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Dustin Diamond who best known for playing Screech on Saved by the Bell has died after a short battle with stage four cancer – as his former co-stars Mario Lopez and Tiffani Thiessen lead the tributes to the actor.
The 44-year-old actor died on Monday just three weeks after being diagnosed with carcinoma cancer. Diamond died with his girlfriend Tash Jules by his side, his representative said.
He was diagnosed with stage four small cell carcinoma when he was hospitalized suddenly in Florida on January 12 after experiencing pain throughout his entire body.
His condition is believed to have deteriorated rapidly in the last week after going through his initial rounds of chemotherapy. A source told TMZ that he was taken off breathing machines to get him to hospice care.
‘He was diagnosed with this brutal, relentless form of malignant cancer only three weeks ago. In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution,’ a statement from his representative said.
‘Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful.’
His former co-stars Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaa, Tiffani Thiessen and Tori Spelling were among those to pay tribute to the actor on social media in the wake of his death.
Dustin Diamond, who best known for playing Screech on Saved by the Bell, died on Monday after a short battle with stage four cancer
The 44-year-old Saved by the Bell actor was diagnosed with cancer after being hospitalized in Florida last month after experiencing pain throughout his entire body. He is pictured above in hospital
Lopez tweeted: ‘Dustin, you will be missed, my man. The fragility of this life is something never to be taken for granted.’
‘Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dustin Diamond, a true comedic genius. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. Looking back at our time working together, I will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce. A pie in your face, my comrade,’ Gosselaa tweeted.
Thiessen wrote: ‘I am deeply saddened by I the news of my old co-star @realdustindiamond passing. Life is extremely fragile and it’s something we should never take for granted. God speed Dustin.’
Spelling, who had a recurring appearance on the show as Screech’s love interest, posted a photo of the pair, saying: ‘My 1st onscreen love Dustin Diamond got his Angel wings today’.
Diamond’s representative noted the actor’s history of mishaps throughout his career, which included a sex tape and a run-in with the law, but said he was a ‘humorous and high-spirited individual whose greatest passion was to make others laugh’.
‘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 rebukeable, stemmed from loss and the lack of knowledge on how to process that pain properly,’ the statement said.
‘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.’
Diamond, who was born in 1977, was just 10-years-old when he started acting. He was cast in the role that would be his claim to fame – Screech, the geeky sidekick to popular kid Zack Morris – in the late 1980s.
His hit show: On Saved By The Bell; (l-r) Mario Lopez as Alabert Clifford ‘A.C.’ Slater, Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding, Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle, Tiffani Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski, Elizabeth Berkley as Jessie Spano, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zachary ‘Zach’ Morris, Diamond as Screech Powers
Saved by the Bell, which centered around Morris and his friends at Bayside High School in California, premiered in 1989. Typically airing on Saturday mornings, the popular show was aimed at teens. It was made into movies and two spin-offs that included the group at college and a new class. Most recently, it was rebooted in 2020, but Diamond did not reprise his role.
Even though he was a major reason for the show’s success, Diamond’s career did not take off after the show ended in 2000.
His career floundered and he later appeared on reality shows like Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Boxing 2 and Celebrity Big Brother.
In recent years, Diamond also worked as a stand-up comedian.
After being closely associated with a character for over a decade, Diamond admitted in a 2013 interview for Oprah’s Where Are They Now? that he was lost at the age of 23.
‘The hardest thing about being a child star is that you are giving up your childhood. You don’t get a childhood really,’ he said.
‘I didn’t really know what I was going to do. It was hard to get work that wasn’t Screech clone stuff… As I mature, I realize, wow, I was kind of going through my rebellious teens in my 20s.’
He tried his hand as a stand-up comedian and performed with bands. While he made appearances and had some small roles, his career struggled.
In 2006, he released a sex tape called Screeched-Saved by the Smell that he directed and supposedly starred in. Diamond later claimed that it wasn’t actually him in the video and it was a stuntman with his face superimposed on it.
‘The sex tape is the thing that I’m most embarrassed about,’ he said during the 2013 interview.
‘You know, I definitely got some money off of it but it wasn’t worth what the fallout was. I mean people to this day, they look down on me.’
Dustin’s hospitalization was reported on January 12, and just says later, a representative for the actor confirmed that he had cancer. He is pictured on the left as Screech and on the right in 2012
The good ole days: Thiessen, Gosselaar, Diamond and Lopez in 1996
Three years later, he released a memoir in 2009 called Behind the Bell. It contained some juicy behind-the-scenes tales of the set that painted an unflattering portrait of his fellow cast members. Diamond later disavowed some of the more salacious details by blaming the ghostwriter and admitted it was full of fabricated anecdotes.
‘The book was another disappointment of mine,’ he said in the 2013 interview. ‘I talked to a guy a few times, so the book has some truth in it, and a lot of the stories were just kinda throwaways.’
He also claimed in the interview that he expected to approve the book before it was published but instead it was sent to him after it was released.
On Christmas in 2014, Diamond got into a bar fight and allegedly stabbed a man in a town near Milwaukee. He was found guilty the following year of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon
On Christmas in 2014, Diamond got into a bar fight and allegedly stabbed a man in a town near Milwaukee. He was found guilty the following year of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.
He was sentenced to four months in jail and served three months.
Diamond later told Mario Lopez, his former co-star who was then the host of Extra, that someone hit his then fiancee Amanda Schutz while they were out celebrating Christmas. He said he took out his pocketknife to protect her.
When Saved by the Bell was rebooted, Diamond – unlike other original cast members – was not asked to returned. The show premiered in November 2020 on NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock.
Diamond encountered financial trouble during his career and filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
He was also sued several times for delinquent taxes and in foreclosure proceedings for missing mortgage payments.
He once launched an elaborate crowdfunding bid to save his house, selling T-shirts with his face on to raise $250,000 dollars.
The back of the T-shirts read ‘I paid 15.00 dollars to save Screeech’s house’. The extra ‘e’ was reportedly added to avoid breaching copyright laws.
Diamond does not have any children and is survived by his father and girlfriend.
He married Jennifer Misner back in 2009 but they divorced in 2013. Misner reportedly suffered a miscarriage when the two were dating in 2004.
Diamond later became engaged to Schutz – the woman he said he was protecting when he stabbed the man in Wisconsin. It is unclear exactly when they separated.
Diamond is pictured leaving court in Port Washington, Wisconsin in 2015 after being convicted of two misdemeanors stemming from a barroom fight on Christmas Day in 2014
Another TV show: Diamond and Courtney Stodden on Celebrity Big Brother in Britain in 2013
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