• Gary Coleman’s story may be one of the saddest child star stories ever. Coleman, who died at 42, deserves respect from an obit. Doesn’t he? For nearly a decade, he was a pint-sized legend that ranked up there with Lucille Ball. Then it all fell apart. His life is a sad tale. Not only is he the ultimate example of how typecasting can ruin a career (although the four People’s Choice Awards did help soften the blow in the early ’80s), but he had all sorts of awful things happen to him throughout his life. A few examples:

• Trust misappropriationSure, Coleman spent all of those years on “Different Strokes,” but he didn’t get rich of it. Why? Because his parents and manager reportedly mis-managed his trust fund. As a result, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1999.
• trouble with the lawWhile we don’t exactly want to play Coleman as an angel with a halo over his head, we can’t help but think his financial troubles eventually led to myriad troubles with the law, including assault and domestic violence charges.
• selling out his imageOver the last two decades of his life, he had to suffer through humiliating appearance-oriented jobs just to pay the bills. It’s pretty troubling that his last credited role was in a film called “Midgets vs. Mascots.” His entire IMDB is a mess. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink