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| Birth Name(s) : Dana Michelle Strain |
Date of Birth: November 7, 1964 |
| Status:
Dating
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Partner:
Robert Menchaca |
| Profession:
Actor |
Official Site
Go to the Dana Plato Official Homepage |
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Full Dana Plato Biography
Dana Plato was offered the role of Regan MacNeil in "The Exorcist" (1973), but her breakthrough role would prove to be as Kimberly Drummond in the TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978-84). She was arrested in 1991 for armed robbery and again in 1992 for forging a valium prescription.
She died May 8, 1999 at 34 years old of what appeared to be an accidental overdose of a painkiller called Loritab. A coroner's inquest later ruled her death a suicide due to the large amount of drugs in her body and history of past suicide attempts. |
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Additional Dana Plato Biography
Dana Michelle Plato (November 7, 1964 – May 8, 1999) was an American actress who became famous playing the role of Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. Plato's career declined after her departure from the show, with appearances in low-budget films, including some softcore pornography. She had longstanding personal problems and committed suicide on May 8, 1999.
Plato was born on November 7, 1964, in Maywood, California to Linda Strain (although other sources state November 1, 1963 ), an unwed mother who was 16 at the time of Dana's birth and was already caring for an 18-month-old child. Strain put her infant daughter up for adoption and in June 1965, Dean and Florine "Kay" Plato adopted the child , raising her in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. She attended Sutter Jr. High School in Canoga Park, California.
Plato made her film debut in Return to Boggy Creek. Other credits include California Suite and Exorcist II: The Heretic.
Dana trained as a figure skater and was quite accomplished. She was training for a possible Olympic team spot (she claimed, in an interview with Howard Stern, that she qualified for the team). At the same time, however, she was spotted by a television producer during a brief appearance on The Gong Show and won what would become her most famous acting role. According to Dana, Kay Plato decided she should cut back on her skating to focus on her portrayal of Kimberly Drummond on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.
After leaving Diff'rent Strokes in 1984, Plato attempted to establish herself as a serious actress, but found it difficult to step out of the long shadows cast by her sitcom career. After her child was born, she had breast implants and appeared in a 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, while more respectable roles eluded her.
Plato began having drug and alcohol problems early in life. At age 14, she overdosed on Valium. She also, by her own admission, drank and used recreational drugs during her years on Diff'rent Strokes.
In 1991, Plato found herself in Las Vegas with no work. She took a job at a dry-cleaning store to support herself. One day, she entered a video store, produced a gun, and demanded the money from the register. She was arrested minutes later. Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton posted her US$13,000 bail bond. Plato was given five years probation. The gun was only a pellet gun and the robbery netted Plato less than US$200. She made headlines and became part of the national debate over troubled child stars, particularly given the difficulties of her Diff'rent Strokes co-stars, Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges. Plato's actions were seen by many as a cry for help and she was placed on probation, but in January 1992, she was again arrested, this time for forging a prescription for Valium. She served 30 days in jail for violation of the terms of her probation and entered drug rehab immediately thereafter.
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 absconded with the majority of her money, leaving her with no more than US$150,000. She claimed that the accountant was never found, despite an exhaustive search, and had stolen a grand total of more than US$11 million of other people's money, as well.
Just before her death, she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were living in an RV in Navarre, Florida.
The next day, Plato and Menchaca were returning to California, hoping to revive her stagnant career. The couple stopped at Menchaca's mother's home in Moore, Oklahoma (coincidentally, the birthplace of her Diff'rent Strokes co-star, Danny Cooksey) for a Mother's Day visit, five days after large swaths of Moore and surrounding areas in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area were devastated by F4 and F5 tornadoes in the Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak. Plato went to lie down inside her recreational vehicle parked outside the house and subsequently died of an overdose from Vanadom (Soma) and Vicodin. Her death at age 34 was eventually ruled a suicide. However, both Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges, both of whom remained friends with Plato after Diff'rent Strokes ended, have said they do not believe she intended to kill herself.
Much confusion remains about her precise age. Oklahoma authorities, presumably taking the information from Plato's Florida driver's license, determined her birthdate to be November 1, 1963, making her 35, while many news sources reported that she was born on November 7, 1964. Plato claimed that she was 34 years old at one point during her final interview. Her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. |
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Dana Plato Quote(s)
| When the role came along I was very happy to do it because this is life. It's something people need to see and recognize and get healthy about. In my opinion it's not about gay or straight or bi; but attracted to spirits whatever body they're in. There's other reasons too, but that's how I see it. With women and women I think there´s an understanding. Nobody knows what a woman feels or experiences but another woman. We are the nurturers and there are times when we need to be nurtured. |
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