The Tragedy Of Gary Coleman's Existence

CLEVELAND - For the past 20 years, one of the most well-known cautionary tales of modern pop culture history has been the travails and tragedies of the child actors of TV's Diff'rent Strokes. While it is true that the dark side of Hollywood helped facilitate their downfall, it doesn't compare to what life dealt Gary Coleman long before the world had ever heard of him.

Such a shame.

Coleman, a seminal figure of 1980's pop culture as well as my own childhood died yesterday at the extremely young, yet shockingly old age of 42. Since he was born with a cognitive kidney disease, he always seemed fated to die very young. Many people claimed that they were surprised he lived as long as he did, but in actuality, I'm not so sure that Gary Coleman ever lived at all. By that I mean this: his disease caused him to forever remain very short in stature, as an adult he was just 4' 8." Saddled with that hurdle, he was already at a disadvantage. Add in the fact that after Diff'rent Strokes ended its television run in 1986, his life became one tough break after another.

His earnings from the show had totaled into the multi-millions, yet he was flat broke as a result of reckless spending and irresponsible management by his parents. This destitute status, combined with the very limited roles he could play due to his size made him something of an irrelevant figure in show business. He was seen as the "washed-up" has-been whose claim to fame was his iconic "Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?" catchphrase immortalized on Diff'rent Strokes. By the start of the 1990's, Coleman was already becoming a punchline amongst comics and the general public. He began to behave bitterly and almost always appeared angry. As his former co-stars suffered through drug addiction, criminal charges and the fallout from various other poor choices, Coleman's torture continued to be what he was born with; a major health setback that would compromise both his social life as well as his ceiling as an actor. Indeed, he burst onto the scene in the mid-1970's, pint-sized and cherubic and filled with stunning comedic brilliance. He hadn't even reached the age of 10 and he was already doing guest spots on major television sitcoms as well as co-starring in several television movies.

When NBC's Diff'rent Strokes ascended in popularity as the 1980's dawned, the precocious and quick-witted Coleman was the cornerstone of its appeal. Every one of my peers and cousins enjoyed the series and its revolutionary premise of two poor Black kids being adopted by a wealthy White businessman. To myself and my best friend and cousin, Coleman's Arnold Jackson was an icon. From his zingers to his afro with the "driveway part" in it, he was something of a friend and peer that we never could meet. Though Coleman was about a decade older than us, he always seemed to be on our level age wise.  To this day, we talk about Arnold and Willis and the unseen-but-still-ominous bully The Gooch as well as Shavar Ross' Dudley.

Coleman was and will always be indelible.

I also thought about the ironic similarities between Gary Coleman and the great Michael Jackson. Both were devoid of a true childhood because of the demands on their pre-eminence in show business. Both were ultra popular in the early 1980's, then became the butt of an endless array of jokes. Both died at very early ages, then became heavily fawned over in death after nearly two decades of decreasing popularity. Of course, Jackson's popularity went above and beyond anything ever seen in pop culture history (with the possible exception of The Beatles), but the similarities are still stunning.

It's worth mentioning that Coleman was never an iconic actor in the vein of an Al Pacino or Denzel Washington. He simply played an iconic character on a popular television series. Nonetheless, he was still a force and an important figure in entertainment because what he created in Arnold Jackson more than 30 years ago remains memorable and influential today and beyond. It's a shame that his life during his final two decades was essentially in ruins. However, he made an impact and his legacy will endure.

I hope his tortured soul is finally at peace.