[Deathwatch] Dudley Moore, comedian, 66

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

British Comedian Dudley Moore Dies at Age 66 
Wed Mar 27, 7:58 PM ET 
By Sarah Tippit 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Diminutive British comedian Dudley Moore, who
became an unlikely Hollywood sex symbol thanks to his starring role in
"10," died on Wednesday of pneumonia after a courageous battle against
a disease that made him a prisoner in his own body, friends said. 

The 66-year-old Moore died at the Plainfield, New Jersey, home of his
caregiver surrounded by family. A private funeral service is planned. 

A spokeswoman said his he died of pneumonia as a complication of
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), a rare degenerative
Parkinson's-like disease that affects the brain and causes slurred
speech, problems with walking, imbalance and difficulty in swallowing. 


He announced in September 1999 that he had PSP but made light of the
condition, saying, "One person in 100,000 suffers from this disease and
I am also aware that there are 100,000 members of my union, the Screen
Actors Guild (news - web sites), who are working every day. I think
therefore it is in some way considerate of me that I have taken on this
disease for myself, thus protecting the remaining 99,999 SAG members
from this fate." 

But the reality for Moore, as he later said in a television interview,
was that he felt trapped in his own body and looked at death as a
horrible experience yet to come. 

Actor Rod Steiger said, "I knew him from London and over the years and
I always had the feeling he was very valiant about everything. ... He
was courageous and set an example. ... the disease he suffered from
takes your life away bit by bit instead of being the instant death we
all crave. He set an example by the way he handled pain." 

Bo Derek, who starred with Moore in the 1979 film "10" that made them
both stars, told Reuters: "I'm so sad he suffered for so long and
suffered so with this disease ... I spoke with him last April.... He
was definitely suffering but his spirits were so high and he was happy
to have his friends around him." 

Derek said despite his short stature -- he was just 5 ft 3 in tall --
and plain looks, Moore was sexy and attractive to women. "It was just
something so unique to Dudley that you just wanted to be next to him,
you wanted to hold him, you wanted to be held by him. He had an amazing
quality that obviously came from his eyes and his heart." 

Liza Minnelli, who starred with him in the hit film "Arthur," in which
he played a rich, friendly drunk, said, "He could make the world laugh
and brought joy to millions. I will miss him dearly. Fortunately, he
will live on through his many great screen appearances, including the
classic Arthur films which I was fortunate enough to be part of." 

'SEX THIMBLE' 

A jazz pianist as well as an actor and comic, Moore liked to call
himself a "sex thimble." 

The son of a typist and a railway electrician, Moore won a music
scholarship to Oxford University where he joined Alan Bennett, Jonathan
Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical "Beyond the Fringe" revue which
won great acclaim. Moore teamed up with Cook, forming a famed comedy
team who appeared together in such hit films as "The Wrong Box" (1966),
"Bedazzled" (1967") and "The Bed-sitting Room" (1969). 

After meeting Moore in therapy in 1979, Blake Edwards decided to cast
him in "10" where his role as George Webber, a composer and would-be
middle-aged Romeo. He later earned two Golden Globe awards (news - web
sites) for his roles in "Micki and Maude" (1985) and for "Arthur"
(1981) when his take on a drunken playboy opposite Liza Minnelli also
won him an Oscar nomination. 

Described by Oscar Peterson as one of the great jazz pianists of his
generation, he was highly rated as a player and composer, writing film
scores including "Bedazzled." 

Born in Dagenham, east of London, Moore attributed his success at both
music and comedy to a childhood spent fending off bullies who teased
him for his height and club foot. 

"I think most comedians start off defending themselves with comedy," he
said. "Generally they feel inferior in some way. I certainly did feel
inferior. Because of class, because of strength, because of height...I
guess if I'd been able to hit somebody on the nose. I wouldn't have
been a comic." 

TUMULTUOUS PERSONAL LIFE 

Tabloid attention frequently focused on a tumultuous personal life,
with a trail of four marriages to Suzy Kendal (1966-71), Tuesday Weld
(1975-77), Brogan Lane (1988-92) and Nicole Rothschild (1994), the last
ending in allegations of abuse. He has two sons, Patrick and Nicholas. 


Moore has lived most of the past 25 years in the United States and said
that after the death of Peter Cook in 1995 there was little reason to
return to Britain. 

He became increasingly withdrawn and said in the late 1990s that his
interest was flagging. "I'm sort of a little played out," Moore said
his 60th year. "I don't have the same urgency that I used to." 

Tabloid reports of falls, slurred speech, outbursts, domestic upsets
and car crashes in the late 1990s -- later explained by his
deteriorating health -- led to rumors of drink and drug abuse, and in
1999 he was seen falling on U.S. television during an interview with
Barbara Walters. Later that year Moore was diagnosed with PSP. 

In August 2000 he pulled out of treatment at the Kessler Institute in
northern New Jersey, said to be deeply depressed because the disease is
incurable. Much of his fortune went on medical bills. 

He co-founded the charity Philadelphia's Music for All Seasons -- which
brings concerts to nursing homes and hospitals -- and in 1999 launched
the Dudley Moore Fund aimed at finding a cure for PSP. 

Pre-Hollywood "Cuddly Dudley's" zany, often improvised comedy, had a
cult following. Tossing his hair back, he famously declared: "I don't
want to see lust and rape and incest and sodomy in the theater. I can
get all that at home. 

A U.S. magazine once voted him the man most women wanted to sleep with
and he dated a succession of tall, statuesque women. 

After 20 years of psychotherapy, he said he no longer felt "the
pressure to be funny any more: I can be what I feel like --
entertaining or lugubrious.