Dana Plato
Encyclopedia
Dana Michelle Plato was an American actress notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond in the U.S. television sitcom
Diff'rent Strokes
.
Plato appeared in over 100 television commercials as a young girl. After Diff'rent Strokes
, Plato's career declined, although she did get a role in Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, and small part in Exorcist II: The Heretic
.
The police determined that Plato apparently took an accidental drug overdose of the painkiller Lortab along with Valium on May 8, 1999, Mother's Day.
, to Linda Strain, an unwed 16-year-old, who was already caring for an 18-month-old. Linda Strain put her infant daughter Dana up for adoption
. Dean (August 16, 1926 – February 24, 1997) and Florine "Kay" Plato (December 27, 1938 – January 2, 1988) adopted the child in June 1965 and raised her in the San Fernando Valley
, Los Angeles County. Her adoptive parents divorced when she was three.
, and Atlantic Richfield. She claimed she was offered two highly sought-after movie roles: the part of possessed
child Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film, The Exorcist
, and the starring role in Louis Malle
's 1978 film, Pretty Baby. According to Plato, her mother vetoed both jobs, either fearing Plato would be typecast
, or subjected to unsavory subject matter. Exorcist author/screenwriter William Peter Blatty
said in the book Former Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted that he had "no such recollection" of Plato being offered the role.
Plato made her film debut in 1977 at the age of thirteen in Return to Boggy Creek. Other credits include California Suite
, High School U.S.A.
and Exorcist II: The Heretic
.
Plato was a trained and accomplished figure skater. At one point she was training for a possible Olympic
team spot. During this time she was spotted by a producer during a brief appearance on TV's The Gong Show
. She won what would become her most famous acting role, that of Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes. According to Plato, her mother decided she should cut back on her skating to focus on the role.
. The show concerned Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain
), a wealthy white
widower in New York City
who adopted
two young black
boys after their parents died. Plato played Kimberly, the teenage daughter of Drummond and the sister of the two adopted boys, Willis (Todd Bridges
) and Arnold (Gary Coleman
). She was the oldest, Willis was second, and Arnold was the third. The show was an immediate hit.
Plato appeared on the show from 1978 until 1984 and again in 1985-1986, on two different networks. During that year, she became pregnant by her boyfriend, a musician named Lanny Lambert. The producers of Diff'rent Strokes did not feel that a pregnancy would fit the show's wholesome image, so Plato was let go. Although rumors of drug use and other "problems on the set" swirled around her dismissal, the producers were adamant that the pregnancy was the only reason her character was written out. Plato actually returned for several appearances during the show's final 1986 season, which appeared on ABC
, including an episode (Plato's final appearance in the series) in which Kimberly suffers the effects of bulimia.
pictorial, but her career remained in the doldrums. She started taking roles in such B-movies as Bikini Beach Race and Lethal Cowboy.
In 1992, Plato was one of the first celebrities to star in a video game. The game, Night Trap
, was not a great success, but is considered a pioneering title as it was the first game to use live actors, specifically a well known personality (Plato). It was one of the first video game titles to have mature content and attracted controversy due to its depiction of violence. The controversy eventually led to the creation of the ESRB
.
Toward the end of her career, Plato chose roles that could be considered erotic or even softcore pornography. She appeared partially nude in Prime Suspect (1988) and Compelling Evidence (1995), but her most infamous film is 1997's Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill
. The movie's title was changed after shooting to tie it to Plato's famous past, but was not connected in any way to the sitcom other than through her involvement. Plato played a lesbian
and the film was rated X due to sexual content, but it was not considered hardcore pornography
. Plato subsequently would appear in only one more film.
In December 1983, Plato moved in with rock guitarist Lanny Lambert; the couple married in April 24, 1984. On January 2, 1988, Plato's adoptive mother, Kay Plato, died, aged 49, from scleroderma
. The same week, Plato and Lambert separated. The couple divorced in March 1990, and Lambert was awarded custody
of their only child Tyler Edward (July 2, 1984 – May 6, 2010), with Plato having visitation rights. During this time, Plato posed nude for Playboy
.
