The Dana Plato Handbook - Everything you need to know about Dana Plato

Smith Emily

Description

Dana Michelle Plato (November 7, 1964 – May 8, 1999) was an American actress notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. After appearing on Diff'rent Strokes, Plato's career declined, though she did have roles in some independent movies.

This book is your ultimate resource for Dana Plato. Here you will find the most up-to-date information, photos, and much more.

In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about Dana Plato's Early life, Career and Personal life right away. A quick look inside: Dana Plato, California Suite (film), Diane Anderson-Minshall, Diff'rent Strokes, Different Strokes (film), Exorcist II: The Heretic, High School U.S.A., Maywood, California, Moore, Oklahoma, Night Trap, The Howard Stern Show, Todd Bridges 65…and more pages!

Contains selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped, combining the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the convenience of printed books. A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission.

Sujets

• Autobiography
• Biography

Informations

• Publié par: Emereo Publishing
• Date de parution: 09 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781486464524
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Topic relevant selected content from the highest rated entries, typeset, printed and shipped.

Combine the advantages of up-to-date and in-depth knowledge with the con- venience of printed books.

A portion of the proceeds of each book will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation to support their mission: to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it eectively and globally.

e content within this book was generated collaboratively by volunteers. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information. Some information in this book maybe misleading or simply wrong. e publisher does not guarantee the validity of the infor- mation found here. If you need specic advice (for example, medical, legal, nancial, or risk management) please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.

Sources, licenses and contributors of the articles and images are listed in the section entitled “References”. Parts of the books may be licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. A copy of this license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”

All used third-party trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Contents

Articles Dana Plato California Suite (film) Diane Anderson-Minshall Diff'rent Strokes Different Strokes (film) Exorcist II: The Heretic

High School U.S.A. Maywood, California Moore, Oklahoma Night Trap The Howard Stern Show Todd Bridges

References Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Article Licenses License

1 6 8 11 20 21 27 30 43 48 52 65

69 71

73

Dana Plato

Dana Plato

Dana Plato Plato as Kimberly onDiff'rent Strokesin 1979

Born

Died

Cause of death

Occupation

Years active

Spouse(s)

Children

Dana Michelle Strain November 7, 1964 Maywood, California, U.S.

[1] May 8, 1999 (aged 34) Moore, Oklahoma, U.S.

[2][3] Suicide

Actress

1971–1999

Lanny Lambert (m. 1984–1990)

Tyler Lambert (1984–2010)

[4] Dana Michelle Plato(November 7, 1964–May 8, 1999) was an American actress notable for playing the role of [5] Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcomDiff'rent Strokes. After appearing onDiff'rent Strokes, Plato's [6] career declined, though she did have roles in some independent movies. [2][7] Plato died at the age of 34 of an overdose of the painkiller Lortab along with Soma.

Childhood Plato was bornDana Michelle Strainon November 7, 1964, in Maywood, California, to Linda Strain, an unwed 16-year-old, who was already caring for an 18-month-old. Linda Strain put her infant daughter Dana up for adoption. [8] Dean (August 16, 1926–February 24, 1997) and Florine "Kay" Plato (December 27, 1938–January 2, 1988) adopted the child in June 1965 and raised her in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County. Her adoptive parents [9] divorced when she was three.

Career in television and film Kay Plato began taking Dana to auditions when she was very young. By the age of seven, Plato began doing television commercials, reportedly appearing in over 100 spots for companies as diverse as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dole, and Atlantic Richfield. She claimed she was offered two highly sought-after movie roles: the part of possessed child Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film,The Exorcist, and the starring role in Louis Malle's 1978 film,Pretty Baby. According to Plato, her mother vetoed both jobs, either fearing Plato would be typecast, or subjected to unsavory [10] subject matter.Exorcistauthor/screenwriter William Peter Blatty was quoted in the bookFormer Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wantedthat he had "no such recollection" of Plato being offered the role. Plato made her film debut in 1977 at the age of thirteen inReturn to Boggy Creek.Other credits includeCalifornia Suite,High School U.S.A.andExorcist II: The Heretic. Plato was a trained and accomplished figure skater. At one point she was training for a possible Olympic team spot. During this time she was spotted by a producer during a brief appearance on TV'sThe Gong Show. She won what would become her most famous acting role, that of Kimberly Drummond onDiff'rent Strokes. According to Plato, her mother decided she should cut back on her skating to focus on the role.

