Dustin Diamond, best known for playing Samuel “Screech” Powers in the hit comedy “Saved by the Bell”, died Monday morning after a month in the hospital of stage 4 lung cancer. He was 44 years old.
According to the TMZ portal, the actor’s representative, Roger Paul, reported that “his condition had deteriorated dramatically since last week, and that he was being taken off ventilator in an attempt to get him to palliative care.”
The aforementioned media also pointed out that the actor’s girlfriend was “by his side when he died”.
It was revealed in mid-January that the actor had been admitted to a Florida hospital awaiting diagnosis, reported to have stage 4 lung cancer.
Diamond’s representative reported that the interpreter was undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy sessions, and that the situation was serious.
Diamond began his career with small roles in the television movie “Yogi’s Great Escape” and an episode of “It’s a Living” in 1987, but just a year later took on the role that would make him famous. On “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” she played Screech for 13 episodes. The show would become the basis for “Saved by the Bell,” in which Diamond performed for four seasons until 1992 and later joined the spin-off of “Saved by the Bell: The College Years.”
However, everything changed for the actor after this success and he became a very controversial character in the entertainment industry. Although he had some television appearances, the most talked about was his participation in a porn video in 2006, with which he wanted to relaunch his career. He directed it himself, but admitted in an interview that it wasn’t him during the most explicit scenes, but a stuntman.
In 2009, the actor published “Behind the Bell”, the story of the show’s cast, in which he described several actors in a negative way. In 2013, Diamond admitted that the book was created by a ghostwriter, who interviewed him and composed the book based on his responses. That is precisely why many parts of the book are composed of statements he made.
In late 2014, Diamond was arrested in Wisconsin for possession of a stiletto, which he reportedly retired during an altercation at a bar in which a man was stabbed. Amanda Schutz, his fiancé, who was also charged with disorderly conduct in connection with the incident, was found guilty and fined $ 500.
On May 29, 2015, Diamond was convicted of two felonies: carrying a concealed weapon and disrupting public order. He was cleared of the most serious charge, recklessly endangering public safety. A month later he was sentenced to four months in prison; of these he served only three months and was released on parole. However, his probation officer ruled that Diamond had violated the terms of his probation and was arrested in May 2016.