Dudley Moore, the elfin, Oxford-educated comic actor who used biting wit, physical pratfalls and on-screen vulnerability to tap into the good-natured debauchery of the times in hit films such as "10" and "Arthur," died Wednesday at his home in Plainfield, N.J., after a long, debilitating illness. He was 66.
The 5-foot, 21/2-inch, British-born funny man died of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy, according to his publicist in Los Angeles.
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Friday March 29, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 2 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Dudley Moore obituary--An obituary of comedian Dudley Moore in Thursday's California section said that Moore teamed on the London stage with three other Oxford graduates--Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett. In fact, Cook and Miller were graduates of Cambridge.
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Sunday March 31, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 2 inches; 60 words Type of Material: Correction
Dudley Moore obituary: An obituary of comic actor Dudley Moore in Thursday's Times said he was made Commander of the British Empire in November by Queen Elizabeth. In fact, Prince Charles presented him with the insignia. Also, the comedy revue "Beyond the Fringe," which Moore appeared in with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett, was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960. It then went on to the London stage.
Moore had been diagnosed with the degenerative, Parkinson's-like disease in 1997. The rare brain disorder causes severe problems with walking and balance, and is triggered by the death of cells in a small area of the brain stem. Although the disease is not fatal, sufferers such as Moore are predisposed to develop illnesses such as pneumonia.
In recent months, Moore, a composer and accomplished pianist who early in his career found fame on stage by teaming with the late Peter Cook for a comedy revue called "Beyond the Fringe," had trouble communicating.
His last public appearance was in November at London's Buckingham Palace as Queen Elizabeth conferred upon him one of the United Kingdom's highest honors for entertainment, the insignia of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
But while his mind was ever alert, Moore's body had been robbed of its vitality.
"He had a very debilitating disease," said his friend Tony Bill, who had directed the actor in one of his rare dramas, "Six Weeks," and the comedy "Crazy People." Bill said Moore's "mental powers had not been affected," but he was forced to watch himself "wasting away."
"That was the tough thing," said Lou Pitt, Moore's agent of more than 25 years. "He could receive all the information ... but couldn't express it."
Divorced four times, Moore had been living with his friends pianist Rena Fruchter and her husband, Brian Dallow.
During his heyday in the early 1980s, Moore commanded $2 million a picture, an impressive fee in those days. But by 1999, he was forced to sell his beloved house in Marina del Rey.
With his shaggy mane, sly grin and even a pixieish twinkle in his eyes, Moore became an unlikely movie sex symbol.
"He was physically funny and adorable and kind of sexy," said Rita Rudner, who co-wrote and starred with Moore in his last movie, "Weekend in the Country" in 1996.
It was Blake Edwards who turned Moore into a comic giant by casting him in the hit 1979 film "10." Moore played a successful composer suffering a midlife crisis who, driving through Beverly Hills one day, spots a perfect vision of beauty on her way to her wedding. He then follows the blond-braided beauty played by Bo Derek to Mexico on her honeymoon.
On Wednesday, Derek said, "He was wonderful to work with, and when he wasn't making you laugh with his comedy, he was making you cry with his music," she said. The last time she saw him was at a tribute concert to him last April at Carnegie Hall.
In a statement issued by Edwards and his wife and Moore's "10" co-star Julie Andrews, they expressed sadness over the passing of the comedian, who they described as a "rare human being who brought warmth and joy to all who knew him."
Two years after he found international stardom in "10," Moore received his first and only Oscar nomination for best actor in the blockbuster comedy "Arthur." He played a rich, lovable lush opposite Liza Minnelli's stable but poor Italian waitress and Sir John Gielgud in his Oscar-winning role for best supporting actor as his faithful manservant.
Minnelli said in a statement Wednesday that she was deeply saddened by her co-star's death. "He was a unique individual who was multitalented," she said. "He could make the world laugh and brought joy to millions."
But Moore was unable to sustain his box office appeal because of a series of misfires, including "Unfaithfully Yours" and "Blame it on the Bellboy." And in the early 1990s, he made two unsuccessful attempts at his own TV series, with "Dudley" in 1993 and "Daddy's Girl" in 1994.
Throughout his film and TV work, however, he never abandoned his musical career, performing as a guest artist with several symphonies, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and developing and co-hosting with conductor Sir Georg Solti the Showtime series "Orchestra!" He even issued a CD of his music titled "Dudley Moore--Live from an Airplane Hangar" in 2000 to raise money for research on his debilitating disease.
Dudley Stuart John Moore was born April 19, 1935, in less than affluence in Dagenham, Essex, England, to a railway engineer father and a Christian Scientist typist mother. Born with a club foot and withered right leg, Moore eventually underwent a series of corrective operations.
Pitt said he doubted Moore ever got over his childhood feelings of inadequacy over his early physical woes, saying they lingered with him like an "albatross" that he kept private for years.
