Dudley Stuart John Moore was born on April 19, 1935, in Dagenham, England. His parents were distant and his main source of affection was his older sister, Barbara, during a troubled childhood when he was constantly in and out of hospital receiving treatment for a club foot. He was also notably short throughout his life, which resulted in him being bullied at school, and he took refuge in music, becoming a choirboy at the age of six and quickly mastering the piano and violin. Going on to develop a proficiency with the organ and harpsichord, he won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and, subsequently, a place in Oxford University's Magdalen College. He was then offered the job of organist at King's College, Cambridge, but turned it down because he wanted to perform live in London and expand his talents into acting.
On the London stage, Moore quickly found work with comedy revue Beyond The Fringe, which included Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, and Peter Cook. He also worked with Kenneth Williams and with the musicians John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, with whom he performed regularly on television and made several recordings. In 1965 he was offered his own comedy series, Not Only... But Also. He invited Cook, who had become a good friend, along as a guest, but their comedic rapport made such an impression on the audience that they became a permanent double-act, one of the most popular partnerships in the history of British television. Moore became famous for laughing so hard that he lost his ability to perform, but this only made him more of a hit.
In 1967, Moore got the chance to break into film, co-writing and starring in Bedazzled, with Cook, Eleanor Bron, and Raquel Welch. Massively popular, this tale of an average guy tempted by the devil heralded the start of a long-running career which would include such hits as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with Fiona Fullerton and Michael Crawford; The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Denholm Elliot and Joan Greenwood; 10, with Bo Derek and Julie Andrews; Arthur, with Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud; and Crazy People, with Daryl Hannah and JT Walsh. This brought him to the attention of U.S. audiences, leading to appearances on Saturday Night Live and ultimately to an Emmy-nominated TV series, Dudley.
Despite his success as an actor, Moore always retained his passion for music, becoming the founding president of Music For All Seasons, a charity devoted to bringing music to those unable to attend concerts. He worked with producer Sir Georg Solti to produce the educational TV series Orchestra!
Moore was married four times, to the actresses Suzy Kendall and Tuesday Weld (with whom he had a son, Patrick), to make-up artist Brogan Lane, and to Nicole Rothschild (who bore his second son, Nicholas). He was also romantically linked to Susan Anton and Lynsey De Paul.
Moore's later life was plagued by ill health. He underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery and suffered a succession of strokes before being diagnosed with progressive supra-nuclear palsy, which led to his dependence on a wheelchair. He died of pneumonia on March 27, 2002, and he is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
YUDDY
