GARY COLEMAN 1968 - 2010

My old friend Mark Evanier introduced me to Gary Coleman once, and it's one of the saddest memories of my show business career. That same year, I heard stories from my friends on the TV series "Buck Rogers" about Coleman's perseverence and professionalism during his guest shot, despite great physical pain and hardship.

It seems most people mistake Coleman for another case of a former child star who lost everything because of his own self-indulgence and self-destructiveness. As entertainment writer Joal Ryan has pointed out so eloquently, Coleman didn't fit the profile because you can't throw away what you never had in the first place.

Sleep well, Gary. Most folk don't know that for you, life was like being run over by a truck. You've earned the rest.