AS ACTRESS CHARLOTTE RAE DIES AGED 92… CURSE OF DIFF’RENT STROKES STRIKES AGAIN! CONRAD BAIN
GARY COLEMAN DANA PLATO
BEST known for his catchphrase, “Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?,” Gary was earning £80,000 an episode at the show’s peak but had little to show for it thanks to financial mismanagement by his parents.
The Colemans also made their son work long hours on the sitcom and numerous side projects even though he had a chronic kidney disease that, combined with his medications, limited his height to 4ft 8ins.
In 1989, he successfully sued them and won back £1million. But it was too little, too late and within 10 years he was working as a security guard and later had to file for bankruptcy.
Then in 1998, he was charged with assaulting an autograph seeker, and from 2007 to the end of his life, he was involved in a string of altercations, including two with his estranged wife.
He died in 2010, aged 42. ACTRESS Charlotte Rae is the latest cast member of
to be hit with its infamous CURSE after dying aged 92. Charlotte played the part of housekeeper Edna Garrett in the 1980’s sitcom but passed away peacefully at her LA home over the weekend.
And her passing is just the latest in a long line of tragedies to hit the stars of Diff’rent Strokes, who’ve also been hit by death, drug addiction and violence since leaving the jinxed programme.
Running for eight seasons from 1978 to 1986 the show attracted the kind of ratings enjoyed by Dallas and The Dukes Of Hazzard.
But when the comedy series ended the curse began to stalk the cast. AS a nine-year-old, Dana was offered the part of the possessed girl in
but her mother vetoed the idea.
She may have escaped one of the movie world’s most cursed films but she walked right into another nightmare.
Playing Philip Drummond’s daughter in
brought her worldwide fame, but her career hit the skids and the late 1980s were a blur thanks to her alcohol addiction.
Dana posed naked for in 1989, and appeared on DJ Howard Stern’s radio show to promote an underwear range where she claimed to have “never been happier”.
But the next day, Dana died from an overdose of painkillers and tranquillisers. She was just 35. ACTOR Conrad played the leading role on
for all eight years but sadly got hit by its curse.
He played Philip Drummond from 1978-86 but passed away in January 2013 just three weeks before his milestone 90th birthday.
Bain tragically died from complications following a stroke but his co-star Todd Bridges made a statement about Bain’s impact on the young cast.
Troubled Bridges said: “In addition to being a positive and supportive father figure both on and off screen, Conrad was well loved and made going to work each day enjoyable for all of us.”