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Dana Plato

Diff'rent Strokes In 1978,Diff'rent Strokesdebuted on NBC. The show concerned Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain), a wealthy white widower in New York City who adopted two young black boys after their parents died. Plato played Kimberly, the teenage daughter of Drummond and the sister of the two adopted boys, Willis (Todd Bridges) and Arnold (Gary Coleman). She was the oldest, Willis was second, and Arnold was the third. The show was an immediate hit. Plato appeared on the show from 1978 until 1984 and again in 1985-1986, on two different networks. During that year, she became pregnant by her boyfriend, musician Lanny Lambert. The producers ofDiff'rent Strokesdid not feel that a pregnancy would fit the show's wholesome image, so Plato was let go. Although rumors of drug use and other "problems on the set" swirled around her dismissal, the producers were adamant that the pregnancy was the only reason her character was written out. Plato actually returned for several appearances during the show's final 1986 season, which appeared on ABC, including an episode (Plato's final appearance in the series) in which Kimberly suffers the effects of bulimia.

Plato in 1983

Career afterDiff'rent Strokes After leavingDiff'rent Strokesin 1986, Plato attempted to establish herself as a serious actress, but found it difficult to step out of the long shadows cast by her sitcom career. After her child was born, she had breast implants and appeared in a June 1989Playboypictorial, but her career remained in the doldrums. She started taking roles in such B-movies asBikini Beach RaceandLethal Cowboy. In 1992, Plato was one of the first celebrities to star in a video game. The game,Night Trap, was not a great success, but is considered a pioneering title as it was the first game to use live actors, specifically a well known personality [11] (Plato). It was one of the first video game titles to have mature content and attracted controversy due to its [12] depiction of violence. The controversy, along with that of Mortal Kombat, eventually led to the creation of the [13] ESRB. Toward the end of her career, Plato chose roles that could be considered erotic or even softcore pornography. She appeared partially nude inPrime Suspect(1988) andCompelling Evidence(1995), but her most infamous film is 1997'sDifferent Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill. The movie's title was changed after shooting to tie it to Plato's famous past, but was not connected in any way to the sitcom other than through her involvement. Plato [14] played a lesbian and the film was rated X due to sexual content, but it was not considered hardcore pornography. Plato subsequently would appear in only one more film.

Personal life Plato began having drug and alcohol problems early in life. At age 14, she overdosed on Valium. She admitted to [9] drinking and using recreational drugs during her years onDiff'rent Strokes. In December 1983, Plato moved in with rock guitarist Lanny Lambert; the couple married in April 24, 1984. On January 2, 1988, Plato's adoptive mother, Kay Plato, died, aged 49, from scleroderma. The same week, Plato and Lambert separated. The couple divorced in March 1990, and Lambert was awarded custody of their only child Tyler [15] Edward (July 2, 1984–May 6, 2010), with Plato having visitation rights. During this time, Plato posed nude for [9] Playboy. In 1991, Plato ended up in Las Vegas with no work. She took a job at a dry-cleaning store to support herself. On February 28, she entered a video store, produced a gun, and demanded the money from the register. The clerk called 911 saying, "I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes". Fifteen minutes after the

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Dana Plato

robbery, Plato returned to the scene and was immediately arrested. The gun was only a pellet gun and the robbery [16] [17] netted Plato $164. Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton posted her $13,000 bail. Plato was given five years' probation. She made headlines and became part of the national debate over troubled child stars, particularly given the difficulties of herDiff'rent Strokesco-stars, Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges. In January 1992, she was again arrested, this time for forging a prescription for Diazepam. She served 30 days in jail for violation of the terms of her probation and entered a drug program immediately thereafter. Following her appearance in the erotic film,Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill ... and Jill, Plato appeared on the cover of the lesbian lifestyle magazineGirlfriendsin 1998. She was interviewed by Diane Anderson-Minshall and came out as a lesbian, although she later recanted. It was reported that Plato showed up drunk for the magazine's [18] cover shoot. In her interview with Howard Stern, Plato mentioned that the traumatic events of her mother's death and her husband leaving her took place during the course of only a week. In desperation, she signed over power of attorney to an accountant who disappeared with the majority of her money, leaving her with no more than $150,000. She claimed that the accountant was never found, despite an exhaustive search, and had also stolen more than $11 million of other [10] peoples' money. Just before her death, she and her fianca, Robert Menchaca, were living in a recreation vehicle in [17] Navarre, Florida.

