Mrs. Garrett's Death is Not the Most Surprising Thing About Mrs. Garrett's Death
It goes without saying that it’s sad when a universally beloved woman dies. Less so when she dies of natural causes at 92 like Charlotte Rae just did. But despite the fact she had a hell of a nice run and a long career in show business, sad nevertheless.
However that doesn’t make it blog worthy. If we posted an RIPIP to every old actor, we’d be the obituaries, aka The Irish Sports Pages where I come from. Even if said actor played the same character on two concurrent shows during the Golden Age of Sitcoms That Involved Learning and Growing and Where Nobody Talked Straight Into the Camera. Sure, Kelsey Grammar played Fraiser Crane on two consecutive shows. But even he couldn’t pull off the Edna Garrett Double Duty the way Charlotte Rae did, crossing over from Diff’rent Strokes and Facts of Life for five seasons at the same time. That’s never been tried before or since and it takes a special talent with endless amounts of drive and hustle to pull it off.
But even that wouldn’t make Charlotte’s death blog worthy. Only this could:
That’s right. This sad passing means that now Todd Bridges is the only surviving cast member of Diff’rent Strokes. Which absolutely defies all the odds imaginable. If we started a Diff’rent Strokes death pool in say, 1989 – let’s say we were willing to go that dark because we would, let’s not kid ourselves – wouldn’t he have been the No. 1 pick? Right around the time he was tried for the murder of an LA drug dealer and part of Johnnie Cochran’s defense was that being a child star drove him to become a crack addict, not only would I have made him my consensus top pick, I would’ve told Willis Drummond not to buy unripe avocados because he won’t be around long enough to see them turn edible. Ironically enough, Rae would’ve been the second pick. And yet, here we are in 2018 and we just lost her while Bridges is still going strong.
He’s buried, in order: Dana Plato (1999), Gary Coleman (2010), Conrad Bain (2013) and now Mrs. Garrett. I haven’t been this surprised by a celebrity’s longevity since Bobby Brown outlasted Whitney Houston. Go figure. I guess both are a testament to having a will to live and conquering your demons. Which is easier said then done when you grow up in the public eye like that.
Anyway, here’s to Mrs. Garrett. And to the times of cheesy, family friendly sitcoms where the life lessons they taught were spelled out right in the theme song. Those were great days. And the late Charlotte Rae reigned supreme: