"What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?!"

Just got the sad news that Gary Coleman passed away this afternoon at the age of 42.

Even before he played the iconic character of Arnold Jackson on the '80s hit sit-com "Diff'rent Strokes," I became a fan of his work on a 1979 TV movie called "The Kid From Left Field," in which he played the young son of a San Diego Padres player (portrayed by Robert Guillaume) who eventually takes over the managerial duties of the team, leading them to success on the field and in the standings. It was one of the roles — along with those big, adorable cheeks — that springboarded him to stardom. Between guest appearances on shows like "Good Times," "The Facts of Life" and one of my personal favorites, "Silver Spoons," Gary was seemingly everywhere on the TV dial when I was a kid.

Of course, playing Arnold is the role for which he'll always be most memorably known. Perhaps you've heard of Arnold's catch phrase? A little something goes like this...Never gets old, does it? Some three decades after it was first uttered, it's still as funny as the first time we heard it.

"Diff'rent Strokes" was must-see TV in my house every week when I was a kid.

One of my favorite "Diff'rent Strokes" episodes was the classic when, to impress the girl that he and Dudley both liked, he dressed like another '80s icon, Mr. T, when the Drummonds let NBC tape an espisode of "The A-Team" in their Park Ave. penthouse. Then there was the one when Muhammad Ali meets Arnold. And, of course, there was the "very special episode" when Arnold met First Lady Nancy Reagan during the "Just Say No" days. All the "Diff'rent Strokes" success spawned "The Gary Coleman Show," a Saturday morning cartoon that aired on NBC during the 1982-83 TV season, in which Gary played (ironically) an angel.

For all the problems (financial and the like) in his later years, Gary Coleman really did live a hard life, requiring two kidney transplants when he was a kid and daily kidney dialysis.

Like the theme song said, "Everybody's got a special kind of story/Everybody finds a way to shine," and Gary did indeed have a special story and he still found a way to shine.