1. Dana Plato rose to fame for playing Kimberly Drummond on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which established her as a teen idol of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
44 Facts About Dana Plato
1. 2.
Dana Plato was raised in the San Fernando Valley and was an accomplished figure skater before acting.
3.
Dana Plato's acting career began with numerous commercial appearances, and her television debut came at the age of ten with a brief appearance on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man.
4.
Dana Plato was married twice; she had a child in 1984 during her marriage to guitarist Lanny Lambert.
5.
Dana Plato struggled with substance abuse for most of her life.
6.
Dana Plato was arrested in 1991 for robbing a video store, and again the following year for forging a drug prescription.
7.
On May 8,1999, at age 34, Dana Plato was found dead in her motor home from an overdose of prescription drugs.
8.
Dana Plato Michelle Strain was born on November 7,1964, in Huntington Park, California, at Mission Hospital.
9.
In June 1965, the seven-month-old Dana was adopted by Dean Plato, who owned a trucking company, and his wife Florine "Kay" Plato.
10.
At a young age, Dana Plato began attending auditions with her mother, and by the age of seven had appeared in over 100 television commercials.
11.
Dana Plato made her acting debut at the age of 10, making a brief appearance on the ABC television show The Six Million Dollar Man.
12.
Dana Plato then starred in the 1975 made-for-television film Beyond the Bermuda Triangle.
13.
Dana Plato made her film debut at the age of 13 in the uncredited role of Sandra Phalor in the horror film Exorcist II: The Heretic.
14.
Dana Plato starred as Evie Joe in the horror film Return to Boggy Creek in the same year.
15.
Better received was the family-comedy film California Suite, in which Dana Plato played Jenny Warren; the film was a commercial success, and earned accolades at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards.
16.
Dana Plato appeared regularly on the show throughout its run, notably top-billed for four years.
17.
Dana Plato was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on the program, and was part of two TV Land Award nominations given to its cast.
18.
In 1984, following the birth of her son Tyler, Dana Plato was dismissed from her starring role due to both her pregnancy and struggles in her personal life, which producers felt would negatively impact their "wholesome family comedy".
19.
Dana Plato made a one-episode appearance on season 8 episode 12 of "The Love Boat".
20.
Thereafter, Dana Plato appeared recurringly on Diff'rent Strokes from 1985 to 1986, the show's end; in season 8, the episode that aired on January 17,1986, was Dana Plato's final appearance on the show, which showed her character suffering from bulimia.
21.
In 1981, Dana Plato appeared in the television special A Step in Time, which earned her a second Young Artist Award nomination.
22.
Dana Plato attempted to establish herself as a serious actress, but found it difficult to achieve success.
23.
Dana Plato had breast implants and modeled for a June 1989 Playboy pictorial.
24.
Dana Plato started taking roles in such B movies as Bikini Beach Race and Lethal Cowboy.
25.
In 1992, Dana Plato starred in the video game Night Trap, becoming one of the first celebrities to appear in a video game.
26.
Dana Plato was eager to work on the project, and Rob Fulop, one of the designers of Night Trap, said that he and Plato had enjoyed working together.
27.
Dana Plato made little effort to hide the fact that the project was a step-down compared to her previous career ventures.
28.
Toward the end of her career, Dana Plato chose roles that were erotic; she appeared nude in Prime Suspect and Compelling Evidence, and in the softcore erotic drama Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill.
29.
In December 1983, Dana Plato moved in with her boyfriend, rock guitarist Lanny Lambert.
30.
Dana Plato then became engaged to Fred Potts, a filmmaker, but the romance ended.
31.
Dana Plato was later married to actor and producer Scott Atkins in Vancouver for one month, but the marriage was annulled.
32.
Dana Plato got engaged to her manager Robert Menchaca, six years her junior, with whom she lived in a motor home in Navarre, Florida.
33.
Dana Plato later moved back to Las Vegas, where she struggled with poverty and unemployment.
34.
On February 28,1991, Dana Plato entered a Las Vegas video store, produced a pellet gun, and demanded the money in the cash register.
35.
Dana Plato had stolen $164 Entertainer Wayne Newton posted her $13,000 bail, and Plato was given five years' probation.
36.
In January 1992, Dana Plato was arrested for forging a prescription for diazepam.
37.
Dana Plato served thirty days in jail for violating the terms of her probation and immediately entered a drug rehabilitation program.
38.
On May 7,1999, the day before she died, Dana Plato appeared on The Howard Stern Show.
39.
Dana Plato spoke about her life, discussing her financial problems and past run-ins with the law.
40.
Dana Plato admitted to being a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, but claimed she had been sober for more than ten years and was not using any drugs, with the exception of prescribed painkillers due to the recent extraction of her wisdom teeth.
41.
Many callers to the show insulted Dana Plato and questioned her sobriety, which angered and provoked her, and she defiantly offered to take a drug test on the air.
42.
Dana Plato's body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
43.
Dana Plato became a subject of the national debate surrounding troubled child stars, particularly given the difficulties of her Diff'rent Strokes co-stars Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman.
44.
In 2000, Fox broadcast a television movie based on Dana Plato, titled After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped.