NEED TO KNOW
- Dana Plato starred in probably the most recognizable sitcoms of the of the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s: Diff’lease Strokes
- However amid a profession reliant on comedian timing, a darkish tragedy took maintain when Plato died at age 34
- Her dying, initially dominated an unintended overdose, was later deemed to be a suicide
Dana Plato starred in probably the most recognizable sitcoms of the of the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s. However amid a profession reliant on comedian timing, a darkish tragedy took maintain when Plato died at age 34.
Born on Nov. 7, 1964, Plato appeared in dozens of tv appearances and commercials earlier than touchdown what could be her most notable function — although there was one other she very practically took. At age 9, she was supplied the lead function of a possessed lady within the 1973 movie The Exorcist. The Impartial studies that her mom finally vetoed the job and the function went to Linda Blair.
However Plato would nonetheless go on to take the function of Kimberly Drummond, the daughter of a millionaire, on eight seasons of Diff’lease Strokes, a present that proved so broadly common it produced two spinoffs: The Information Of Life and Whats up, Larry.
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Plato left the present in 1984, nonetheless, after she grew to become pregnant along with her son, Tyler (her character on the present moved to Paris and not appeared on tv).
Following her tenure on the present, Plato struggled to regulate to regular life, and in 1991 was arrested for robbing a Las Vegas video retailer and was positioned on 5 years’ probation. The next 12 months, she was given 5 years’ probation for forging Valium prescriptions.
Simply over a decade after her eight-season run on Diff’lease Strokes, the actress died in Might 1999 at age 34 from a suspected drug overdose.
As ipromiseyoumedia reported on the time, Plato had been spending time with a 28-year-old man named Robert Menchaca and the 2 had been visiting his household in Moore, Oklahoma when she died.
“They parked her 37-foot Winnebago—their solely residence—outdoors his dad and mom’ residence, a modest redbrick home on a block spared by the tornadoes that roared by means of a number of days earlier than,” ipromiseyoumedia reported. “Late within the afternoon of Might 8, Menchaca later instructed police, Plato stated she wasn’t feeling properly. She had taken a few capsules — Valium and Lortab, a strong prescription ache reliever 10 occasions stronger than codeine — and lain down in theRV. Menchaca joined her quickly after, however earlier than drifting off seen she was chilly and sweating. He coated her with a blanket and fell asleep beside her.”
When Menchaca awoke shortly earlier than 9 p.m., he instructed police, he could not wake her.
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“Robert known as out, ‘There’s one thing flawed with Dana,’ “his mom, Marcela Menchaca, a nurse technician who was sitting outdoors along with her different son Albert, instructed ipromiseyoumedia. “We dashed over there and began CPR.” But it surely was too late.
Police Sgt. Scott Singer instructed reporters on the time, “There was no notice left, no outward signal she needed to kill herself,” although her explanation for dying was later dominated a suicide.
Oklahoma deputy state health worker Larry Balding stated on the time: “The style of dying has been decided to be suicide primarily based upon the drug concentrations [and] a previous historical past of suicidal gestures.”
Plato had died solely a day after she instructed Howard Stern in an interview that she was had stopped utilizing medication, saying, “I’ve been sober for over a decade now. No joke.”