In 1991, Plato ended up in Las Vegas
with no work. She took a job at a dry-cleaning store to support herself. On February 28, she entered a video store, produced a gun, and demanded the money from the register. The clerk called 911 saying, "I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes". Fifteen minutes after the robbery, Plato returned to the scene and was immediately arrested. The gun was only a pellet gun and the robbery netted Plato $164. Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton
posted her $13,000 bail. Plato was given five years' probation
. 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
. In January 1992, she was again arrested, this time for forging a prescription for Diazepam
. She served 30 days in jail for violation of the terms of her probation and entered a drug program immediately thereafter.
Following her appearance in the erotic film Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill ... and Jill
, Plato appeared on the cover of the lesbian lifestyle magazine Girlfriends in 1998. She was interviewed by Diane Anderson-Minshall
and came out
as a lesbian
, although she later recanted. It was reported that Plato showed up drunk for the magazine's cover shoot.
In her interview with Howard Stern
, Plato mentioned that the traumatic events of her mother’s death and her husband’s leaving her took place during the course of only a week. In desperation, she signed over power of attorney
to an accountant who disappeared with the majority of her money, leaving her with no more than $150,000. She claimed that the accountant was never found, despite an exhaustive search, and had also stolen more than $11 million of other peoples' money. Just before her death, she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were living in a recreation vehicle in Navarre, Florida
.
that she was engaged to 28-year-old Robert Menchaca, and that he was managing her career. She was frank about her life, discussing her financial problems and past run-ins with the law. She admitted to being a recovering alcoholic
and drug addict
, but claimed that she had been sober
for more than ten years by that point, and was not using any drugs, with the exception of prescribed painkillers due to discomfort and pain from the recent extraction of her wisdom teeth. Many of her callers called her everything from a "has been" to an addict. She was referred to by one caller as an "ex-con lesbian drug addict with mental problems". This provoked a defiant Plato, as she offered to take a drug test on the air (and even placed a large wager on the results of the test to one particularly doubtful caller). Some callers, however, as well as Stern himself, came to Plato's defense by consoling and complimenting her.
After the first three negative calls, a caller named Julie told Plato that she looked and sounded great, and could not fathom why people were attacking her the way they were, and although they were cruel to her, she was supportive. Plato wept while offering her gratitude, as well to a later caller who claimed to be a recovering addict, and told her that he believed everything she said. Other callers asked her relatively "neutral" (mostly Diff'rent Strokes related) questions, such as, "What happened to your kid?" "Did Todd (Bridges) break your arm (in a playful brawl gone wrong) on the set of Diff'rent Strokes?", "Have you ever had the opportunity of seeing Janet Jackson
change during the taping of Diff'rent Strokes?" and, "I need a date with Dana!" at which Plato laughed. Stern later mentioned that she was scheduled to appear at a concert event, The Expo of the Extreme, in Chicago
two weeks after the interview.
The next day, Plato and Menchaca were returning to California. The couple stopped at Menchaca's mother's home in Moore, Oklahoma
, for a Mother's Day
visit. Plato went to lie down inside her recreational vehicle parked outside the house and subsequently died of an overdose of Vanadom
(Soma) and Lortab
. Her death at the age of 34 was eventually ruled a suicide
under Oklahoma law although police stated they believed it was an accident. Her body was cremated.
. His grandmother, Joni Richardson, stated that Lambert was experimenting with both drugs and alcohol, which may have contributed to his suicide. Johnny Whitaker
, Plato's former manager and a friend of the family, told ABCNews.com that Lambert always said he "wanted to be with Mom." "Mother's Day was always a difficult time, not only because it was Mother's Day but the anniversary of Dana's death," Whitaker said.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
.
Plato appeared in over 100 television commercials as a young girl. After Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes
Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986...
