Melanie Watson Bernhardt, ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ actress, dies at 57

Melanie Watson Bernhardt, the trailblazing actress who played Kathy Gordon for four episodes on the 1980s sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes” and became one of the first disabled performers on screen, died Friday in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was 57.

Robert Watson, Bernhardt’s brother, confirmed the news of her death to the entertainment news outlet TMZ.

Bernhardt was born with several broken bones and a collapsed lung, the result of a rare genetic bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, which left her in a wheelchair for much of her life. Norman Lear, the prolific television producer behind hits such as “All in the Family,” cast Bernhardt to be a friend of Arnold Jackson, the young star of the show portrayed by Gary Coleman.

Lear first cast Bernhardt for a minor role on the short-lived show “The Baxters.” But a larger opportunity came in the early 1980s, when Lear placed her in “Diff’rent Strokes,” a far more commercially popular show. It ran from 1978 to 1986, starring Conrad Bain as Phillip Drummond, who adopted Arnold and Willis Jackson (Todd Bridges). While the show had its critics — scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. called it “cultural dwarfism” in 1989 — audiences were drawn to the lovable Coleman.

Bernhardt was a remarkable choice for the show: Disabled performers rarely appeared on screen at the time, and in large part, remain underrepresented decades later. (Around the same time, Lear cast comedian Geri Jewell, who has cerebral palsy, on another of his hit shows, “The Facts of Life.”)

Even so, Bernhardt was uncomfortable, in part, with the way her character was written. In her second appearance, an episode in the fourth season titled “Kathy,” Bernhardt recalled that her character walked on crutches to prove that she could walk, something she did not want to do. She had suffered a major fall years earlier.

“I can remember saying, ‘This is somebody else’s dream,’” Bernhardt told IndieWire in 2020. “But they explained to me this was the premise of the episode.”

Bernhardt never again acted after “Diff’rent Strokes,” and instead worked at various nonprofits, including Canine Companions, which provides service dogs to those with disabilities.

“I’m proud of Norman for going against the norm and doing something,” Bernhardt told IndieWire. “I didn’t realize what a gift it was to be the first one out there. If I had to do it all over again, I would have stayed in the business.”

Melanie Lynn Watson was born on July 20, 1968, in Orange County, California, the daughter of Jack Watson and Marilyn Patzner. The youngest of four children, Bernhardt always showed an independent streak. Her father recalled in 1997 that she once stole his car with a friend to go to a party.

“I’d thought about doing things like that when I was a kid,” Watson told The San Diego Tribune. “But I never would have carried it out — I almost admired her for it.”

He added, “But then, my daughter has always been an inspiration to me.”