I. A. L. Diamond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| I. A. L. Diamond | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Itek Domnici | |||||
| Born | June 27, 1920 Ungheni, Romania |
|||||
| Died | April 21, 1988 (aged 67) Los Angeles, California |
|||||
|
||||||
I.A.L. Diamond (27 June 1920 - 21 April 1988) was a comedy writer in Hollywood during the 1940s and '50s. He was born Iţec (Itzek) Domnici in Ungheni, Iaşi County, Romania, 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 student newspaper under the pseudonym "I.A.L. Diamond". He also worked on the school's varsity shows, producing a string of yearly successes (You’ve Got Something There, 1938; Fair Enough, 1939; Life Begins in ’40, 1940; Hit the Road, 1941). 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.
Hollywood noticed his success, and he worked at Paramount Pictures until 1943. Then, he moved to Warner Brothers, where he wrote his first feature script, "Murder in the Blue Room". It was there, at Warner Brothers, that he had his first real success with "Never Say Goodbye" in 1946 and became well known. 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 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.
- Buddy Buddy (1981)
- Fedora (1978)
- The Front Page (1974)
- Avanti! (1972)
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
- Cactus Flower (1969)
- The Fortune Cookie (1966)
- Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
- Irma la Douce (1963)
- One, Two, Three (1961)
- The Apartment (1960)
- Some Like It Hot (1959) (screenplay)
- Merry Andrew (1958)
- Love in the Afternoon (1957)
- That Certain Feeling (1956)
- Something for the Birds (1952)
- Monkey Business (1952)
- Let's Make It Legal (1951)
- Love Nest (1951)
- It's a Great Feeling (1949) (story)
- The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)
- Two Guys from Texas (1948)
- Romance on the High Seas (1948) (additional dialogue)
- Always Together (1948)
- Love and Learn (1947)
- Never Say Goodbye (1946)
- Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946)
- Murder in the Blue Room (1944)
- 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)