After suffering a brain hemorrhage, Coleman was taken off life support Friday and died, his family and friends at his side, said Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank. He was 42.
"He has left a lasting legacy," tweeted singer Janet Jackson, who appeared on several episodes of "Diff'rent Strokes. "I know he is finally at peace."
Coleman chafed at his permanent association with "Diff'rent Strokes" but also tried to capitalize on it through reality shows and other TV appearances.
His former manager, Vic Perillo, called the diminutive star "everybody's kid" and expressed regret for all the trouble that marked the end of Coleman's life.
"It's unfortunate that this young man should go down in history as someone that will be seen as bitter," said Perillo, who helped launch Coleman's career from Chicago in about 1977 and worked with him for 15 years. "If everybody knew what a joy he was and the joy he brought me ... that's kind of lost in all of this."
Coleman suffered the brain hemorrhage Wednesday at his Santaquin home, 55 miles south of Salt Lake City. Frank said he was hospitalized because of an accident at the home, but she had no details.
In a statement read by brother-in-law Shawn Price, Coleman's family said information would be released shortly about his death. It said he was conscious and lucid until midday Thursday, when his condition worsened and he slipped into unconsciousness. Coleman was then placed on life support.
"Thousands of e-mails have poured into the hospital. This is so comforting to the family to know how beloved he still is," Price said.
"Diff'rent Strokes" debuted on NBC in 1978 and drew most of its laughs from Coleman, then a tiny 10-year-old with sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing.
He played the younger of two African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man. Race and class relations became topics on the show as much as the typical trials of growing up.
"Diff'rent Strokes" lasted six seasons on NBC and two on ABC; it lives on thanks to DVDs and YouTube. But its equally enduring legacy became the troubles in adulthood of its former child stars.
In 1989, Todd Bridges, who played Coleman's older brother, Willis, was acquitted of attempted murder in the shooting of a drug dealer. The then 24-year-old Bridges testified he became depressed and turned to drugs after "Diff'rent Strokes" was canceled.
Dana Plato, who played the boys' white, teenage sister, pleaded guilty in 1991 to a robbery charge. She died in 1999 of an overdose of painkiller and muscle relaxer. The medical examiner's office ruled the death a suicide.
"It's sad that I'm the last kid alive from the show," Bridges said.
Coleman was born Feb. 8, 1968, in Zion, Ill., near Chicago.
His short stature - he reached only 4-foot-8 even in adulthood - added to his child-star charm but stemmed from a serious health problem, kidney failure. He got the first of at least two transplants at age 5 and required dialysis.
In a 1979 Los Angeles Times profile, his mother, Sue Coleman, said he always had been a ham. He acted in some commercials before he was signed by T.A.T., the production company that created "Diff'rent Strokes."
