Saved By The Bell star Dustin Diamond has died and to celebrate his life, we’re looking back on his most iconic role as Screech.
Following a report from EW that Dustin Diamond was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January after being hospitalised, it’s been confirmed that the actor had succumbed to the disease.
According to The Hollywood Reporter and TMZ, it was confirmed by Diamond’s representative Roger Paul that the actor died on Monday, January 1st, due to carcinoma.
“In that time, it managed to spread rapidly throughout his system; the only mercy it exhibited was its sharp and swift execution,” Paul said in a statement. “Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful.”
It’s a horrible loss and we thought the best way to pay tribute to Dustin Diamond was to look back at his most iconic role that still resonates with audiences of all ages: Samuel “Screech” Powers on Saved By The Bell.
Diamond manage to beat out 5,000 other child actors to get the role of Screech on the 1988 Disney sitcom Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was essentially the prequel to Saved By The Bell.
It was established that Screech was the geeky and quirky but lovable one of the group right from the onset. That role was fleshed out further when Saved By The Bell premiered in 1989 and Screech become something of the moral centre of the cast due to his good-hearted nature.
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Screech went on to appear in the two Saved By The Bell follow-ups, The College Years from 1993 to 1994 and The New Class from 1994 to 2000. While most of the cast and locations changed, the character remained the same lovable goofball that he was from day one.
The 2020 revival of Saved By The Bell saw the return of nearly the entire original cast, except for Diamond. The actor himself was disappointed at being excluded from the revival and his absence was evident due to the big part he played in all the previous incarnations and spin-offs of Saved By The Bell. While the door was left open for Diamond to appear in future episodes of the revival, this sadly never came to fruition.
Perhaps what made Screech such an enduring character was how audiences grew up alongside Diamond. Having started work on the Saved By The Franchise at 11, Diamond essentially grew up before everyone’s eyes and that made him easy to relate to. When the final Saved By The Bell episode of any kind Diamond was involved in aired in 2000, he was only 23. He had basically spent his entire childhood on television.
We’ll never forget Dustin Diamond as Screech and all his Saved By The Bell castmates paid tribute to him following news of his death.
“I’m deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dustin Diamond, a true comedic genius,” Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who costarred opposite Diamond on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved By The Bell, and The College Years as Zack Morris, tells EW in a statement. “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.”
“Words cannot express the grief that I am feeling right now. Dustin and I had a warm and special friendship, he was a caring gentleman, and my memories of him will always be cherished,” Good Morning, Miss Bliss and Saved By The Bell co-star Lark Voorhies tells EW “I am so very sorry he is gone. But it’s exceptionally sad for his close loved ones who have do deal with his tragic death and their own great loss. My heart goes out to them at this trying time. Sincerely, Lark Voorhies.”
Diamond’s other Saved By The Bell castmates Tiffani Thiessen and Mario Lopez took to Instagram to pay tribute, as did Tori Spelling, who played Screech’s love interest on Saved By The Bell.
Our deepest condolences go out to Dustin Diamond’s family and friends during this difficult time.