, Plato's career declined, although she did get a role in Beyond the Bermuda Triangle, and small part in Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist , directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and Kitty Winn...
.
The police determined that Plato apparently took an accidental drug overdose of the painkiller Lortab along with Valium on May 8, 1999, Mother's Day.
Childhood
Plato was born Dana Michelle Strain on November 7, 1964, in Maywood, CaliforniaMaywood, California
Maywood is a small city in southeast Los Angeles County, California. At , Maywood is the third-smallest incorporated city in Los Angeles County....
, to Linda Strain, an unwed 16-year-old, who was already caring for an 18-month-old. Linda Strain put her infant daughter Dana up for adoption
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
. Dean (August 16, 1926 – February 24, 1997) and Florine "Kay" Plato (December 27, 1938 – January 2, 1988) adopted the child in June 1965 and raised her in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, Los Angeles County. Her adoptive parents divorced when she was three.
Career in television and film
Kay Plato began taking Dana to auditions when she was very young. By the age of seven, Plato began doing television commercials, reportedly appearing in over 100 spots for companies as diverse as Kentucky Fried Chicken, DoleDole Food Company
Dole Food Company, Inc. is an American-based agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The company is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, operating with 74,300 full-time and seasonal employees who are responsible for over 300...
, and Atlantic Richfield. She claimed she was offered two highly sought-after movie roles: the part of possessed
Spiritual possession
Spirit possession is a paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or extraterrestrial entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behaviour...
child Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film, The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
, and the starring role in Louis Malle
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
's 1978 film, Pretty Baby. According to Plato, her mother vetoed both jobs, either fearing Plato would be typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
, or subjected to unsavory subject matter. Exorcist author/screenwriter William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty is an American writer and filmmaker. The novel The Exorcist, written in 1971, is his magnum opus; he also penned the subsequent screenplay version of the film, for which he won an Academy Award....
said in the book Former Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted that he had "no such recollection" of Plato being offered the role.
Plato made her film debut in 1977 at the age of thirteen in Return to Boggy Creek. Other credits include California Suite
California Suite (film)
California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title...
, High School U.S.A.
High School U.S.A.
"High School U.S.A." is also the title of the biggest pop hit by Tommy Facenda.High School U.S.A. is a 1983 television movie directed by Rodney Amateau. The film originally aired on NBC on October 16, 1983 and features an ensemble cast including Michael J. Fox, Anthony Edwards, and Crispin...
and Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist , directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and Kitty Winn...
.
Plato was a trained and accomplished figure skater. At one point she was training for a possible Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
team spot. During this time she was spotted by a producer during a brief appearance on TV's The Gong Show
The Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
. She won what would become her most famous acting role, that of Kimberly Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes. According to Plato, her mother decided she should cut back on her skating to focus on the role.
Diff'rent Strokes
In 1978, Diff'rent Strokes debuted on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The show concerned Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain
Conrad Bain
Conrad Stafford Bain is a Canadian-American actor. His television credits include a leading role as Phillip Drummond in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and as Dr. Arthur Harmon on Maude.-Personal life:...
), a wealthy white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
widower in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
who adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
two young black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
boys after their parents died. Plato played Kimberly, the teenage daughter of Drummond and the sister of the two adopted boys, Willis (Todd Bridges
Todd Bridges
Todd Anthony Bridges is an American actor. He is best known for his childhood role as Willis Jackson on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and for his recurring role as Monk on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris...
) and Arnold (Gary Coleman
Gary Coleman
Gary Wayne Coleman was an American actor, known for his childhood role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and for his small stature as an adult. He was described in the 1980s as "one of television's most promising stars". After a successful childhood acting career, Coleman...
). She was the oldest, Willis was second, and Arnold was the third. The show was an immediate hit.