Final interview and death On May 7, 1999, Plato appeared onThe Howard Stern Show, where she told Stern and Robin Quivers that she was engaged to 28-year-old Robert Menchaca, and that he was managing her career. She was frank about her life, discussing her financial problems and past run-ins with the law. She admitted to being a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, but claimed that she had been sober for more than ten years by that point, and was not using any drugs, with the exception of prescribed painkillers due to discomfort and pain from the recent extraction of her wisdom teeth. Many of her callers called her everything, from a "has-been" to an addict. She was referred to by one caller as an "ex-con lesbian drug addict with mental problems". This provoked a defiant Plato, as she offered to take a drug test on the air (and even placed a large wager on the results of the test to one particularly doubtful caller). Some [10] callers, as well as Stern, came to Plato's defense by consoling and complimenting her. After the first three negative calls, a caller named Julie told Plato that she looked and sounded great, and could not fathom why people were attacking her. Plato wept while offering her gratitude, as well to a later caller who claimed to be a recovering addict, and told her that he believed everything she said. Other callers asked her relatively "neutral" (mostlyDiff'rent Strokes-related) questions, such as "What happened to your kid?", "Did Todd (Bridges) break your arm (in a playful brawl gone wrong) on the set ofDiff'rent Strokes?", "Have you ever had the opportunity of seeing Janet Jackson change during the taping ofDiff'rent Strokes?" and "I need a date with Dana!", at which Plato laughed. Stern later mentioned that she was scheduled to appear at a concert event,The Expo of the Extreme, in [10] Chicago two weeks after the interview. The next day, Plato and Menchaca were returning to California. The couple stopped at Menchaca's mother's home in [9] Moore, Oklahoma, for a Mother's Day visit. Plato went to lie down inside her recreational vehicle parked outside the house and subsequently died of an overdose of Vanadom (Soma) and Lortab. Her death was eventually ruled a [19] [20] suicide. Her body was cremated.

Son's death Almost 11 years to the day of Dana Plato's death, on May 6, 2010, Plato's son Tyler Lambert died at age 25 of a [21] self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His grandmother, Joni Richardson, stated that [22] Lambert was experimenting with both drugs and alcohol, which may have contributed to his suicide. Johnny Whitaker, Plato's former manager and a friend of the family, told ABCNews.com that Lambert always said he "wanted to be with Mom." "Mother's Day was always a difficult time, not only because it was Mother's Day but the

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Kelli Medd

Lisa

Growing Pains

J.D.

Mary Beth Sanders Debbie

Jenny Warren

Rita

[23] anniversary of Dana's death," Whitaker said.

Andrea Baker

Title

Girl

The Six Million Dollar Man

Episode: "Paying the Piper/Baby Sister/Help Wanted"

Daughter

What Really Happened to the Class of '65?

1992

1992

Night Trap

1984

1985

1995

Prosecuting Attorney

Prime Suspect

Direct-to-video release

Role

The Love Boat

1989

1992

Bikini Beach Race

The Sounds of Silence

1999

4

Desperation Boulevard

Dana Fields

Elizabeth

Lethal Cowboy

1995

1997

Tiger

Blade Boxer

1997

1998

1998

Different Strokes

Television movie

Beyond the Bermuda Triangle

1975

Television special

Kimberly Drummond

Television movie

Episode: "The Most Likely to Succeed"

1983

Video Game

Silent Scream

1995

Compelling Evidence

Cara Ames

Millenium Day

High School U.S.A.

