Gary Coleman of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ dead at 42

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Gary Coleman, who soared to fame in the late 1970s as the pint-sized child star of the hit sitcom ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ and whose post-TV-series life included a stint as a shopping mall security guard and an unlikely run for California governor, died Friday. He was 42.

Coleman, whose adult height was 4 feet, 8 inches, died at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after suffering an intracranial hemorrhage earlier this week, according to a statement from hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank.

A Times staff obituary will be posted soon.

-- Claire Noland