Puppeteer Bill Diamond will be at GSCF: Morristown 22'
Bill Diamond created his production company, Bill Diamond Productions. Diamond produced and directed multiple television series in the 80’s and 90’s including, Stuffy’s Place, The Land of the Moonshins, and Dr. Rock’s Dinosaur Adventures, which appeared on Fox. He was also the associate producer of the documentaries, The Phantom of the Opera: Unmasking the Masterpiece, and The Aurora Monsters: The Model Craze That Gripped the World.
The off-Broadway version of Audrey 2, the carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors, was originally created by Sesame Street puppeteer Martin P. Robinson. The play became extremely popular, and in 1984, Diamond was hired to build and puppeteer Audrey 2, and still operates the giant plant puppet for the Little Shop of Horrors road tours to this day.
In 2001, a massive blaze completely engulfed Diamond's studio in Peekskill, New York. Over 200 of Diamond's puppets and original creations were destroyed.[3] Diamond rebuilt the studio in an industrial complex in Cornwall, New York, but in January 2012, a six alarm fire destroyed the majority of that industrial complex. Diamond's studio and creations survived the second fire, leaving only water damage in the complex.[10] The smoke from the fire was seen from the George Washington Bridge more than 40 miles away.
In 2016, The Jim Henson Company sponsored a fan film competition held on The Dark Crystal website. The competition invited fans to create and submit animated short films inspired by the Jim Henson film. Bill Diamond Productions submitted a short film for the competition titled, “Rise of the Skeksis”, and received an honorable mention.
In 2021, the first episode of the Toking with the Dead series was released to the public. This production, directed and produced by Bill Diamond, and based on the comic book of the same name, is a series based on educating through adult humor the positive effects of medical cannabis.
In 2021, Bill Diamond Productions released their holiday special, Claus and the Fairies. The film was written and created by Tammy Stallard, dedicated to her brother Jeffrey, and sponsored by The Beast Within Productions. The charming holiday special, based on the early folklore of Santa Clause being a part of the fairy kingdom, features quaint character puppets such as Gnome Brooks, narrated by Gremlins and Salacious B. Crumb (Return of the Jedi) voice actor, Mark Dodson, who also voices other fairies, gnomes, and sprites in the film. Bill Diamond puppeteers multiple characters in the production.