Diff'rent Strokes: Memorabilia
This section contains pictures and descriptions of Diff'rent Strokes memorabilia that I have in my personal collection or am aware of. Click any of the thumbnails for the larger, clearer image. Please e-mail if you have any additional information.
I just found this book at my local library and hope to start reading it soon. It is 236 pages long, and contains several black and white photos of Gary Coleman. From the inside and back cover:
"To the millions of admirers who watch him romp across the TV screen in the hit series Diff'rent Strokes and whose lives are touched by his high-voltage charm, Gary Coleman is a superstar.
To the colleagues who work with him, he is a fellow professional--hardworking, creative, appreciative of the talent of others, generous with his own. To his friends in Hollywood and back home in Illinois, he is a rambunctious thirteen-year-old school kid who is also a famous person. To his parents, Sue and Willie, Gary is all those things and more--a formidably bright, near straight-A student who just happens to be a medical miracle.
Gary Coleman is alive today thanks to a kidney transplant, "the gift of life" from a four-year-old Slavic-American boy killed in a hit-and-run accident in 1973. Gary had had a touch-and-go battle the first four of his five years, his own kidneys destroyed by a rare congenital disease. Without that transplant he could not have survived to entertain his legion of fans or to become the honorary Gift of Life chairman of the National Kidney Foundation.
There are many fascinating aspects to the Gary Coleman story: breakthroughs in the field of organ replacement, the skill and dedication of his doctors, Gary's inner strength, the enduring faith of his loving parents. But most of all, Gary Coleman: Medical Miracle is a story of family courage: of a man who won a hard struggle out of rural poverty to make a better life for his wife and son; of a young woman who studied nursing, saw her son through three dramatic medical crises and must still make sure Gary takes his daily medication to fend off transplant rejection, and who had the insight to anticipate the psychological impact of the shortness that is a side effect of kidney transplants in the very young--and to open the door to the entertainment career that has made Gary Coleman a superstar.
Gary Coleman: Medical Miracle is a heartwarming and inspiring family love story.
Note: there is also a paperback version of this book called: Gary Coleman: A Gift of Life.
Other items that I have or know about:
Diff'rent Strokes press kit (8x10 photos, biography sheets of the cast)
Diff'rent Strokes cast magnet (newer item)
Gary Coleman and Dana Plato articles and clippings
TV '80, TV '81, and TV '82 paperback books (info. on Gary Coleman)
1979 TV Comedians paperback (Gary Coleman chapter)
Cracked Magazine (7/82, Gary Coleman on the cover)
Cracked Magazine (#178)
1980 Bananas Yearbook (Gary Coleman on the cover)
McCall's Magazine - August 1981 (five-page article on Gary Coleman)
Diff'rent Strokes tickets from an actual taping
other Jet magazines with Gary Coleman and/or Todd Bridges on the cover
various 8x10 cast photos
autographed cast photos
publicity postcards with cast photos on the front and pre-printed autographs on the back
Gary Coleman fan cards (see the Picture Gallery for examples).
Search eBay for DS Memorabilia and Photos
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