Plato appeared on the show from 1978 until 1984 and again in 1985-1986, on two different networks. During that year, she became pregnant by her boyfriend, a musician named Lanny Lambert. The producers of Diff'rent Strokes did not feel that a pregnancy would fit the show's wholesome image, so Plato was let go. Although rumors of drug use and other "problems on the set" swirled around her dismissal, the producers were adamant that the pregnancy was the only reason her character was written out. Plato actually returned for several appearances during the show's final 1986 season, which appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, including an episode (Plato's final appearance in the series) in which Kimberly suffers the effects of bulimia.
Career after Diff'rent Strokes
After leaving Diff'rent Strokes in 1986, 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 June 1989 PlayboyPlayboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
pictorial, but her career remained in the doldrums. She started taking roles in such B-movies as Bikini Beach Race and Lethal Cowboy.
In 1992, Plato was one of the first celebrities to star in a video game. The game, Night Trap
Night Trap
Night Trap is a video game that was released in North America on October 15, 1992 originally for the Sega Mega-CD. It was filmed over a three week period in 1987 for an unreleased game entitled "Scene of the Crime"...
, was not a great success, but is considered a pioneering title as it was the first game to use live actors, specifically a well known personality (Plato). It was one of the first video game titles to have mature content and attracted controversy due to its depiction of violence. The controversy eventually led to the creation of the ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...
.
Toward the end of her career, Plato chose roles that could be considered erotic or even softcore pornography. She appeared partially nude in Prime Suspect (1988) and Compelling Evidence (1995), but her most infamous film is 1997's Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill...and Jill
Different Strokes (film)
Different Strokes is a 1997 erotic drama film about a love triangle involving a young couple and another woman. Written and directed by Michael Paul Girard, the film stars Dana Plato, Landon Hall, and Bentley Mitchum....
. The movie's title was changed after shooting to tie it to Plato's famous past, but was not connected in any way to the sitcom other than through her involvement. Plato played a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
and the film was rated X due to sexual content, but it was not considered hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
. Plato subsequently would appear in only one more film.
Personal life
Plato began having drug and alcohol problems early in life. She admitted to drinking and using recreational drugs during her years on Diff'rent Strokes.In December 1983, Plato moved in with rock guitarist Lanny Lambert; the couple married in April 24, 1984. On January 2, 1988, Plato's adoptive mother, Kay Plato, died, aged 49, from scleroderma
Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis or systemic scleroderma is a systemic autoimmune disease or systemic connective tissue disease that is a subtype of scleroderma.-Skin symptoms:...
. The same week, Plato and Lambert separated. The couple divorced in March 1990, and Lambert was awarded custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
of their only child Tyler Edward (July 2, 1984 – May 6, 2010), with Plato having visitation rights. During this time, Plato posed nude for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
.
In 1991, Plato ended up in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
with no work. She took a job at a dry-cleaning store to support herself. On February 28, she entered a video store, produced a gun, and demanded the money from the register. The clerk called 911 saying, "I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Diff'rent Strokes". Fifteen minutes after the robbery, Plato returned to the scene and was immediately arrested. The gun was only a pellet gun and the robbery netted Plato $164. Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
posted her $13,000 bail. Plato was given five years' probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
. 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
Gary Coleman
Gary Wayne Coleman was an American actor, known for his childhood role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and for his small stature as an adult. He was described in the 1980s as "one of television's most promising stars". After a successful childhood acting career, Coleman...
and Todd Bridges
Todd Bridges
Todd Anthony Bridges is an American actor. He is best known for his childhood role as Willis Jackson on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and for his recurring role as Monk on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris...
. In January 1992, she was again arrested, this time for forging a prescription for Diazepam
Diazepam
Diazepam , first marketed as Valium by Hoffmann-La Roche is a benzodiazepine drug. Diazepam is also marketed in Australia as Antenex. It is commonly used for treating anxiety, insomnia, seizures including status epilepticus, muscle spasms , restless legs syndrome, alcohol withdrawal,...
. She served 30 days in jail for violation of the terms of her probation and entered a drug program immediately thereafter.
