Diana Bellamy

Diana Alice Bellamy (September 19, 1943 – June 17, 2001) was an American character actress of stage, film, and television, during the 1980s and mid-90s who was often cast in both comedic and dramatic roles to great acclaim. Bellamy is known for her starring role as Head Nurse Maggie Poole in the NBC comedy 13 East, as Principal Cecilia Hall in Popular, as Mrs. Pananides in Outbreak, and as Switchboard Operator in Air Force One.

Life and career Bellamy was born on September 19, 1943, in Los Angeles, California. Her family had ties to the establishment of Early Virginia and her father, Victor "Vic" Bellamy, was a Juilliard graduate and opera singer who later became a local Western actor. Diana did her undergraduate work at the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she was active in the theater department. She attended Southern Methodist University (SMU) from which she graduated with a fine arts master's degree in 1970. She began her career with her own puppet theater in her native Los Angeles and later began working professionally on the stage. Some of her stage work consists of appearances in The House of Blue Leaves at the Pasadena Playhouse, The Skin of Our Teeth at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and the title role in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You at Theater Geo in Los Angeles, and the handicapped Mrs. Nichols in Dorothy Parker’s The Ladies of the Corridor at the Tamarind Theater. In 1986, the Los Angeles Times wrote that she became her character of a snake handler in Talking With... (1986). "This is not an actress," they wrote, "this is a swamp woman holding a box with holes in it." She was praised in her role of Sister Mary in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You at Theatre Geo in 1994. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "When Bellamy is good, she is very, very good." Her final role was a guest spot on Diagnosis Murder in the episode Being of Sound Mind which aired on March 2, 2001. Death Bellamy died from cancer at her home in Valley Village, Los Angeles, on June 17, 2001, at the age of 57. A memorial service was held for Bellamy on July 7, 2001, at the Court Theater in West Hollywood, California, Bellamy, in her own words, said of her health in a 1999 interview, "I had tried crying and being in a snit about blindness, but that was real boring. I've learned to live with it as best I can, and I feel very blessed that this has happened."

Filmography

Cinema 1983 D.C. Cab as Maudie 1985 Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment as Woman In Restaurant 1987 Outrageous Fortune as Shirl 1987 Blind Date as "Froggie" 1992 Passed Away as B.J. 1993 Malice as Rose Mary Woods 1989 Alien Nation as Betsy Ross 1989-1990 13 East as Maggie Poole 1992 Baywatch Abigail Kenilworth Season 3 Episode 15, 16 Vacation Part 1 and Part 2 1992 On the Air as Ethel Thissle 1994 Living Single as Judge Glazer 1994 Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight (TV Movie) 1984 Creatures at Odyssey Theatre as Sister Ratissa 1985 The Serving of Two Masters at Playbill Theatre as Adaptation 1985 Romeo and Juliet at The Globe Playhouse as The Nurse 1986 Why Hanna's Skirt Won't Stay Down at Coast Playhouse as Sophie 1986 Talking With... at the Olio Theater as Snake Handler 1987 The House of Blue Leaves at the Pasadena Playhouse as Sister Superior 1992 Lady-Like at the Philadelphia Theatre Company as Mary Carryll 1994 Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You at Theatre Geo as Sister Mary