American actor Dustin Diamond, best known for his role as Samuel ‘Screech’ Powers on the beloved American teen sitcom Saved By the Bell has passed away aged just 44 after losing a battle against lung cancer.
Diamond enjoyed his career breakthrough aged just 10 when he was cast as Screech in the Disney Channel sitcom Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was retooled after a single season and relaunched as Saved By the Bell on NBC.
Appearing Saved By the Bell and its sequels and spinoffs for 14 years, Diamond subsequently struggled to make the transition from child star and his career and private life soon hit the rocks. He released and recorded his own sex tape, published a tell-all book on the show entitled Behind the Bell, appeared on a host of reality programmes, and also ran into trouble with the law on several occasions.
Diamond was the only original member of the Saved By the Bell teens not to appear in the recent Peacock reboot, with his absence explained on screen by stating that the character was on board the International Space Station.