Following her appearance in the erotic film Different Strokes: The Story of Jack and Jill ... and Jill
Different Strokes (film)
Different Strokes is a 1997 erotic drama film about a love triangle involving a young couple and another woman. Written and directed by Michael Paul Girard, the film stars Dana Plato, Landon Hall, and Bentley Mitchum....
, Plato appeared on the cover of the lesbian lifestyle magazine Girlfriends in 1998. She was interviewed by Diane Anderson-Minshall
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Diane Anderson-Minshall is an American journalist best known for her writing and editing of lesbian lifestyle magazines.Born in Southern California she moved to Payette, Idaho at an early age. It was there that she began her journalism career at 13, covering the school beat for the Independent...
and came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, although she later recanted. It was reported that Plato showed up drunk for the magazine's cover shoot.
In her interview with Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
, Plato mentioned that the traumatic events of her mother’s death and her husband’s leaving her took place during the course of only a week. In desperation, she signed over power of attorney
Power of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter...
to an accountant who disappeared with the majority of her money, leaving her with no more than $150,000. She claimed that the accountant was never found, despite an exhaustive search, and had also stolen more than $11 million of other peoples' money. Just before her death, she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were living in a recreation vehicle in Navarre, Florida
Navarre, Florida
Navarre is an unincorporated community in Santa Rosa County in the Northwest Florida Panhandle. Navarre is about 25 miles east of Pensacola and about 15 miles west of Fort Walton Beach. The community is roughly centered on the junction of U.S. Route 98 and State Road 87...
.
Final interview and death
On May 7, 1999, Plato appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where she told Stern and Robin QuiversRobin Quivers
Robin Ophelia Quivers is an American radio personality, most notable for being the long-running news anchor and co-host of The Howard Stern Show. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Quivers graduated from the University of Maryland with a major in nursing. In 1975, she joined the United States Air Force...
that she was engaged to 28-year-old Robert Menchaca, and that he was managing her career. She was frank about her life, discussing her financial problems and past run-ins with the law. She admitted to being a recovering alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and drug addict
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
, but claimed that she had been sober
Sobriety
Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...
for more than ten years by that point, and was not using any drugs, with the exception of prescribed painkillers due to discomfort and pain from the recent extraction of her wisdom teeth. Many of her callers called her everything from a "has been" to an addict. She was referred to by one caller as an "ex-con lesbian drug addict with mental problems". This provoked a defiant Plato, as she offered to take a drug test on the air (and even placed a large wager on the results of the test to one particularly doubtful caller). Some callers, however, as well as Stern himself, came to Plato's defense by consoling and complimenting her.
After the first three negative calls, a caller named Julie told Plato that she looked and sounded great, and could not fathom why people were attacking her the way they were, and although they were cruel to her, she was supportive. Plato wept while offering her gratitude, as well to a later caller who claimed to be a recovering addict, and told her that he believed everything she said. Other callers asked her relatively "neutral" (mostly Diff'rent Strokes related) questions, such as, "What happened to your kid?" "Did Todd (Bridges) break your arm (in a playful brawl gone wrong) on the set of Diff'rent Strokes?", "Have you ever had the opportunity of seeing Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
change during the taping of Diff'rent Strokes?" and, "I need a date with Dana!" at which Plato laughed. Stern later mentioned that she was scheduled to appear at a concert event, The Expo of the Extreme, in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
two weeks after the interview.
The next day, Plato and Menchaca were returning to California. The couple stopped at Menchaca's mother's home in Moore, Oklahoma
Moore, Oklahoma
Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 55,081 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh largest city in the state of Oklahoma....
, for a Mother's Day
Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, yet most commonly in March, April, or May...
visit. Plato went to lie down inside her recreational vehicle parked outside the house and subsequently died of an overdose of Vanadom
Carisoprodol
Carisoprodol is a centrally-acting skeletal muscle relaxant. Carisoprodol is slightly soluble in water and freely soluble in alcohol, chloroform and acetone. The drug's solubility is practically independent of pH. Carisoprodol is manufactured and marketed in the United States by Meda Pharmaceuticals...
