Irene Diamond (May 7, 1910 – January 21, 2003) was a
Hollywood talent scout and later in life a
philanthropist.
Early life
Irene Diamond was born Irene Levine on May 7, 1910, to Jewish immigrant parents.
Career
Diamond was an assistant editor for
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
in their story division. During a 25-year collaboration with producer
Hal B. Wallis
Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing '' Casablanca'' (1942), '' The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and ''True Grit'' (1969), along ...
, she made recommendations on many scripts, including ''
The Maltese Falcon'' and ''
Dark Victory
''Dark Victory'' is a 1939 American melodrama film directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Bette Davis, and featuring George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, and Cora Witherspoon. The screenplay by Ca ...
''. In 1941 on a visit to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
she read an unproduced play titled ''
Everybody Comes to Rick's'', by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. After she persuaded Wallis to purchase the script for $20,000, he retitled it and produced the film ''
Casablanca''.
Philanthropy
Diamond was co-chair of the Aaron Diamond Foundation with her husband from the 1950s onwards.
Following his sudden death in 1985, Diamond became the sole president of the foundation.
They established the
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in 1991.
Diamond founded the Irene Diamond Fund in 1994.
The fund endowed AIDS research.
In 2000, Diamond founded the New York Choreographic Institute alongside
Peter Martins
Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...
.
In 1999, then
U.S. President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
presented her with the
National Medal of Arts award. She was elected a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 2001.
Personal life
She was married to real estate developer Aaron Diamond from 1942 until his death in 1985. They resided on the
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in New York City, and had one daughter, Jean.
Death
Diamond died on January 21, 2003, in New York City.
See also
*
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
References
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060929120906/http://www.foundationnews.org/CME/article.cfm?ID=1454
*https://web.archive.org/web/20061004085231/http://www.adarc.org/news/Irene%20Diamond/LA%20times.html
*https://web.archive.org/web/20061004091308/http://www.adarc.org/about/history-irenediamond.htm
1910 births
2003 deaths
People from the Upper East Side
Jewish American philanthropists
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
20th-century American philanthropists
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
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