Selma diamond cause of death

SelmaDiamond

Daughter of Samuel Diamond and [mother unknown]

[sibling(s) unknown]

Profile last modified | Created 6 Nov 2023

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Biography

Selma Diamond was a Canadian-born American comedian, actress, and radio and television writer, known for her high-range, raspy voice and her portrayal of Selma Hacker on the first two seasons of the NBC television comedy series Night Court.

Sources

Wikipedia:Selma Diamond

• Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada Births, 1832-1917 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Series: Registrations of Births and Stillbirths, 1869-1913; Reel: 211; Record Group: Rg 80-2.

• 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Kings, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02553; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 24-267
  Ancestry Sharing Link -
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  Most familiar to TV audiences as the diminutive but feisty court bailiff on Night Court (1984), Selma Diamond's entrance into acting was not through the usual venue of vaudeville, stage work or modeling - she was a writer for TV shows, once having been nominated for an Emmy for Caesar's Hour (1954). Although she had that tough New York accent and street demeanor, she was actually born in London, Ontario, Canada, then raised in Brooklyn. A graduate of New York University, she at first made a living by selling cartoons and fiction to the "New Yorker" magazine. NBC hired her as a writer for one of its radio shows, "The Big Show," and she later made the transition into writing for television. Her film debut was as the voice on the telephone of Spencer Tracy's wife in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), where the world got a sample of the distinctive Diamond voice: nasal, high-pitched and one that could never be mistaken for anyone else's. She did a lot of TV work and was a regular on another series, Too Close for Comfort (1980) before Nigh

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  Selma Diamond

  Canadian-American comedian, writer (1920–1985)

  Selma Diamond (August 5, 1920 – May 13, 1985) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actress, and radio and television writer, known for her high-range, raspy voice and her portrayal of Selma Hacker on the first two seasons of the NBC television comedy series Night Court. Diamond was also the main inspiration for the character of Sally Rogers on the series The Dick Van Dyke Show.^[1]

  Early life

  Diamond was born on August 5, 1920,^[2] in London, Ontario, Canada,^[3] to a tailor and his wife. Diamond's grandmother was a suffragette.^[4] When Diamond was a young girl, they moved to Brooklyn, New York.^[5]

  Diamond attended high school in Brooklyn^[6] and graduated from New York University.^[6]

  Career

  Diamond published cartoons and humor essays in The New Yorker.^[7] Later, she moved to the West Coast and hired an agent. She worked in radio and, eventually, television. Her first radio writing credit was in 1943 on Blue Ri