Lark Voorhies Linked to Dustin Diamond’s $12.74 Residual Check
lark voorhies appears in the same story as Dustin Diamond’s $12.74 residual check in 2022, a late reminder of how little money can still flow from a hit sitcom long after the camera stops rolling. Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell, had already declared bankruptcy in 2001.
Dustin Diamond and $12.74
Dan Block said Diamond received the $12.74 check in 2022 from his time on the show. That figure lands years after Saved by the Bell ran from 1989 to 1993 and after Diamond died in 2021 at age 44 following a three-week battle with cancer.
The number matters because it sits inside a larger collapse in his earnings. Block said Diamond “lost his house, lost everything” after not paying the mortgage, then moved to a small town in Wisconsin after losing the house. By 2001, bankruptcy was already part of the record.
Ed Alonzo on Screech
Ed Alonzo, who played Max, said Diamond never fully escaped the character that made him famous. “I think that Dustin was trapped in a place where that’s all he really knew, that lovable, dorky character,” Alonzo said. “Even the movies and TV shows that he did after that, they always had him depicting the same type of character, or they would have him play himself, the actor who played the dorky kid,” he said. “I think that was really difficult for him to find his own way.”
Alonzo also spoke about the economics of the set, saying, “We were paid so low on the show,” and adding, “He’s got to make at least the same money that he’s making in Vegas.” He said he may have been the highest-paid person on the show for a few episodes, a blunt measure of how thin the early pay scale could be even on a series with lasting recognition.
Saved by the Bell aftermath
Saved by the Bell later spawned related shows including Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, but Diamond’s own post-series path stayed tied to Screech. The residual check of $12.74 in 2022 is the sharpest example in the record of how modest that legacy could look on paper, even after the show became a durable TV property.
For readers following the Diamond story, the point is simple: the fame lasted far longer than the income did. His career ended with a small residual, not a windfall, and the contrast is what still gives the number its force.