(Soma) and Lortab
Hydrocodone
Hydrocodone or dihydrocodeinone is a semi-synthetic opioid derived from either of two naturally occurring opiates: codeine and thebaine. It is an orally active narcotic analgesic and antitussive...
. Her death at the age of 34 was eventually ruled a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
under Oklahoma law although police stated they believed it was an accident. Her body was cremated.
Son's death
Almost 11 years to the day of Dana Plato's death, on May 6, 2010, Plato's son Tyler Lambert died at age 25 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Tulsa, OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. His grandmother, Joni Richardson, stated that Lambert was experimenting with both drugs and alcohol, which may have contributed to his suicide. Johnny Whitaker
Johnny Whitaker
Johnny Whitaker is an American actor and singer notable for several performances for film and television during his childhood...
, Plato's former manager and a friend of the family, told ABCNews.com that Lambert always said he "wanted to be with Mom." "Mother's Day was always a difficult time, not only because it was Mother's Day but the anniversary of Dana's death," Whitaker said.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | The Six Million Dollar Man The Six Million Dollar Man The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI... |
Girl | Episode: "The Bionic Woman" |
| 1975 | Beyond the Bermuda Triangle | Wendy | Television movie |
| 1976, 1980 | Family Family (TV series) Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols... |
Mary Beth Sanders Debbie |
Episodes: "Home Movies" "Letting Go" |
| 1978 | What Really Happened to the Class of '65? | Episode: "The Most Likely to Succeed" | |
| 1978–1986 | Diff'rent Strokes Diff'rent Strokes Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from November 3, 1978 to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985 to March 7, 1986... |
Kimberly Drummond | 142 episodes |
| 1978 | California Suite California Suite (film) California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title... |
Jenny Warren | |
| 1979 | The Facts of Life The Facts of Life (TV series) The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious... |
Kimberly Drummond | Episode: "Rough Housing" |
| 1981 | A Step in Time | Television movie | |
| 1982 | Walt Disney World's 10th Anniversary | Daughter | Television special |
| 1983 | High School U.S.A. High School U.S.A. "High School U.S.A." is also the title of the biggest pop hit by Tommy Facenda.High School U.S.A. is a 1983 television movie directed by Rodney Amateau. The film originally aired on NBC on October 16, 1983 and features an ensemble cast including Michael J. Fox, Anthony Edwards, and Crispin... |
Cara Ames | Television movie |
| 1984 | The Love Boat The Love Boat The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain... |
Patty Springer | Episode: "Paying the Piper/Baby Sister/Help Wanted" |
| 1985 | Growing Pains Growing Pains Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based... |
Lisa | Episode: "Mike's Madonna Story" |
| 1989 | Prime Suspect | Diana Masters | |
| 1992 | Bikini Beach Race | J.D. | |
| 1992 | The Sounds of Silence | ||
| 1992 | Night Trap | Kelly | Video Game |
| 1995 | Millenium Day | ||
| 1995 | Compelling Evidence | Dana Fields | |
| 1995 | Lethal Cowboy | Elizabeth | |
| 1997 | Tiger | Andrea Baker | |
| 1997 | Blade Boxer | Rita | Direct-to-video release |
| 1998 | Desperation Boulevard | Dana Plato | |
| 1998 | Different Strokes Different Strokes (film) Different Strokes is a 1997 erotic drama film about a love triangle involving a young couple and another woman. Written and directed by Michael Paul Girard, the film stars Dana Plato, Landon Hall, and Bentley Mitchum.... |
Jill Martin | |
| 1999 | Silent Scream | Prosecuting Attorney | |
External links
- Dana Plato at Find a GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Plato's autopsy report at The Smoking Gun
- Plato's final interview on The Howard Stern Show (RealAudioRealAudioRealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can also be used as a streaming audio format, that is...
format - 35:39)