!'s short-lived celebrity dating show
Star Dates, in which former celebrities went on blind dates with regular people. Other former celebrities who appeared on the show included
Jimmie Walker (
Good Times),
Butch Patrick (
The Munsters),
Kim Fields (
The Facts of Life) and
Susan Olsen (
The Brady Bunch).
Coleman also appeared in the
Nickelodeon sitcom
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, Coleman appears as himself.
Coleman made a cameo appearance in one episode of
Disney's sitcom
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
Coleman made an appearance as himself in the TV show
My Wife and Kids. He was one of Kady's boyfriends when Michael Kyle (
Damon Wayans) was dreaming about what boys she would bring home. He said sarcastically 'Gary Coleman' and in the dream Kady brings Gary Coleman home.
Coleman appeared in two episodes of
The Wayans Bros. as the celebrity spokesperson for "Goop Hair It Is" and as a delivery man.
In June 2005,
VH-1 named Coleman No. 1 on its list of the Top 100 Child Stars Ever.
He appeared on the game show
Russian Roulette for the benefit of a railroad society.
In
An American Carol, he played himself in an alternate reality, where he worked as a slave on an
Alabama plantation.
In 2009, he also appeared in an episode of
Nitro Circus.
On July 16, 2009, Coleman was briefly featured in an episode of
Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.
Penn & Teller were told that the earth will be destroyed by a
"Brown Dwarf Star", so
Penn asked Coleman directly "You're not going to destroy the Earth in
2012, are you?" to which Coleman replied "Yes" while signing autographs on the set. Shortly after, Coleman is depicted as an oversized monster attacking Penn & Teller.
Avenue Q
Gary Coleman is parodied in the hit 2003
Broadway musical,
Avenue Q, which won the 2004
Tony Award for
best musical. A character presented as Coleman works as the
superintendent of the apartment complex where the musical takes place. In the song, "It Sucks to be Me", he laments his fate.
In the Broadway musical, 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! On Avenue Q!
In the London production, his lyrics are:
I was the cutest little black kid on TV
I made a zillion dollars that my parents stole from me
My life was over when I hit puberty
But I'm here, fixing the toilets! On Avenue Q!
In both versions, the character continues:
Try having people stopping you to ask you "What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
It... gets ... old!!
On Broadway, the role was originally played by
Natalie Venetia Belcon.
In 2005 Coleman announced his intention to
sue the producers of
Avenue Q for their depiction of him, although the lawsuit has not materialized. At the 2007
New York Comic Con, Coleman said, "I wish there was a lawyer on Earth that would sue them for me."
[YouTube - Gary Coleman - New York Comic Con 2007 - TheActionRoom.com]
Legal struggles
Financial matters
In 1989, Coleman sued his parents and former manager over misappropriation of his $3.8 million trust fund.
[Former Child Star Central] He won a $1,280,000 ruling on February 23, 1993.
["Actor Gary Coleman wins $1.3 million in suit against his parents and ex-adviser", Jet, March 15, 1993.] Coleman later filed for
bankruptcy in 1999; he attributed his financial problems to mismanagement of his trust.
["Former Child Star Gary Coleman Files For Bankruptcy", Jet, September 6, 1999.]
Assault
Coleman was charged with
assault in 1998 after he punched a woman. Coleman had been working as a security guard, and bus driver Tracy Fields requested his autograph while he was shopping for a
bulletproof vest in a California mall. The two argued about the autograph, wherein Fields mocked Coleman's lackluster career as an adult actor. Coleman testified that "I was getting scared, and she was getting ugly"; he said that he thought Fields was going to hit him, so he punched her. Coleman pleaded
no contest and received a suspended sentence. He was also ordered to pay Fields $1,665 for hospital bills resulting from the fight.
["Coleman pleads no contest to disturbing the peace and receives 90-day suspended sentence", Court TV Online, February 4, 1999.] The incident was later parodied on
Chappelle's Show.
Citation for disorderly conduct
On July 26, 2007, Coleman was cited for
misdemeanor disorderly conduct by a
Provo, Utah, police officer after he was seen having a "heated discussion" with his wife, Shannon Price.
[, "Diff'rent Strokes' star Coleman cited for disorderly conduct in Utah County", Fox News, July 31, 2007.]["Gary Coleman reveals Secret Marriage", Inside Edition, February 12, 2008.]
On July 3, 2009, Coleman and his wife were involved in a
domestic dispute where Coleman's wife was arrested on suspicion of
domestic violence, and both parties were cited for
disorderly conduct.
["Gary Coleman's wife arrested for domestic violence", Daily Herald, August 12, 2009.]
Divorce Court
Coleman and his wife, Shannon Price, appeared on TV's
Divorce Court on May 1 and May 2, 2008, due to marital difficulties.
Automobile accident
Coleman was involved in an automobile accident in
Payson, Utah on September 6, 2008. According to Payson police, Coleman was backing up his truck in a Payson bowling alley parking lot when he allegedly hit 24-year-old Colt Rushton. According to a witness, the tire of Coleman's truck hit Rushton's knee and pulled him under the truck. Coleman's vehicle then hit another car. Rushton was transported to a local hospital where he was treated and released with minor injuries. Police said Coleman's driving speed was not excessive. Witnesses told police the incident stemmed from an argument that started in the bowling alley, after Rushton photographed Coleman. Coleman objected to Rushton taking his picture and the two men started arguing, according to witnesses. There was no citation or arrest for either man. Police said neither man would make a statement at the scene.
["Man run over by former child star in Payson", KSL-TV, September 6, 2008.]["Payson police say no one's talking in Coleman incident ", Deseret News, September 8, 2008.]
On December 2, 2008, Coleman pleaded
no contest to charges of
disorderly conduct and reckless driving. The court ordered him to pay a $100 fine for disorderly conduct. The reckless driving charge will be waived in one year if Coleman does not commit any further violations. Coleman still faces a civil suit related to the incident.
["Coleman Pleads No Contest to Disorderly Conduct", The New York Times, December 2, 2008.]["Gary Coleman Pleads No Contest in Bowling Brawl ", E! Online, December 2, 2008.]
Candidate for Governor of California
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.
Filmography
Films
Television work
- First appeared in a commercial for Harris Bank. His line, after the announcer says "You should have a Harris banker" was "You should have a Hubert doll". "Hubert" was a stuffed lion representing the Harris bank logo.
- The Jeffersons (1977, guest)
- Good Times (1977, guest)
- Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986)
- The Kid from Left Field (1979)
- Scout's Honor (1980)
- The Facts of Life (1980)
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (episode "The Cosmic Wizz-Kid", also has a cameo in a later episode)
- The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982)
- The Gary Coleman Show (1982) (voice)
- The Kid with the 200 I.Q. (1983)
- The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins (1984)
- Playing with Fire (1985)
- 227 (1990)
- Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (guest) (as Arnold Jackson, with Conrad Bain as Phillip Drummond) (1992)
- The Ben Stiller Show (1993) as himself
- Like Father, Like Santa (1998)
- The Simpsons, "Grift of the Magi" (December 19, 1999)
- The Drew Carey Show, "What's Wrong with this Episode? IV" (March 28, 2001)
- Drake and Josh (guest)
- A Carol Christmas (2003)
- My Wife and Kids (guest)
- The Jamie Foxx Show (guest as Cupid)
- Married… with Children (guest)
- Drake and Josh as himself
- Unscrewed with Martin Sargent (2003ndash2004, guest)
- Simon & Simon, "Like Father, Like Son"
- The Parkers as himself
- The Simpsons as himself
- Penn & Teller: Bullshit! "The Apocalypse" as himself (July 16, 2009, guest)
