Gary Coleman has passed away from injuries he suffered from a fall at home earlier this week. Coleman, 42, had been in a coma after suffering a brain hemorrhage, and his wife, Shannon, decided to stop life support this morning. The former child star of “Diff’rent Strokes” had family and friends by his side at the Utah hospital.

From Wikipedia: While best known for his role on Diff’rent Strokes, Coleman had appeared earlier on The Jeffersons and on Good Times as Penny’s friend Gary. He also appeared in a 1978 pilot for a revival of The Little Rascals as Stymie — this show was produced by Norman Lear, who also produced The Jeffersons and Good Times.

Diff’rent Strokes . Coleman was cast in the role of Arnold Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes, portraying a child adopted by a wealthy widower. The show was broadcast from 1978 to 1986, and was a huge success. Coleman became the most popular fixture of the show, enhanced by his character’s catchphrase “What’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” At the height of his fame on Diff’rent Strokes, he earned as much as $100,000 per episode. It is estimated he was left with a quarter of the original amount after paying his parents, advisers, lawyers, and taxes. He later successfully sued his parents and his ex-advisers for misappropriation of his finances and was awarded $1.3 million.
Later character appearances. Coleman became a popular figure, starring in a number of feature films and made-for-TV movies including On the Right Track and The Kid with the Broken Halo. The latter eventually served as the basis for the Hanna-Barbera-produced animated series The Gary Coleman Show in 1982.
Avenue Q. Coleman is parodied in the hit 2003 Broadway musical Avenue Q, which won the 2004 Tony Award for best musical. A character presented as Coleman works as the superintendent of the apartment complex where the musical takes place. In the song, “It Sucks to be Me”, he laments his fate. On Broadway, the role was originally played by Natalie Venetia Belcon. In 2005, Coleman announced his intention to sue the producers of Avenue Q for their depiction of him, although the lawsuit never materialized. At the 2007 New York Comic Con, Coleman said, “I wish there was a lawyer on Earth that would sue them for me.”
Personal life. Coleman was born in Zion, Illinois. He was adopted by Edmonia Sue, a nurse practitioner, and W.G. Coleman, a fork-lift operator. He suffered from a congenital kidney disease caused by focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (an autoimmune destruction and alteration of the kidney), which halted his growth at an early age, leading to a small stature (4 ft 8 in; 1.42 m). He underwent two kidney transplants, one in 1973 and one in 1984, and required daily dialysis. Coleman secretly wed his girlfriend of five months, Shannon Price, 22, on August 28, 2007. They met on the set of the 2006 comedy film Church Ball. On May 1 and 2, 2008, Coleman and his wife appeared on the show Divorce Court to air their differences in front of Judge Lynn Toler. Unlike regular Divorce Court participants, they appeared on the show with the intent to save their marriage rather than adjudicate a separation. Coleman suffered a seizure on the set of The Insider on February 26, 2010. Dr. Drew Pinsky, who was with Coleman at the time, assisted him until paramedics arrived.
Death. On May 26, 2010, Coleman was admitted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah, after falling and hitting his head and suffering an intracranial hemorrhage at his home outside of Salt Lake City, UT. He was announced to be in critical condition.

Coleman’s Estranged Parents Want Answers from Wife. Gary Coleman’s parents Sue and Willie Coleman, estranged from their famous son for the past 10 years, found out about the actor’s death in the way they kept up with the tumultuous events in his life – through headlines. “We would’ve loved to have been there by his side at the hospital, to let him know we love him before he passed away,” Sue Coleman, 67, tells People.com. “This is a shock to us. We loved Gary very much. We’re going to miss him.” Janet Frank, a spokeswoman for Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, would only say that an “accident” occurred in the actor’s Santaquin, Utah, home on Wednesday evening, and that Coleman had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage. She declined to give details, citing the wishes of Gary’s wife, Shannon Price, 24, and her family. The official cause of death is still under investigation, Frank says.

“We’re not pointing fingers at anyone, but we need to know exactly what happened” says Sue, a longtime nurse who lives with her husband, Willie, 71, a retired forklift driver, in suburban Illinois. “We’re not angry. We’re just concerned. Did our son fall down the stairs? Did he fall in the bathtub? We need to have some closure on our son’s life.” Coleman and his wife had a rocky relationship – Coleman pleaded guilty to domestic violence in February – but Santaquin Police Chief Dennis Howard tells People, “There was absolutely nothing suspicious about [Coleman's] death. There is no [criminal] investigation going on.” The Colemans believe Shannon can provide details of the accident, and tried to pass messages to her when they first heard their son was hospitalized, but to no avail. They say they also tried to contact the Price family by calling Santaquin police, which turned out to be the day he was taken off life support.

“We respect the relationship our son had with Shannon,” Sue adds. “When we found out he got married, we thought, ‘Well, at least he has someone in his life who he cares about and who cares about him.’ We were happy about that. But it’s frustrating that we haven’t heard from the Price family. But it’s possible they didn’t even know we existed. Gary may have told her that he didn’t have any family.” Although the actor famously sued his parents and business manager in 1989 for allegedly stealing his multimillion-dollar fortune – a claim his parents have long denied, citing their continuous working-class life – his mother and father say their door, and hearts, were always open to their son. The Colemans, they say, had simply become entangled in the complications of their son’s worldwide fame. “Gary wanted to live his life the way he wanted to live it, on his own terms,” Sue says. “And that’s what we let him do. But our address and phone number haven’t changed for more than 20 years. He could’ve gotten in touch with us any time he wanted to. We were always open to him and he knew that we loved him.”