Report: Cast of Diff'rent Strokes bullied Gooch into attending Coleman funeral

Provo, UT--At the funeral last month for Gary Coleman, the actor best known for his role as Arnold Jackson on the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes, former cast members of the sitcom gathered to pay their respects to the one-time child star.

One cast member that decided to make an appearance, however, had the gathered masses in absolute shock.

Arnold Jackson's former nemesis on the show, the local school's bully, known as the Gooch, decided to finally make peace with Coleman by traveling across the country to Utah. It was the first public appearance for the Gooch since the show ended in 1986.

The Gooch, who never appeared on screen, was played by Steven Gooch (pictured below, right) of Athens, GA. Off camera the two were as unfriendly to each other as their characters on the show.

"It's no secret," said the Gooch. "Gary and I didn't get along in front of or behind the camera. It was what it was. But, I will say this: I always respected his energy on the show."

Asked to comment on reports that the two had attempted a reconciliation in the past, the Gooch, as he prefers to be called, said there was talk of a truce in 1996, but it never materialized.

"They were supposed to meet under the Arch in St Louis, in the middle of the country, you know, neutral territory," recalled actor Conrad Bain, who played Phillip Drummond on the show. "To my knowledge, Gary never showed up. Or maybe neither of them showed. I don't know. This onion dip is fantastic, though."

At the conclusion of the funeral, the Gooch, who owns and operates 5 Denny's Restaurants in Georgia and South Carolina, made no effort to talk with the very cast members that pressured him into coming to Utah in the first place. Instead, the small screen bully, donning dark sunglasses and a white leather trench coat, was whisked away by his own private security entourage and into a waiting limousine.

Todd Bridges, who played Diff'rent Strokes' Willis Jackson, was pleased to see that the Gooch showed up to the funeral and that "apparently he got Conrad's and my message." Bridges would not go into detail about the message, but said that a horse's head was involved.