I.A.L. Diamond

I.A.L. Diamond was not born with this moniker, but chose it for himself while working on the campus newspaper at Columbia University. (Reportedly, the I is either for Isadore or Israel and the A and L he chose because "they look interesting after I.") Born in Romania, Diamond was raised in Brooklyn, where he gained attention early on for his stellar academic achievements. Upon finishing his college education, Diamond headed for Hollywood, where he worked in collaboration on several "B"-picture screenplays before his "A" break with the Errol Flynn vehicle Never Say Goodbye (1946). During his 20th Century-Fox years, Diamond specialized in comedy, working on the mirth-provoking scripts of such films as Love Nest (1951), Monkey Business (1952) and Something for the Birds (1952). In 1957, Diamond teamed with director Billy Wilder to pen the screenplay for Love in the Afternoon. Thereafter, Diamond would work almost exclusively with Wilder, sharing an Oscar for The Apartment (1960) and collaborating on such additional productions as Some Like It Hot (1959), One-Two-Three (1961), Irma La Douce (1963), Kiss Me Stupid (1964), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1969), Avanti! (1972), The Front Page (1974) and Fedora (1978) and Buddy Buddy.