Dustin Diamond had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer

Dustin Diamond, who played Samuel ‘Screech’ Powers in 1990s US sitcom  Saved by the Bell has died from cancer,.

The  44-year-old actor had only been diagnosed with lung cancer last month and recently completed a first round of chemotherapy. But his agent Roger Paul said the star’s condition had deteriorated fast in the last week.

‘Dustin did not suffer. He did not have to lie submerged in pain. For that, we are grateful,’ he said.

Co-star  Mario Lopez, who played AC Slater, said: ‘Dustin, you will be missed my man. The fragility of this life is something never to be taken for granted. Prayers for your family will continue on.’

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played Zack Morris, tweeted that he ‘will miss those raw, brilliant sparks that only he was able to produce'

Saved By The Bell ran for four seasons from 1989 to 1993 and he started performing stand-up after the series ended.

But he struggled to escape from the shadow of the hit show and in 2001 declared bankruptcy. He subsequently  appeared on  Celebrity Fit Club and Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling in the US, and the British version of Celebrity Big Brother in 2013.

In 2009, he published the tell-all book Behind the Bell, in which he claimed he had slept with 2,000 women, although his colleagues angrily disputed his stories of sordid backstage behaviour on the comedy that made his name, 

Diamond also served three months in jail after he stabbed a man during an altercation at a bar in Wisconsin on Christmas Day 2014 

Published: 1 Feb 2021