'Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies

SALT LAKE CITY, May 28 (UPI) -- Gary Coleman, known to American TV viewers as the precocious Arnold Jackson on "Diff'rent Strokes," died Friday of a brain hemorrhage, his publicist said.

Coleman, 42, had been in a coma on life support in a Salt Lake City hospital, where he was admitted after falling at home Wednesday, his manager told People magazine.

After being hospitalized, Coleman regained consciousness and was lucid but by Thursday afternoon "was slipping in and out of consciousness and his condition worsened," publicist John Alcantar said.

Despite congenital health problems that halted his growth at 4-foot-8-inches, Coleman soared high at the beginning of his career. As the Harlem boy adopted into a wealthy white household on "Diff'rent Strokes" from 1978-86, Coleman was earning as much as $100,000 an episode, People reported.

In 1979, Coleman was diagnosed with nephritis, a potentially fatal kidney defect, the magazine reported, and underwent two transplants before the age of 14. At one point, he underwent dialysis four times a day.

"The reason I survived is that I had a kidney that wouldn't give up," Coleman said during an interview. "Now I got a Greek kidney donated from a kid who was hit by a car."

In the time since "Diff'rent Strokes," Coleman led a rocky life, including several arrests and the accumulation then loss of millions of dollars, People said.

In 2008 at age 40, Coleman married for the first time to Shannon Price, whom he met on a movie set. She was 22. Both admit the marriage was tempestuous but they remained together, and she survives him, People said.

Coleman suffered a series of recent medical problems and was admitted to the hospital three times this year -- in January for undisclosed reasons, in February after suffering seizures and again Wednesday.