Background
Dudley Moore was born on April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, Essex, United Kingdom, to working class parents, Ada Francis (Hughes), an English secretary, and John Havlin Moore, a Scottish railway electrician (originally from Glasgow).
1983
New York, United States
Marian McPartland and Dudley Moore
2001
Westminster, London SW1A 1AA, UK
Prince Charles - an ardent fan - honors Dudley with a Commander of the British Empire award at Buckingham Palace for lifetime achievement.
Oxford OX1 4AU, UK
Dudley won a music scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, to study the organ. At university, he also studied composition and became a classically trained pianist, though his forte on the piano for public performance was jazz.
Dudley Moore (right) and Peter Cook in Not Only…But Also.
(The author describes his lifelong involvement with music,...)
The author describes his lifelong involvement with music, and shares humorous anecdotes about composers, musicians, and conductors.
https://www.amazon.com/Dudley-Moore-Off-Beat-World-Music/dp/0877959145/?tag=2022091-20
1987
(Letters from Dudley is a fascinating book containing the ...)
Letters from Dudley is a fascinating book containing the letters written by Dudley Moore(1935-2002) to his former high school music teacher, Peter Cork, between the years of 1980 and 1994.
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Dudley-Moore/dp/0977787400/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(The official album-matching songbook to Dudley Moore's 19...)
The official album-matching songbook to Dudley Moore's 1991 album, Songs Without Words, featuring accurate piano solo transcriptions of all the pieces.
https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Without-Words-Piano-Solo/dp/0571536379/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(The world's richest and most lovable drunk risks everythi...)
The world's richest and most lovable drunk risks everything when he falls in love with an irascible waitress in the hilarious comedy starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli.
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Dudley-Moore/dp/B008WE64H4/?tag=2022091-20
1981
(In this heart-warming drama, a terminally ill young girl ...)
In this heart-warming drama, a terminally ill young girl strives to bring together her wealthy mother (Mary Tyler Moore) and a California politician (Dudley Moore), fulfilling her dream of having a family during the last six weeks of her life..
https://www.amazon.com/Six-Weeks-Dudley-Moore/dp/B01JMDXIR2/?tag=2022091-20
1982
(TV reporter Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) longs for a baby,...)
TV reporter Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) longs for a baby, but his career-minded wife, Micki (Ann Reinking), is too busy for motherhood. A romantic fling with a seductive cellist, Maude (Amy Irving), leads to her pregnancy. Rob receives another shock when Micki announces that she's also expecting!
https://www.amazon.com/Micki-Maude-Dudley-Moore/dp/B07L4YHK1G/?tag=2022091-20
1984
(Four years after riding off in his limousine with his inh...)
Four years after riding off in his limousine with his inheritance and true love Linda, dipsomaniac millionaire Arthur is now married and broke. Linda wants to adopt a baby, and Arthur has to face the terrible realisation that, as he has lost his $750 million fortune, he may have to get a job.
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Rocks-2-Movie-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B004JMSIS6/?tag=2022091-20
1988
(A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point,...)
A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.
https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-People-Dudley-Moore/dp/B002HTOOQ8/?tag=2022091-20
1990
Actor comedian musician restauranteur
Dudley Moore was born on April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, Essex, United Kingdom, to working class parents, Ada Francis (Hughes), an English secretary, and John Havlin Moore, a Scottish railway electrician (originally from Glasgow).
Dudley Moore discovered his passion for music at an early age, becoming a choirboy at six and earning a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music at age 11, where he studied harpsichord, organ, violin, musical theory, and composition. He also attended Dagenham County High School where he received musical tuition from a dedicated teacher, Peter Cork, who became a friend and confidant to Moore. Dudley won a music scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, to study the organ. At university, he also studied composition and became a classically trained pianist, though his forte on the piano for public performance was jazz. He graduated in 1958.
In 1958, Moore was offered a position as organist at King's College, Cambridge, but turned it down in order to go to London and pursue a music and acting career. Fellow Oxonian Alan Bennett had already recommended him to John Bassett, who was putting together a satirical comedy revue called "Beyond The Fringe." "Beyond The Fringe" was to be Moore's first brush with fame, along with co-stars Bennett, future theatrical director Jonathan Miller (now Sir Jonathan), and Peter Cook, who was destined to become Moore's comic partner during the 1960s and '70s.
"Beyond the Fringe" not only won great acclaim in the UK, but it was a hit in the U.S. The four won a special Tony Award in 1963 for their Broadway production of "Beyond The Fringe" and there was a television program made of the revue in 1964. It was Miller who had recommended Cook for "Beyond the Fringe", in much the same way that Bennett had bird-dogged Moore. This old-fashioned review was such a success so there was a sequel, "One Over The Eight."
Moore and Cook were offered the TV show Not Only... But Also (1965) by the BBC in 1965. Peter Cook was on as a guest. Their pairing was so successful, it enjoyed a second season in 1966 and a third in 1970. They were particularly funny as the working-class characters "Pete" and "Dud." The duo then broke into the movies, including The Wrong Box (1966) and Bedazzled (1967). In 1974, the duo won their second Tony Award for their show "Good Night", which was the stage version of their TV series "Not Only... But Also."
