The audience would react with delight and uproarious applause, and the line entered the pantheon of all-time great catchphrases. Phillip Drummond is the only character to appear in every episode of the series. Volz appeared on a semi-regular basis, but was not added to the opening credits, instead always credited with the guest cast on the closing credits. The pilot episode of "Diff'rent Strokes" featured a small, core cast of five actors: Conrad Bain as rich dad Philip Drummond), Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as his adopted sons Arnold and Willis Jackson, Charlotte Rae as housekeeper Edna Garrett, and Dana Plato as Kimberly Drummond, Philip's biological daughter. In 1983, 19-year-old Plato announced her pregnancy, and in the following year, she was let go from "Diff'rent Strokes," returning only for a handful of guest spots in the show's final two seasons. According to Richard Irvin's "Spinning Laughter," the proposed series was written by three "Diff'rent Strokes" staff writers and concerned Catherine Armstrong (portrayed by Maureen McNamara), an inexperienced teacher who takes a job helping a group of first-generation immigrants from around the world prepare for their American citizenship test. Its called The Four Children of Tander Welch. Since leaving her Jo persona behind, McKeon has kept very busy with TV movies, guest-starring on shows like Touched by an Angel, and starring on a crime drama series called The Division. ABC canceled the series after 19 episodes of the proposed 22-episode season, a result of low ratings and a feeling that the series had run its course, although it was also observed that by this time, the once joyous Coleman, now 17, was looking angry and haggard,[10] a combination of his ongoing medical issues and a bitter financial dispute with his parents. It's a sentence fragment of an aphorism that means, essentially, "to each his own" or "whatever floats your boat," and in its usage here, as the name of a show about a single, white man who adopts two Black children, that families comes in a variety of forms. When presented with confusing or unfortunate information from his older brother, Arnold would frown and loudly and speedily quip, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" When the laugh track stopped, he had to scrounge for work. You never know when your next job is going to come along.. The series made stars of Coleman, Bridges, and Plato and became known for the "very special episodes", in which serious issues such as racism, illegal drug use, alcoholism, hitchhiking, kidnapping, and child sexual abuse were dramatically explored. The sudden, drastic change in Maggie's appearance was not acknowledged on the show, nor was the confusing fact that Mobley had already appeared on "Diff'rent Strokes." Rae left the series in 1986 when Mrs. Garrett got married and she rejoined the Peace Corps with her new husband.
The second episode of the fifth season, "In The Swim", introduced Mary Jo Catlett as the rotund, ever-cheerful Pearl Gallagher, the last of the Drummond household's three maids. Dudley Johnson (Shavar Ross) was Arnold's best friend, who, like Arnold, was adopted, and with whom he shared many memorable childhood scrapes. Factory? In 1998, Coleman was charged with assault after he punched a woman demanding an autograph while working as a security guard at a shopping mall. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Sometimes its just time to move on, Rae told the Sentinel. Kim Fields, 38, appeared on Good Times prior to landing her role on Facts, as did her mother. Bain had recently finished a six-year run co-starring as Dr. Arthur Harmon on the hugely successful Maude. The show follows the Drummonds' former housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett . In the January 1984 episode "Drummond's Lady," the character meets TV fitness host Maggie McKinney to discuss investing in her business, but soon realizes he's got romantic feelings for her. [8] The title for the series eventually became Diff'rent Strokes, inspired by the phrase "Different strokes for different folks", popularized by boxer Muhammad Ali in 1966 (Ali himself makes a guest appearance in the second season). [citation needed]. Her sister Beverly Ann Stickle (Cloris Leachman) stepped in, adopted young Andy Moffet (Mackenzie Astin) and Aussie Pippa McKenna (Sherrie Krenn), and helped to guide the former schoolmates into early adulthood. Miss Chung (Rosalind Chao) was Arnold's teacher. In a later interview, she said that she also left because it made sense for the growing girls to see less and less of Mrs. Garrett. I thought Id like to go back and do the stage, and travel, and enjoy myself, and do other things, which I did, she said in 2017. They reference Willis by name before meeting Will Smith's character, leading to Coleman uttering a variation of his catchphrase, "What'cha talkin' about, Will?". [3][4] During the first season and the first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred, as Mrs. Edna Garrett, the Drummonds' first housekeeper, who ultimately spun off into her own sitcom, The Facts of Life, as a housemother at the fictional Eastland School. Late in the shows run, studly handyman George Burnett (George Clooney) was added to provide some male eye-candy to the show.
