I. A. L. Diamond Is Dead at 67; Won Oscar for 'The Apartment'
By Leslie Bennetts April 22, 1988
I. A. L. Diamond, the Hollywood screenwriter and the longtime collaborator of the director Billy Wilder, died of multiple myeloma, a form of cancer, yesterday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 67 years old. Mr. Diamond, who spent his entire professional life writing movies, was best known for the films he made with Mr. Wilder. These included ''Love in the Afternoon,'' ''Some Like It Hot,'' ''The Apartment,'' ''One, Two, Three,'' ''The Fortune Cookie,'' ''Irma la Douce,'' ''Kiss Me, Stupid,'' ''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,'' ''The Front Page,'' ''Fedora,'' ''Avanti'' and ''Buddy, Buddy.''
When Mr. Wilder was given the Irving G. Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement at the Academy Awards ceremony this month, he acknowledged Mr. Diamond's contributions to his work in his acceptance speech.
Mr. Diamond won an Academy Award for ''The Apartment,'' but in general, he was a retiring sort who talked little and seemed perfectly happy with his relative obscurity.
In addition to writing, he also collaborated with Mr. Wilder in planning a good deal of the direction of a picture. ''If I ever lost this guy, I'd feel like Abercrombie without Fitch,'' Mr. Wilder once said. 'Never Had It So Good
Mr. Diamond's credits also included ''Cactus Flower,'' ''Merry Andrews,'' the Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe movie called ''Monkey Business,'' ''Love Nest,'' ''Let's Make It Legal,'' ''Romance on the High Seas,'' ''Two Guys From Texas,'' ''It's a Great Feeling,'' ''Love and Learn,'' ''Never Say Goodbye,'' ''The Girl From Jones Beach'' and ''Murder in the Blue Room,'' among others.
The movies Mr. Diamond made with Mr. Wilder were widely acknowledged to be his best, however, and after that partnership began in 1957, Mr. Diamond never returned to writing alone. ''I never had it so good,'' he commented once. ''I used to have to deal with producers, and listen to their suggestions; with executives, and their suggestions; with directors, and their suggestions; with stars, and their suggestions. Even assuming all these suggestions were good, it would still be a grab bag. This way, with Billy, once we decide, nobody changes a word.''
Mr. Diamond, who was born in Ungeni, Rumania, was originally given the name Itek Dommnici. When he was 9 years old, his family moved to the United States and took the name Diamond. They settled in Brooklyn, where his father ran a dairy store. He excelled at Math
At Boys High School, Mr. Diamond, who was then known as Isadore, excelled in mathematics. He earned the title of mathematics champion of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut in 1936 and 1937, and he won 17 medals and a scholarship cup.
At Columbia University, Mr. Diamond began writing for The Columbia Spectator, where he eventually became editor. He adopted the initials he would use for the rest of his life when a colleague suggested that his byline was ''too Jewish.'' Mr. Diamond decided to use the initials I. A. L., which stood for the Interscholastic Algebra League, of which he had been champion. Throughout his marriage, whenever his wife was asked what her husband's real name was, she replied, ''Interscholastic Algebra League,'' although he also answered to Iz or Isadore.
While at Columbia, Mr. Diamond also wrote sketches and lyrics for the school's varsity shows, and when he graduated in 1941 he was rewarded with an offer from Paramount. He went to work there as a $75-a-week junior writer.
Mr. Diamond is survived by his wife, Barbara Bentley Diamond of Beverly Hills; his son Paul, of Los Angeles; his daughter Ann, of New York, and a grandson.
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