bridges appeared on "the waltons", "little house on the prairie", and the landmark miniseries "roots", and was a regular on the "barney miller" spinoff "fish". but it was playing willis jackson, on the long-running sitcom "diff'rent strokes", that made him a household name, along with those of fellow co-stars conrad bain, charlotte rae, dana plato, and gary coleman. with rae's death in 2018, bridges became the last surviving original cast member.