New love or not, Plato’s life was spiralling downward. She clearly needed money, but would she exploit her own tragic story just for some cash? The answer was a resounding yes. Sadly, Plato was waiting a long time for her serious film offers—at least the good ones. She appeared, in her birthday suit, in 1989’s Prime Suspect. And after that it was 1992’s Bikini Beach Race, where she raced in a “bedmobile” while dressed in lingerie. Unsurprisingly, her film work was a bust...and her TV career? Well, it was about to become downright scandalous. More pause-button fun ensues, but little is revealed. Instead, there's another arty montage: mostly scenes from the pool, with one flash of a fantasy where Dana kisses Landon's breast.

Throughout all this turmoil, Plato still had a manager, Robert Menchaca, to handle her career. Mixing business with pleasure, the two soon became engaged after her mess of a second marriage, living together in Navarre, Florida in a decrepit Winnebago motorhome. No, not exactly romantic—and I don’t think they were there for the thrill of the open highway, either.Death of Actress Dana Plato in Oklahoma Ruled a Suicide". Deseret News. Associated Press. May 21, 1999 . Retrieved August 3, 2020.

The Making of Night Trap" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 3, 2014 . Retrieved April 17, 2022. a b c Rivas, Aby (January 25, 2020). "Late 'Diff'Rent Strokes' Star Dana Plato Once Revealed That Mom Kept Her in a 'Plastic Bubble' ". AmoMama . Retrieved January 25, 2020. On May 6, 2010, two days before the eleventh anniversary of Plato's death, her son Tyler died by suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 25 years old. [5] [6] Best Known For: Dana Plato was a child actress on the television show Diff'rent Strokes. She fell into drug addiction and died of an overdose in 1999.Around the same time she was contemplating working on Diff'rent Strokes, she was also considering trying out for a spot on the US Olympic Figure Skating team. She was still just a kid and facing a life changing decision: skating or acting. She chose acting—what teenager wouldn’t? But this choice would later prove to be a huge mistake.