Dana Plato Actors you may not know are dead, Died - Dead, Actors - Actress, Voice News, Audio News,Dana Plato

Actors you may not know are dead, Died - Dead, Actors - Actress, Voice News, Audio News,Dana Plato

Dana Plato

Dana Plato played Kimberly Drummond in the long-running hit television series Diff'rent Strokes. Cast alongside fellow child stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges, she was catapulted to instant stardom. To cope with the mounting pressures of fame, Plato often indulged in cocaine and marijuana off the setùyet it wasn't until she became pregnant that the network released her from her contract, helping trigger a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol that included work in adult films and a spread in Playboy magazine.

Plato's fellow Diff'rent Strokes castmates had their own struggles after the show ended, but her trajectory took an even darker turn. She later moved to Las Vegas, where, desperate for cash, she robbed a store for less than $200 and was bonded out of jail by Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton. She died at the age of 35 on May 8, 1999, in her RV in Oklahoma after taking a fatal dose of lortab and valium.