(1964-1999)
Dana Plato was a sad example of a
child actor gone wrong. She gained fame in the part of Kimberly on
Diff'rent Strokes from 1978 to 1984. All of the young actors in this show (
Todd Bridges,
Gary Coleman) seemed to fall into misfortune after its cancellation. Plato was unable to find steady work, and was arrested in
Las Vegas in 1991 for a video store robbery. In 1992 she was arrested for forging a
valium prescription. Following an embarrasing on-air appearance on the
Howard Stern show, on May 8 1999, she died of a drug overdose. A subsequent coroner's inquest later ruled her death to be
suicide.