The final two episodes produced for the third season ("Growing Up" and "The Model") had originally been postponed due to a writer's strike,[citation needed] and the interspersing of these two episodes with the ones without Coleman taped at the start of the fourth season allowed the span of his absence to be broken down onscreen. In 2011, The Facts of Life cast reunited for the TV Land Awards, where she took home the Pop Icon award. In the fall of 1985, when the series moved to ABC for the seventh season, Arnold, Dudley and Lisa entered high school, where they gained a new friend in Charlie (Jason Hervey). Outside the Drummond household, there were a large number of supporting characters over the years. Who was the original cast of Diffrent Strokes? Shes been the voice of Velma in animated Scooby Doo projects since 2004. "It was written, 'What are you talking about, Willis?'" The Facts of Life: Whatever Happened to Mrs. Garrett, Blair, Jo, Tootie Diffrent Strokes was and still is regarded by many as not just one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history but one of the very few, which succeeded due to the multi-racial cast of Conrad Bain as Philip/Mr Drummond, Dana Plato as Kimberley, Todd Bridges as Willis, and the lovable scamp, Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson. "Backdoor pilot" is a TV industry term for when a show airs an episode in which few of its regular characters appear, with the action focusing on brand new people and situations, all with the intent of setting up a brand new show which would technically be a spinoff of the mother series. The show began airing in 1979; Garrett stuck with it until the eighth season, eventually bowing out due to health problems. [17][18] He also guest-starred as himself on The Wayans Bros., The Ben Stiller Show, Drake & Josh, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parkers, Robot Chicken, and The Simpsons. Phillip proposed to Maggie and they married, in the episode "The Wedding", first broadcast February 25, 1984. That series The Facts of Life ran for nine seasons, surpassing the eight-year run enjoyed by Strokes. On the 1982 "Silver Spoons" episode "The Great Computer Caper," privileged Ricky met the also-wealthy Arnold Jackson (Gary Coleman). After six months of chemotherapy, I was cancer-free. Lear discovered child actor Gary Coleman when he saw him in a McDonald's commercial (according to "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes'") and cast him in a proposed made-for-TV reboot of "The Little Rascals." 2006-07 Shows: ABC Renews 14, What About the Rest? In 2001, Coleman (still working as a security guard) was videotaped trying to stop a vehicle from entering the mall. She married key grip Marc Andrus in 2003 and they have two children. Although in her first appearance, in the episode "Cyrano De Jackson", she is sweet on Arnold, in subsequent appearances, the pair were enemies, often squabbling and trading insults, a recurring theme until the end of the series (although Lisa's final appearance, in the penultimate episode of the show's run, "The Photo Club", sees the pair addressing their differences and striking a truce of sorts). She doesnt like it when I say I discovered her, but its true.
[26] Her son, Tyler, died by suicide in 2010. I felt like a hooker! she joked in a 2016 interview. Charlotte Rae, best known as wise and lovable house mother Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life, died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles, representatives for the actress confirmed. Ted Ramsey (Le Tari) was Dudley's adoptive father, who turned up occasionally. Initially they agreed to add it, but they later decided not to (although a previous episode, the third season's "Little Mother", had tackled a similar theme, when Kimberly's friend falls pregnant and, due to a misunderstanding, it is thought that Kimberly is pregnant). I wonder whatever happened to him? [12] Carter was introduced midway into the sixth season (in the episode "Drummond's Lady"); after she abruptly left for California, Drummond and the family took off after her, in the two-part story "Hooray for Hollywood", a storyline that also introduced Sam, Maggie's son from her previous marriage. Her death was ruled a suicide. [25] Plato died of a drug overdose in 1999 at age 34. Edna: Mr. Drummond, can't you see, the boys were just tryin' to protect you. The premise: After his African-American housekeeper dies, wealthy white businessman Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain) takes in her two boys, Arnold and Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges), and raises them as his own in a fancy Manhattan apartment, expanding the family that consists of just him and his teenage daughter, Kimberly (Dana Plato). 02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
Diff'rent Strokes - Wikiquote The Facts of Life (19791988) is a spin-off of Diff'rent Strokes featuring Drummond's former housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett, who had accepted a job as the housemother for a dormitory at Eastland, an all-girls private school that Kimberly was attending. Interesting. When Kelly (Christina Applegate) recognizes him, he denies any connection to Arnold Jackson, but utters his catchphrase to Al, "What'cha talkin' about, Bundy? 03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
I'm glad she left because then Beverly wouldn't have joined!
Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. What happened to the girl from Different Strokes? Rae shared many of her Hollywood experiences including 44 years of sobriety and discovering that her husband, John Strauss, was bisexual in her memoir, The Facts of My Life, released in 2015. Its not easy. "His agents recognized what they had, and got a lot of money," "Diff'rent Strokes" writer Ben Starr told the Television Academy Foundation. Rae. First Lady Nancy Reagan launched the "Just Say No" campaign in 1986 (per History), formalizing the anti-drug abuse platform she'd worked on since early in the presidential administration of her husband, Ronald Reagan. Why did Mrs Garrett leave Different Strokes? She broke into television playing Sylvia Schnauser, the wife of Al Lewis Officer Leo Schnauser on Car 54, Where Are You? It began as a spin-off from the very popular Diffrent Strokes sitcom and transplanted the Drummunds housekeeper Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) to the fictional all-girls Eastland School. How did Mr Drummond get Arnold and Willis? Another episode involved a con artist (played by Whitman Mayo) posing as a relative of Arnold and Willis in an attempt to get access to the inheritance they were left by a former neighbor. Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 1, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwards Daughters Appreciated the Fuck Hut Detail Too.
