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Dana Plato

1964-11-07

The Biography

Dana Michelle Plato was born in Maywood, California, on Saturday, November 7, 1964. Dana made an impact on the TV screen when she landed the role of Kimberly Drummond in the TV hit sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978) from 1978-1986. After the series ended, Dana had difficulty finding more acting work. Sometimes she would act in a made-for-TV movie or a low- budget silver-screen film. She was married for Lanny Lambert for seven years and they had a son. Plato was arrested in 1991 for robbing a Las Vegas video store and placed on probation; the next year she was arrested again, this time for forging a Valium prescription. She had just finished an interview with Howard Stern in the spring of 1999 when she and her fiancé, Robert Menchaca, were headed back to California. She hoped the interview would revive her stalled career. They stopped at his parents' house in Moore, Oklahoma for a Mother's-Day-weekend visit; on Saturday, May 8, 1999, Dana died of what appeared to be an accidental overdose of the painkiller "Loritab". On May 21, a coroner's inquest ruled her death a suicide because of the large amount of drugs in her body and her history of past suicide attempts. She was 34 years old.

Dana Plato in

Movies

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Exorcist II: The Heretic

4.522 average rating
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California Suite

5.8 average rating
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Showbiz Kids

7 average rating
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High School U.S.A.

5.6 average rating
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Beyond the Bermuda Triangle

4.8 average rating
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Insatiable Coeds

2.3 average rating
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Gary

6 average rating
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Silent Fury

6 average rating
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Different Strokes

3.6 average rating
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Return to Boggy Creek

3.5 average rating
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Desperation Boulevard

3.8 average rating
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Lethal Cowboy

4.5 average rating
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Prime Suspect

4 average rating
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Bikini Beach Race

2.3 average rating
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Compelling Evidence

4.2 average rating
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Pacino is Missing

2 average rating
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Schoolboy Father

2 average rating
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The Hostage

0 average rating
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Distortions

3.5 average rating
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Tiger

0 average rating