Don Diamond
is not a name that many people would know, but his face became one of the most
familiar, especially during 1950s and 1960s television shows. He was best known for two roles - that of
Corporal Reyes, the antithesis of Sgt. Garcia in Disney's Zorro TV series, and the
Indian Crazy Cat from F Troop.
One would never imagine then that Donald
Alan Diamond, born on June 4, 1921 In New York City didn't have a drop of
Hispanic blood running through his veins.
In fact, his father was a first generation immigrant of Russian Jewish
heritage.
Diamond must
have had an ear for language. He was
already fluent in Yiddish and some sources state that he studied Spanish in
addition to drama at the University of Michigan.
Diamond frequently played Mexican or Native American characters. Diamond earned a commission in the US Army Air Corps. He was fluent in Yiddish already and honed his Spanish while stationed in New Mexico in the Air Corps. Don remained stateside during the war because his myopia (nearsightedness) made him unfit for combat. Also during his Air Corps days he started doing radio dramas, which continued after his discharge in 1946, mainly portraying Mexicans or Spaniards. Martin Gostanian of the Paley Center for Media, Beverly Hills, California was kind enough to provide a list of all the radio shows that Don Diamond worked on:
Mr. Diamond had an uncanny knack for doing accents and his comic timing was impeccable. These two qualities made him very much in demand from television's infancy to the 1960s. One of his earliest television appearances was in The Lone Ranger episode, "Pete and Pedro" (1949). This may very well have led to his costar role of "Toro" in The Adventures of Kit Carson with Bill Williams (1951-1955). His signature large sombrero and striped pants made him quite distinctive in contrast to Carson's traditional buckskin. As Toro, Diamond could be quite amorous with the lovely señoritas, but was proficient with a six gun and a most intelligent sidekick instead of the buffoonish stereotypes he portrayed in other series.
He
guest starred in other favorite shows as policemen or soldiers. Such was the case with The Gale Storm Show: Oh Susanna in the episode, "Action in
Acapulco" (1957). Toward the end of
Zorro or perhaps once it was
canceled, Don made an appearance in "Kidnap", a Peter Gunn episode (1959).
As Manuel, a lounge piano player, you'll hear the same vocal intonation
of Reyes in this series, along with more screen time. His roles sans accents included two for The
Untouchables - "Syndicate Sanctuary" (1960) as an uncredited guard
for a club's backroom gambling with ample screen time. In "The Speculator" he was part of
one of the mob managers based in Kansas City, and while dialogue was minimal,
viewers saw and heard him without mustache and accent. The same was true of his appearance in the Gomer Pyle USMC episode "Marriage, Sgt. Carter
Style" as a travel agent speaking like a native New Yorker.
In
the 1970s Diamond was one of the most prolific faces seen in recurring and
single appearance roles. For The Flying Nun he once again took on
Hispanic doctor and police roles.
He did a couple of Adam-12 episodes, closely resembling the real Don Diamond. There were bit parts in The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, and ending the decade with WKRP in Cincinnati.
The
dawn of the 1980s must have been somewhat like a déjà-vu for Diamond, this time
doing voice overs for another affiliation with "The Fox" - in an
animated series, The New Adventures of
Zorro. Instead of his Corporal Reyes
portrayal, his Garcia similar character named Sgt. Gonzalez. He also made a guest appearance on the
series, Zorro and Son. Also in that decade Diamond was seen in
top-rated series like Dallas, Dynasty, L.A. Law, Newhart, and MacGyver.
¡Hasta la próxima!
(Until next time!)
(Until next time!)
1 comment:
Colete what a great job, on don diamond, very enjoyable read. Thom Hamilton
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