After the late actor Gary Coleman Rose to fame in the comedy “Diff’rent Strokes” and became one of the most popular child actors during the 1970s and 1980s, he found himself typecast.
That was partly because he couldn’t escape his catchphrase: “What are you talking about, Willis?”
That line from the show followed him almost everywhere, as many friends attest in the new documentary “Gary.” And he despised it.
Due to a congenital kidney defect that led to lifelong health problems, Coleman’s growth was reduced to 4 feet 8 inches. The combination of his height and his strong association with Arnold Jackson’s character on “Diff’rent Strokes” made it difficult for Coleman to move beyond his role as a child star, according to the documentary, which recently began streaming on Peacock. .
Coleman was 18 when “Diff’rent Strokes” was cancelled, but the subsequent roles Coleman landed generally did not allow his character to mature.
And it’s something that affected Coleman his entire life.
“Fame is always a burden. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care how much you say you like him. “You’re stuck in this for life,” he says in an old interview clip that appears on “Gary.” “You’re going to die a celebrity even if you haven’t worked in 20 years.”
Those words came during what would end up being Coleman’s last interview before his death at age 42 in Utah, where the actor spent his last five years.
Over 90 minutes, “Gary” explores the ups and downs of Coleman’s life, including stardom, health problems and financial problems. And a major part of the story takes place in Utah, where the actor found relief from Hollywood attention and heartbreak in his personal life.
Why Gary Coleman moved to Utah
Coleman’s life in the spotlight began early, around age 7. As the actor’s longtime friend and former manager, Dion Mial, says in “Gary,” Coleman “felt completely abandoned by the people close to him” by the time “Diff’ Rent Stokes” ended when he was 18.
Much of that mistrust was due to poor financial management. According to the documentary, Coleman earned more than $18 million as an actor, but most of the money went not to him but to his parents and business advisors.
When Coleman expressed his desire to be done with the entertainment industry, agents and others in his circle continued to pressure him in that direction, Mial says.
But when Coleman was approached to film the Latter-day Saint comedy “Church Ball” in Provo, Utah, he found something different.
On the last day of filming in 2005, Coleman called his girlfriend in Los Angeles and told her he wanted to move to the Beehive State.
“The people here in Utah are amazing.” Ana Gray he remembers Coleman telling him. “They are very kind and wonderful and they don’t treat me like Gary Coleman. “They’re treating me like Gar.”
Coleman began a new chapter, buying a house in Santaquin, about 20 miles from Provo, and becoming involved with Shannon Price, whom he met while filming “Church Ball.”
But, as nearly every character in “Gary” will attest, it didn’t give him the resolution he was looking for.
Gary Coleman’s final years in Utah
The word “tumultuous” appears several times when Coleman’s relationship with Price appears in “Gary.”
The couple married on August 28, 2007 and divorced less than a year later, although Price was still living in the Coleman home at the time of his death in 2010.
According to the documentary, domestic violence disputes and broken restraining orders plagued their relationship.
Sheila Erickson Rolls, who was Coleman’s theatrical agent in Utah, believes the couple fought primarily over money. There wasn’t much work for Coleman in Utah, he said, which caused him financial problems.
Many of Coleman’s closest friends believe that Price was using Coleman to gain fame. Some even say she had something to do with his death, although the brain hemorrhage caused by a fall at her home was declared accidental.
“I collapsed. I cried. How can people be so evil and think I did this? Because? Because I’m the ex-wife? I’m the evil person, right? Price says in the documentary. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t touch it. I didn’t hurt him. I wasn’t close to him. “Nothing happened.”
“With Shannon Price I was always optimistic that one day she would come and tell me, ‘I’m done.’ I need her out of my life,’” Randy Kester, Coleman’s Utah attorney, says in the documentary. “So I was sad that it didn’t get to that point.”
Coleman died on May 28, 2010, at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo.
For all the “tragic moments” Coleman experienced, Mial says in the documentary that he chooses to look at the big picture of the actor’s life, including the victories and triumphs.
“Gary lived a life filled with many disappointments. There were many people who disappointed him. …The entertainment industry is not designed to protect anyone’s life. It will chew you up and spit you out,” he says. “The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, and his life and career tasted very good. Give him that credit and recognize him for it.”
‘ www.deseret.com ‘
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