Selma Diamond(1920-1985)
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
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 Night Court (1984). She died due to lung cancer in 1985.
