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'Diff'rent Strokes' actor was in a coma after a fall on Wednesday.

By Gil Kaufman

Gary Coleman

Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage

Sitcom actor and tabloid staple Gary Coleman, 42, died on Friday (May 28) at 12:05 p.m. (Mountain Time), after slipping into critical condition on Thursday following an earlier fall in which he injured his head and suffered a serious brain hemmorhage.

The actor, whose congenital kidney disease halted his childhood growth at an early age, had suffered a series of health setbacks in recent years. He was admitted to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo on Wednesday after hitting his head in an unexplained fall and had reportedly slipped into critical condition by the next day. On Friday, doctors announced that he was unconscious and on life support in a coma due to an intracranial hemorrhage, which results from a broken or ruptured blood vessel causes bleeding inside the skull.

Farrah Fawcett's friends Alana Stewart, Dick Van Patten and Candy Spelling have refused to accept an apology from Academy Awards bosses after the late actress was left out of an Oscars tribute - describing the snub as "unforgivable".

The Charlie's Angels star, who lost her battle with cancer last year, was not included on the In Memoriam list at the show on Sunday, which honours stars who have died in the last 12 months.

The snub sparked outrage, and executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Bruce Davis, subsequently apologised, saying "There's nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all".

But Fawcett's friends Stewart and Spelling are still berating Oscars chiefs over the decision, and for excluding late stars Bea Arthur and Jean Barry from the list but including Michael Jackson - even though he was better known for his music.

Spelling tells U.S. talk show host Larry King, "I was very surprised. I also was surprised with Jean Barry and Bea Arthur. Bea Arthur was excluded. She was in at Annie Mame, with Lucille Ball, not the original one. She did another film or two. Because she was so well known as Maude and Golden Girls, they thought she was more television."

Stewart adds, "I think they are saying they are sorry that family members and friends are upset. It is not just family members and friends. I said that to Mr. Davis, in all due respect, today. I said, it is millions of fans. The minute she was not part of that memorial, it started on Twitter. The emails I've gotten, people are outraged by it...

"I just want to make one point. In all due respect, Michael Jackson is a huge music icon, but I believe he only did one movie."

And Van Patten, who starred with Fawcett in 2000 film The Flunky, is refusing to accept Academy Awards bosses' apology, insisting the snub "is unforgivable."...

Former child star Gary Coleman is refusing to answer any more questions about the television series that made him a star - "Diff'rent Strokes" (1978). The 32-year-old actor, whose next movie is Flunky, The (2000), does not even watch much television anymore. Instead, the sometime security guard occupies himself with model trains, DVDs, video games and the internet He says, "I've come up with the policy that, come 2001, I'll answer no more questions. We're in the 21st century here."...