During the 1960s Moore also formed the Dudley Moore Trio, with drummer Chris Karan and bassist Pete McGurk. Following McGurk's suicide in June 1968, Peter Morgan joined the group as his replacement. His early recordings included "My Blue Heaven", "Lysie Does It", "Poova Nova", "Take Your Time", "Indiana", "Sooz Blooz", "Baubles, Bangles & Beads", "Sad One for George" and "Autumn Leaves". The trio performed regularly on British television, made numerous recordings and had a long-running residency at Peter Cook's London nightclub, the Establishment.
In the mid- to late 1970s, they issued three comic albums in the guise of the characters "Derek" and "Clive" (Moore and Cook, respectively), two lavatory attendants that many viewed as reincarnations of their earlier TV characters "Pete" and "Dud." The albums, ad-libbed in a recording studio while the two drank vast quantities of alcohol, were noted at the time for their obscenity. Their typical routine was a stream-of-consciousness fugue by Cook, interspersed with interjections by Moore. With their obscenity-laden, free-formed riffs, Derek and Clive presaged the more free-wheeling shock comedy of the 1980s and '90s.
In 1975, Moore moved to the U.S. and began a second career as a solo screen comedian, stealing the show from Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn as the horny conductor in the movie comedy, Foul Play (1978). When George Segal dropped out of the movie 10 (1979), director Blake Edwards cast Moore in the lead role as the composer undergoing a mid-life crisis. It was a huge hit, but was surpassed by his Oscar-nominated turn as the dipsomaniac billionaire in Arthur (1981). In the early 1980s, Moore was a top box office attraction. In 1983, the National Alliance of Theater Owners named him the Top Box Office Star-Male of the Year.
His career began petering out after he turned down the lead in Splash (1984), a role that helped establish Tom Hanks as a top movie comedian and put him for his transition into movie drama and super-stardom. As Hanks star waxed, Moore's star waned, and by 1985 he was reduced to playing an elf in Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), one of the all-time turkeys. Even a second turn as "Arthur" in Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) couldn't revive his box office, the dependent clause of the title all too well describing his career. His TV series Dudley (1993) was a bust, and the 1990s proved a wasteland for the once-honored and prosperous comedian.
Moore was deeply affected by the January 1995 death of Peter Cook by a gastrointestinal hemorrhage at the age of 57. Moore organized a two-day memorial to Cook in Los Angeles that was held in November 1995. He himself died in Watchung, New Jersey on March 27, 2002, from pneumonia related to progressive supranuclear palsy. He was 66 years old.
(Letters from Dudley is a fascinating book containing the ...)
2006(The official album-matching songbook to Dudley Moore's 19...)
2011(The author describes his lifelong involvement with music,...)
1987(In this heart-warming drama, a terminally ill young girl ...)
1982(A bitter ad executive who has reached his breaking point,...)
1990(The world's richest and most lovable drunk risks everythi...)
1981(Four years after riding off in his limousine with his inh...)
1988(TV reporter Rob Salinger (Dudley Moore) longs for a baby,...)
1984(Comic geniuses Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy star in this...)
1984(Blake Edwards' sexy comedy hit about a middle-aged man's ...)
1979(Forget about accountants who want to fly, professors whos...)
1983(Tourists (Dudley Moore, Laraine Newman) in Israel find an...)
1980(Sherlock Holmes investigates strange goings-on at Baskerv...)
1978(An neurotic, jealous symphony conductor plots an elaborat...)
1983(Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron shake up the family tree in...)
1987
Quotations:
"I can't imagine not having music in my life, playing for myself or for other people. If I was asked, 'Which would you give up,' I'd have to say acting."
"I certainly did feel inferior. Because of class. Because of strength. Because of height...I guess if I'd been able to hit somebody in the nose...I wouldn't have been a comic."
"I think my own desire to be loved is what makes me sexually attractive."
"The confidence I now have is rooted in the discovery that who I am is okay."
"The ability to enjoy your sex life is central. I don't give a shit about anything else. My obsession is total. What else is there to live for?"
"I have a very ribald sense of humor, which is conventionally known as obscene."
“I try to seduce. I want to attract people. I want their warmth. I want their love.”
In the 1950s Dudley Moore was a regular member of The Johnny Dankworth Seven where established himself as an accomplished jazz pianist.
Dudley Moore was charged with suspicion of domestic violence on a cohabitant. His fourth wife Nicole Rothschild claimed that Moore smoked and ate a considerable amount of crystal methamphetamine during their marriage.
Moore's favorite movie star was Gene Kelly.
Physical Characteristics:
Moore was born with a clubfoot that was surgically corrected in his youth. He was notably short at 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m). In September 1999, Moore announced that he was afflicted with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease for which there is no treatment.
Dudley Moore was married four times, to actresses Suzy Kendall, Tuesday Weld, Brogan Lane and Nicole Rothschild, and had two sons, one with Tuesday Weld and one with Nicole Rothschild.