When Gary Cole first made the journey from Chicago to Los Angeles, he wasn't particularly well known, and was far from an established star. However, during that time, in the mid-1980s, another actor with a very similar name was.
"Now, if you remember in 1984, that was, I think, like, the height of Gary Coleman on 'Diff'rent Strokes,' Cole told NPR's "Fresh Air," when recalling coming to Los Angeles and slogging away in auditions. "So for the first year I was in Hollywood, when a casting director opened the door to the director and the producer sitting there, I was invariably introduced as, gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Gary Coleman. ... It was a nice icebreaker for, you know, a few minutes talking about, oh, no, I'm Gary Cole. And then I would proceed to, you know, stink up the room."
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Cole reminisced about how he and Coleman used to "get mixed up all the time." He added, "In the early '80s, I got one of my first television jobs at NBC. I applied for an American Express card and they wrote back, saying 'Dear Mr. Coleman...' — because Gary Coleman was on NBC at the time, and he was, like, nine — denying my request because I wasn't old enough."
