Dana Michelle Plato was an American actress
notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond
on the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.
After leaving the cast of Diff'rent Strokes,
Plato attempted to establish herself as a
working actress, with mixed success: she worked
sporadically in made-for-TV movies and in
independent films, and also did voice-over
work.
At age 34, after years of struggling with
poverty and substance abuse, Plato took a
lethal overdose of the painkiller Lortab and
the muscle-relaxant Soma.
Childhood
Plato was born Dana Michelle Strain on November
7, 1964, in Maywood, California, to Linda
Strain, an unwed teenager.
Strain, who was already caring for an 18-month
old child, chose to give her second daughter
up for adoption.
Dean, who owned a trucking company, and his
wife Florine "Kay" Plato adopted the child
in June 1965 and raised her in the San Fernando
Valley.
When she was three, her adoptive parents divorced,
and she lived with her mother.
Career in television and film
Kay Plato began taking her daughter to auditions
when she was very young.
By the age of seven, Plato began appearing
in television commercials; she reportedly
appeared in over 100 commercials for companies
as diverse as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dole,
and Atlantic Richfield.
Plato would later claim that 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 that Plato would be typecast,
or subjected to unsavory subject matter.
Exorcist producerscreenwriter William Peter
Blatty was quoted in the book Former Child
Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted
that he had "no such recollection" of Plato
being offered the role.
Plato made her film debut at the age of 13
in the 1977 horror film Return to Boggy Creek.
Other credits included California Suite, High
School U.S.A. and Exorcist II: The Heretic.
In addition to her acting talent, Plato was
also an accomplished figure skater; at one
point she trained for a possible Olympic team
spot.
It was during this time that she made a brief
appearance on TV's The Gong Show and was spotted
by a producer who helped her secure what would
become her most famous acting role, that of
Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes.
According to Plato, her mother decided that
she should cut back on her skating to focus
on the role.
Diff'rent Strokes
In 1978, Diff'rent Strokes debuted on NBC.
The show featured Phillip Drummond, a wealthy
white widower in New York City who adopted
two young black boys after the death of their
parents.
Plato played Kimberly, Drummond's teenage
daughter, who at the start of the show became
the sister of the two adopted boys, Willis
and Arnold.
Kimberly was the oldest, Willis the middle
child, and Arnold was the youngest.
The show was an immediate hit.
Plato appeared on the show from 1978 until
1984 and again from 1985-1986; during her
tenure the show appeared on two different
networks.
During the show's run she became pregnant
by her boyfriend, musician Lanny Lambert.
The producers of Diff'rent Strokes did 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 why her character was
written out.
Plato actually returned for several appearances
during the show's final 1985-1986 season,
which appeared on ABC, including an episode
in which Kimberly suffers from the effects
of bulimia.
Career after Diff'rent Strokes
After leaving Diff'rent Strokes in 1986, Plato
attempted to establish herself as a serious
actress, but found it difficult to step out
of the long shadow cast by her sitcom career.
After her child was born, she had breast implants
and appeared in a June 1989 Playboy pictorial,
but her career remained in the doldrums.
She started taking roles in such B-movies
as Bikini Beach Race and Lethal 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 because
it was the first game to use live actors,
specifically a well known personality.
It was one of the first video game titles
to have mature content and attracted controversy
due to its depiction of violence.
The controversy, along with that surrounding
Mortal Kombat, eventually led to the creation
of the ESRB.
Toward the end of her career, Plato chose
roles that could be considered erotic and
softcore.
She appeared partially nude in Prime Suspect
and Compelling Evidence, and in the softcore
comedy "The Story of Jack and Jill... and
Jill", originally known as Different Strokes:
The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill.
The title was changed after shooting in order
to tie it to Plato's past.
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 drinking and using marijuana
and cocaine during her years on Diff'rent
Strokes.
In December 1983, Plato moved in with rock
guitarist Lanny Lambert; the couple married
on 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
Edward, with Plato having visitation rights.
During this time, Plato posed nude for Playboy.
In 1991, Plato moved to Las Vegas, where she
struggled with poverty and unemployment.
At one point she worked at a dry-cleaning
store, where customers reported being impressed
by her lack of airs.
On February 28, 1991, she entered a video
store, produced a gun, and demanded the money
in the register.
The clerk called 911 saying, "I've just been
robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on
Diff'rent Strokes."
Approximately 15 minutes after the robbery,
Plato returned to the scene and was immediately
arrested.
The gun was only a pellet gun and the robbery
netted Plato $164.
Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton posted
her $13,000 bail.
Plato was given five years' probation.
She made headlines and became a subject of
the national debate surrounding troubled child
stars, particularly given the difficulties
of her Diff'rent Strokes co-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
rehabilitation 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 magazine Girlfriends
in 1998.
She was interviewed by Diane Anderson-Minshall
and came out as a lesbian, but later recanted.
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 that
he had also stolen more than $11 million of
other people's money.
Just before her death, she and her fiancé,
Robert Menchaca, were living in a caravan
in Navarre, Florida.
Final interview and death
On May 7, 1999, Plato appeared on The 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 her 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 caused by the recent extraction
of her wisdom teeth.
Many callers insulted her, saying that she
was a "has-been" and an addict, and she was
referred to by one caller as an "ex-con lesbian
drug addict with mental problems".
This provoked a defiant Plato, who offered
to take a drug test on the air.
Some 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 that she could not fathom
why people were attacking her.
Plato wept while offering her gratitude to
Julie, as well as to a later caller who claimed
that he was a recovering addict, and he told
her that he believed everything she said.
Other callers asked her relatively "neutral"
questions, such as "What happened to your
kid?", "Did Todd break your arm on the set
of Diff'rent Strokes?"
"Have you ever had the opportunity of seeing
Janet Jackson change during the taping of
Diff'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 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 Moore, Oklahoma, for a Mother's Day
visit.
Plato went to lie down inside her caravan
parked outside the house and subsequently
died of an overdose of Vanadom and Lortab.
Her death was eventually ruled a suicide.
Her body was cremated.
Moore is coincidentally the hometown of castmate
Danny Cooksey, her TV stepbrother later in
the series.
Son's death
On May 6, 2010, almost 11 years to the day
after Dana Plato's death, her son Tyler Lambert
died at age 25 of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound to the head in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
His grandmother, Joni Richardson, stated that
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
anniversary of Dana's death," Whitaker said.
Filmography
References
External links
Dana Plato at the Internet Movie Database
Dana Plato at AllMovie
Dana Plato at Find a Grave
Plato's autopsy report at The Smoking Gun
Dana Plato on The Biography Channel first
aired on December 29, 2007
