I. A. L. Diamond

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I. A. L. Diamond
Born Itek Domnici
June 27, 1920
Ungheni, Iaşi, Romania
Died April 21, 1988 (aged 67)
Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Occupation Writer, Screenwriter
Years active 1944-1981

I.A.L. Diamond (June 27, 1920 - April 21, 1988) was a comedy writer in Hollywood during the 1940s and '50s.

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[edit] Early Life

He was born Iţec (Itzek) Domnici in Ungheni, Iaşi County, Romania, present day Moldova, was referred to as "Iz" in Hollywood, and was known to quip that his initials stood for "Interscholastic Algebra League".

Diamond emigrated with his family to the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn in the United States at the age of 9. There he studied at the Boy's High School, showing ability in mathematics, competing in the state Mathematics Olympiads in 1936-37, winning several gold medals.

Diamond completed his undergraduate studies at Columbia in 1941. There he studied journalism, publishing in the Columbia Daily Spectator under the pseudonym "I.A.L. Diamond". He was editor of the humor magazine Jester, a member of the Philolexian Society, and became the only person to single-handedly write four consecutive productions of the annual revue, the Varsity Show. As a result, upon graduation he abandoned his plans to pursue his master's at Columbia and instead started writing for The New York Times.

[edit] Career and later life

Hollywood noticed his success, and he worked at Paramount Pictures until 1943. He then moved to Universal, where he wrote his first produced feature script, "Murder in the Blue Room". It was a year later, At Warner Brothers that he achieved his first real success and consequent recognition with "Never Say Goodbye" in 1946. He worked at 20th Century Fox from 1951-55, eventually deciding to become independent.

In 1957 he began a collaborative relationship with Billy Wilder on the movie Love in the Afternoon. From there, the pair had a string of hits with Some Like It Hot, The Apartment (which won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay), One, Two, Three, Irma la Douce, the Oscar-nominated The Fortune Cookie, the sex comedy Kiss Me, Stupid and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

Some of the films which Wilder worked on with Diamond feature characters engaged in never-ending but friendly squabbling: like Joe and Jerry in Some Like it Hot and Holmes and Watson in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Diamond's widow claims that it is the sort of relationship her husband had with Wilder.

Diamond died in Beverly Hills, California in 1988.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] as Writer

[edit] as Associate Producer

  • Fedora (1978)
  • The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
  • The Fortune Cookie (1966)
  • Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
  • Irma la Douce (1963)
  • One, Two, Three (1961)
  • The Apartment(1960)
  • Some Like It Hot (1959)