Dustin Diamond: US actor who won fans as Screech in ‘Saved by the Bell’
The child star played the geek who clearly did not fit in with the cool kids at school, yet they accepted him
Dustin Diamond was best known for playing the quirky character Screech in hit TV series Saved by the Bell.
The actor died on 1 February 2021 after being diagnosed with cancer last month. He was 44.
His talent agent, Roger Paul, confirmed the news in a statement: “We are saddened to confirm Dustin Diamond’s passing … due to carcinoma. He was diagnosed with this brutal, relentless form of malignant cancer only three weeks ago,” he said. “In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution. Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful.”
TMZ, the first outlet to report the news, reported several weeks ago that Diamond was in hospital in Florida after feeling pain and two days later, a representative told Entertainment Weekly that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Diamond was familiar to a generation of fans as Samuel “Screech” Powers, the wacky pal of Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) on Saved by the Bell, the popular high school comedy that ran from 1989 to 1993. He played the geeky weirdo who clearly did not fit in with the cool kids of Bayside High, yet they accepted him anyway. He might have been the token nerd, but for the legions of kids who ran to the TV when they heard the school bell signal the show’s theme song he was a beloved member of the group.
He appeared in the franchise for 13 years in total, which included the original series, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, followed by Saved by the Bell: The College Years and spinoff Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Afterwards, Diamond made the reality television rounds, including stints on Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Boxing 2 and Celebrity Big Brother.
Diamond struggled to adjust after years of teenage fame. He was barely a pre-teen when he was cast on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and when the show was revamped as Saved by the Bell, he was younger than most of the other tightly knit cast members, making it hard to bond in real life on the set.
“The hardest thing about being a child star is giving up your childhood,” Diamond said in a 2013 interview with HuffPost. “You don’t get a childhood, really. You’re a professional and you got to know your lines and rehearse and practise.”
He further distanced himself from his cast mates who were not pleased by his 2009 memoir, Behind the Bell, which detailed a dysfunctional environment (Diamond later said his ghost writer turned his thoughts into “trash-talking”, which was not his intention).
Problems included the filming of a sex tape in 2006, though he later revealed that he had used a body double. He also spent three weeks in jail in 2016 after getting into a bar fight in Wisconsin. In an interview shortly after his time in jail, he told his former Saved by the Bell co-star Mario Lopez that he wanted a fresh start: “I want to put the tomfoolery and malarkey behind me … for that clean slate. Time for a change.”
Paul, his agent, acknowledged Diamond’s past behaviour. “We are aware that Dustin is not considered reputable by most,” he said in the statement.
“He’s had a history of mishaps, of unfortunate events. We want the public to understand that he was not intentionally malevolent. He – much like the rest of those who act out and behave poorly – had undergone a great deal of turmoil and heartache. His actions, though rebukable, stemmed from loss and the lack of knowledge on how to process that pain properly.
“In actuality, Dustin was a humorous and high-spirited individual whose greatest passion was to make others laugh. He was able to sense and feel other peoples’ emotions to such a length that he was able to feel them too – a strength and a flaw, all in one.”
Dustin Diamond, actor, born 7 January 1977, died 1 February 2021
© The Washington Post
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