Charlotte Rae followed Diff'rent Strokes with Facts of Life NBC Universal Longtime fans. 05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
"Diff'rent Strokes" wasn't always "Diff'rent Strokes." After a performance, she has an epileptic seizure and Sam thinks she's dying. Why did Mrs. Garrett leave diff'rent strokes? The one where EW follows up with the cast. At the outset of the series, the role of housemaid is filled by Rae as Mrs. Garrett; when Rae departed for spin-off series The Facts of Life during the second season, she was replaced by Adelaide Brubaker (Volz), who in turn, was replaced by Pearl Gallagher (Catlett) from the fifth season until the end of the run. 05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
As much as she was beloved by TV watchers throughout the 80s, she remained associated with the beloved character of Mrs. Garrett thanks to reruns. Why Margot Kidder Was the Definitive Lois Lane, The late actresss fierce, funny reporter made, Paul Newman Says Wife Joanne Woodward Turned Him Into a Sexual Creature in Posthumous Memoir. . Additionally, stories focusing on Arnold's school life, which had featured occasionally in many previous seasons, were delved into much more. I dont mind it . Her final appearance which is the episode "Bulimia", dealt with the revelation of Kimberly's eating disorder, and won praise both for Plato's performance and the sensitivity of the writing. ", "Diff'rent Strokes 'The Complete 4th Season' is Scheduled by Shout! The driver ridiculed him and released the tape to be broadcast on numerous television shows. Search Sitcoms Online: . Other notable episodes included season 8's "Bulimia," in which the family discovered that Kimberly was suffering from bulimia. Charlotte Rae, the actress who became known to millions of TV viewers as the tough but admirable Mrs. Garrett on Diffrent Strokes and The Facts of Life, has died. We used that a number of times on every show," Starr explained, adding that he and other "Diff'rent Strokes" writers "didn't want to overdo it," so some weeks, they'd write the catchphrase into the script "just once.". The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. Rae got her start in the theater, eventually acting on Broadway. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. I personally feel she didn't abandon anyone. She was written out to start The Facts of Life. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action. "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Diff'rent Strokes'". The revival of the old movie shorts didn't get picked up to series, so Lear cast Coleman in "Diff'rent Strokes" as Arnold Jackson. Also introduced in the third season is Philip's dotty and eccentric sister Sophia (Dody Goodman), in the episode "Junk Food Junkie". Stay tuned! Trivia In June, youll be able to see Rae in Adam Sandlers You Dont Mess with the Zohan. Charlotte Rae Dies at 92 After Cancer Battle - People In 1994, Coleman appeared in an episode of Married with Children ("How Green Was My Apple"), playing a building code inspector whom Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) called to report an illegal driveway. She appeared with Whelchel to sing part of the Facts of Life theme song and also took part in a Sex and the City spoof at the 2004 TV Land Awards. Why did Mrs Garrett leave diff'rent strokes? After her guest appearance at the end of the previous season, Plato returned making several further guest appearances in the final season and billed with the guest cast. When Facts was coming to an end, producers hoped to spin-off a new show with Blair as the headmistress of Eastland. Cloris Leachman, almost 82, had a very impressive film and television career prior to joining Facts as Beverly Anne in 1986. The show began airing in 1979; Garrett stuck with it until the eighth season, eventually bowing out due to health problems. Season 1 was also released in Regions 2 & 5 on October 6, 2008. Unrivaled Mac notes apps for fuss-free note-taking, 6 Actionable Tips for Improving Your Websites SEO, Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes. Mrs. Garrett, often called "Mrs. G," became so popular that in August 1979, she got her own series, becoming housemother to the girls in a dormitory at the fictional Eastland School. 05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
(Kimberly did not become a regular character in that series, although the two shows had a number of crossovers.). More about: Diff'rent Strokes, ER, Eve, Good Times, Growing Pains, Justice, Living Single, Lost, Malcolm in the Middle, My Name Is Earl, Phyllis, Roseanne, Sex and the City, The Addams Family, The Division, The Drew Carey Show, The Facts of Life, The King of Queens, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The New Mickey Mouse Club, The Patty Duke Show, Without a Trace. Diff'rent Strokes is an American television sitcom, which aired on NBC from November 3, 1978, to May 4, 1985, and on ABC from September 27, 1985, to March 7, 1986. She was 92. 'Facts of Life' and 'Diff'rent Strokes' on ABC: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Then came Adelaide Brubaker. She was best known as Edna Garrett, a flame-haired housekeeper to three children on Diffrent Strokes. While not a spin-off, Hello, Larry (19791980) had a connection to Strokes as it was established in a crossover episode that Philip Drummond and Larry Alder (McLean Stevenson) were old Army buddies and Mr. Drummond had bought the company that owned the radio station where Larry worked as a talk show host.