Plato in court in 1991 during one of her run-ins with the law

May 9, 1999
Web posted at: 10:09 p.m. EDT (0209 GMT)

In this story: Plato denied drug use on Stern show Other cast members ran into trouble RELATED STORIES, SITES

MOORE, Oklahoma (CNN) -- After childhood fame and a troubled adulthood that included brushes with the law and battles with substance abuse, "Diff'rent Strokes" star Dana Plato died Saturday of a drug overdose.

She was 34 and leaves behind a 14-year-old son.

Plato was discovered unconscious at the home of her fiance's parents after failing to wake up from a nap. Efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead on arrival at Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

She apparently took the painkiller Loritab along with the tranquilizer Valium before napping.

"The death appears to be an accidental overdose. We don't suspect suicide," said police Sgt. Scott Singer. Final toxicology results could take as long as six weeks.

Plato and her fiance, Robert Menchaca, had stopped at his parents' home in Moore -- an Oklahoma City suburb hit by tornadoes earlier in the week -- for Mother's Day after she made an appearance on Howard Stern's radio show in New York.

Plato denied drug use on Stern show

Ironically, she had gone on Stern's show to rebut comments by a former roommate that she was taking drugs. Plato insisted she had been sober for years, although she said she was taking painkillers because she had her wisdom teeth removed four months ago.

From 1978 to 1984, Plato starred as Kimberly Drummond, the daughter of a wealthy man who took in two disadvantaged boys, on the NBC sitcom "Diff'rent Stokes." The popular series also starred Todd Bridges and Gary Coleman.

By 1991, battling alcohol and drug problems, Plato was arrested after robbing a video store in Las Vegas. She was given five years probation. But in 1992, she was arrested again for forging prescriptions for Valium.

"If I hadn't gotten caught, it could have been the worst thing that happened to me because I could have died of a drug overdose," she told reporters in 1992.

In recent years, Plato's career had included mainly low-budget films, including "Bikini Beach Race" and "Different Strokes: A Story of Jack and Jill ... and Jill." She also posed for Playboy magazine.

Other cast members ran into trouble

Plato is not the only "Diff'rent Strokes" cast member to run into trouble after the series went off the air.

Bridges also struggled with drug addiction and in 1990 was acquitted on charges of shooting a drug dealer. Three years later, he pleaded guilty to charges of drug possession and carrying a loaded weapon.

Coleman endured a bitter legal battle with his parents over his television earnings, which he ultimately won. In February, he received a 90-day suspended sentence after pleading no contest to charges that he hit an autograph seeker.

Correspondent Sherri Sylvester and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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