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'Diff'rent Strokes' Star Conrad Bain Dead at 89
Actor Conrad Bain, best known for his role as the adoptive patriarch on the 80s sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" has died. He was 89.
TMZ reports Bain died in Livermore, California, Monday night. Additional details about his death were not made available.
The gossip site said they spoke with Bain's daughter, Jennifer, who told them a bit about her dad: "He was an amazing person. He was a lot like Mr. Drummond, but much more interesting in real life. He was an amazing father."
Bain, an identical twin, was born on February 4, 1923 in Alberta, Canada. After serving in the Canadian Army during World War II, Bain went to New York to study acting. The young actor married his wife, Monica Sloan, and the couple remained together until her death in 2009. Bain became a U.S. Citizen in 1946.
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Though Bain was a successful stage actor in the early years of his career, he became widely known first in the 1970s as Dr. Arthur Harmon on the popular sitcom "Maude," before going on to play the wealthy Phillip Drummond on "Diff'rent Strokes." Drummond's character was the penthouse-dwelling father of Kimberly, who adopted two young African-American boys. He reprised his role as Drummond in 1996 as a guest star on TV's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Bain's co-star, the diminutive Gary Coleman, died at age 42 in 2010.
Bain also appeared in movies like "Bananas," and "Postcards From the Edge."
In recent years, Bain was living at a nursing care facility in Livermore.
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