California Suite

Notes

Episode: "The Bionic Woman"

Wendy

1981

A Step in Time

Family

The Facts of Life

1978

Dana Plato

1979

Filmography

Year

1975

Kimberly Drummond

Television movie

1978 to 1986

142 episodes

2 episodes

Diff'rent Strokes

1976, 1980

1982

Walt Disney World's 10th Anniversary

1978

Diana Masters

Jill Martin

Dana Plato

Episode: "Mike's Madonna Story"

Episode: "Rough Housing"

Patty Springer

Dana Plato

References

[1] "’Dana Plato, 34, Star of 'Diff'rent Strokes'" (http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/10/arts/dana-plato-34-star-of-diff-rent-strokes. html?scp=2&sq=dana plato&st=cse).New York Times. May 10, 1999. . Retrieved 2010-08-10. [2] "Death of Actress Dana Plato in Oklahoma Ruled a Suicide" (http:/ /news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19990521& id=79MiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6282,2811386). The Deseret News. 1999-05-21. . Retrieved 22 May 2011. [3] "Doctor rules Dana Plato's death suicide" (http:/ /lubbockonline.com/stories/052299/ent_052299095.shtml). http://lubbockonline.com.  1999-05-22. . Retrieved 15 July 2012. [4] According toThe Smoking Gun(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/danaplato1.html), Oklahoma authorities gave Plato's date of birth as November 1, 1963 [5] New York Times (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/57045/Dana-Plato) [6] Wilkins, Frank. "The Overdose Death of Dana Plato" (http:/ /www.franksreelreviews.com/shorttakes/plato.htm). franksreelreviews.com. . Retrieved 22 May 2011. [7] "Dana Plato, 34, Star of 'Diff'rent Strokes'" (http:/ /www.nytimes.com/1999/05/10/arts/dana-plato-34-star-of-diff-rent-strokes.html). The New York Times. 1999-05-10. . Retrieved 22 May 2011. [8] As per Social Security Death Index website (http:/ /ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com) [9] Gliatto, Tom (1999-05-24). "Little Girl Lost" (http:/ /www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20128316,00.html).People51(19). ISSN 0093-7673. . [10] Dana Plato's final interview (http:/ /www.sitcomsonline.com/sounds/dana_plato_05-07-99.ra) with Howard Stern [11] "MobyGames Page on Night Trap" (http:/ /www.mobygames.com/game/sega-cd/night-trap). MobyGames. . Retrieved 2010-08-02. [12] Slaven, Andy (2002).Video Game Bible, 1985-2002. Trafford Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 1-55369-731-6. [13] A.V. Club; Klosterman, Chuck (2009).Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists. Simon and Schuster. p. 1-4165-9473-6.91. ISBN [14]The New York Timesdescription (http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/172923/Different-Strokes-The-Story-of-Jack-Jill-and-Jill/overview) ofDifferent Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill [15] [[California Birth Index (http:/ /www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461)] 1905-1995] [16] Sporkin, Elizabeth (1991-03-25). "Diff'rent Strokes, Fallen Stars" (http:/ /www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20114736,00. html).People35(11). . [17]The Death of Dana Plato(http://www.franksreelreviews.com/shorttakes/plato.htm) at Morbidly Hollywood [18]Dana Plato's and the Diff'rent Strokes Curse(http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2010/05/29/dana-plato-and-the-diffrent-strokes-curse/) [19] O'Neill, Anne-Marie (1999-06-07). "Seeking Serenity" (http:/ /www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20128431,00.html).People 51(20). . [20] Benoit, Tod (2009).Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy211. ISBN 1-57912-822-X.. Black Dog Publishing. p. [21] "Dana Plato's son dies at age 25" (http:/ /content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2010/05/ dana-platos-son-dies-at-age-25/1).USA Today. May 12, 2010. . Retrieved May 12, 2010. [22] Messer, Lesley (2010-05-13). "Son of the Late Dana Plato Commits Suicide" (http:/ /www.people.com/people/article/0,,20368636,00. html). people.com. . Retrieved 31 May 2010. [23] "Dana Plato's Son Tyler Lambert Commits Suicide Like his Mom - ABC News" (http:/ /abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/ dana-platos-son-tyler-lambert-commits-suicide-mom/story?id=10629167). Abcnews.go.com. . Retrieved 2010-08-30.

External links b Dana Plato (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0686818/) at the Internet Movie Database Dana Plato (http://www.allrovi.com/name/p57045) at AllRovi Dana Plato (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=plato&GSfn=dana&GSbyrel=in& GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=5415&df=all&) at Find a Grave Plato's autopsy report atThe Smoking Gun(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/danaplato1.html) Plato's final interview (http://www.danaplato.net/plato_int.ra) onThe Howard Stern Show(RealAudio format - 35:39)

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