Dudley Moore Biographies

Dudley Moore Biography Born April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, Essex, England, UK Died March 27, 2002 in Plainfield, New Jersey, USA (pneumonia) Birth Name Dudley Stuart John Moore The Sex Thimble Height 5' 2½" (1.59 m) Dudley Moore, the gifted comedian who had at least three distinct career phases that brought him great acclaim and success, actually started out as a musical prodigy as a child. He was born in Dagenham, Essex, England, in 1935, to working class parents, Ada Francis (Hughes), an English secretary, and John Havlin Moore, a Scottish railway electrician (originally from Glasgow). 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. After graduating from Magdalen College 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 (Exter Colelge, B.A., Medieval History, 1957) 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, who studied Medicine at Cambridge and was a physician), and Peter Cook, who was destined to become Moore's comic partner during the 1960s and '70s. It was Miller who had recommended Cook for "Beyond the Fringe", in much the same way that Bennett had bird-dogged Moore. Cook, who had studied modern languages at Cambridge, had been part of the famous Cambridge theatrical, the Footlights revue in 1959, had subsequently gone to London to star in a West End revue for Kenneth Williams, "Pieces of Eight". This old-fashioned review was such a success there was a sequel, "One Over The Eight". He was advised by his agent not to star in the fringe with the three others as he was a professional whereas they were amateurs. Ironically, the great success of "Beyond the Fringe", which was a new kind of satirical comedy, would doom the very old-fashioned reviews that Cook had just tasted success in. "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. 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". 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, Derke and Clive presaged the more free-wheeling shock comedy of the 1980s and '90s. After marrying American actress Tuesday Weld 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 position 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) [TV-Series] 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. Less than four years later, in September 1999, Moore announced that he was afflicted with progressive supra-nuclear palsy, a disease for which there is no treatment. Dudley Moore was invested as a Commander of the Order of The British Empire (one step below knighthood) in June 2001. Moore personally attended the ceremony at Buckingham Palace to accept his CBE from Prince Charles, despite being unable to speak and being wheelchair-bound. He died in Watchung, New Jersey on March 27, 2002, from the pneumonia related to progressive supra-nuclear palsy. He was 66 years old. 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. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood

Dudley Eugene Moore of Las Vegas, Clark County, NV was born on August 1, 1925, and died at age 71 years old on February 2, 1997. Dudley Moore was buried at Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery Section C Site 1273 1900 Buchanan Blvd., in Boulder City.

Dudley Lee Moore of Orange Park, Clay County, FL was born on May 27, 1923, and died at age 69 years old on March 11, 1993. Dudley Moore was buried at Mill Springs National Cemetery Section K Site 14 R. R. 2, P. O. Box 172, in Nancy, Ky.

Dudley Moore of Chicago, Cook County, IL was born on June 19, 1949, and died at age 50 years old on December 11, 1999. Dudley Moore was buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery Section 1 Site 1422 20953 West Hoff Road, in Elwood.

Dudley D Moore was born on January 14, 1928, and died at age 67 years old on January 16, 1995. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dudley D Moore.

Dudley R Moore of Joplin, Jasper County, MO was born on September 13, 1916, and died at age 89 years old on March 15, 2006.

Dudley Moore of Alabama was born on January 10, 1882, and died at age 80 years old in October 1962.

Dudley H Moore of Hawkinsville, Pulaski County, GA was born on October 24, 1938, and died at age 69 years old on May 1, 2008.

Dudley Moore of Fayette, Jefferson County, MS was born on March 30, 1947, and died at age 57 years old on December 4, 2004.

Dudley Moore of Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, Mississippi was born on October 16, 1874, and died at age 97 years old in February 1972.

Dudley Moore of Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, MS was born on November 24, 1909, and died at age 79 years old in December 1988.

Dudley R Moore of Byhalia, Marshall County, MS was born on February 6, 1916, and died at age 87 years old on November 11, 2003.

Dudley Moore of Byhalia, Marshall County, Mississippi was born on November 30, 1887, and died at age 79 years old in April 1967.

Dudley Moore was born on February 16, 1916, and died at age 50 years old in March 1966. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dudley Moore.

Dudley Moore of Fairfield, Jefferson County, Alabama was born on January 9, 1888, and died at age 91 years old in September 1979.

Dudley Moore of Carthage, Smith County, TN was born on May 4, 1902, and died at age 96 years old on November 10, 1998.

Dudley Moore of Latonia, Kenton County, Kentucky was born on June 1, 1901, and died at age 65 years old in June 1966.

Dudley M Moore of Frankfort, Franklin County, KY was born on July 28, 1934, and died at age 71 years old on June 7, 2006.

Dudley Moore of Canyon, Randall County, TX was born on November 9, 1919, and died at age 87 years old on January 13, 2007.

Dudley Moore of East China, Saint Clair County, Michigan was born on June 8, 1906, and died at age 75 years old in February 1982.

Dudley Moore of Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan was born on June 6, 1907, and died at age 67 years old in August 1974.

Dudley Moore of Georgia was born on April 20, 1893, and died at age 71 years old in June 1964.

Dudley L Moore of Marietta, Cobb County, GA was born on December 9, 1909, and died at age 88 years old in September 1998.

Dudley Shields Moore of Roseville, Placer County, CA was born on May 24, 1920, and died at age 87 years old on February 27, 2008. Dudley Moore was buried at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery Section 14 Site 1984 5810 Midway Road, in Dixon.

Dudley C Moore of Axton, Henry County, VA was born on August 29, 1909, and died at age 89 years old on October 4, 1998.

Dudley Moore of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA was born on September 25, 1894, and died at age 72 years old on January 15, 1967.

Dudley Moore of New York was born on December 4, 1890, and died at age 72 years old in April 1963.

Dudley Moore of Atlantic City, Atlantic County, NJ was born on February 16, 1891, and died at age 75 years old in August 1966.

Dudley Moore of Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK was born on September 14, 1893, and died at age 91 years old in March 1985.