In this Jan. 24, 2011 file photo, Dustin Diamond attends the SYFY premiere of “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid” at The Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Diamond died Monday after a three-week fight with carcinoma, according to his representative. He was 44. Diamond, best known for playing Screech on the hit ’90s sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” was hospitalized last month in Florida and his team disclosed later he had cancer. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, File)“Saved by the Bell” star Dustin Diamond died Monday after a three-week fight with carcinoma, according to his representative. He was 44.
“Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful,” the actor’s spokesman, Roger Paul, said in a statement.
Diamond, best known for playing Screech on the hit ’90s sitcom, was hospitalized last month in Florida and his team disclosed later that he had cancer.
Former co-star Mario Lopez took to Twitter to say farewell: “Dustin, you will be missed, my man. The fragility of this life is something never to be taken for granted.”
“Saved by the Bell” aired from 1989 to 1993, and its related shows included “Saved by the Bell: The College Years,” “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” and “Saved by the Bell: The New Class,” which Diamond starred in. A sequel was launched on Peacock last fall featuring many from the original cast, including Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Tiffani Thiessen and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Diamond was not included.