Dudley Moore was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-performers in the comedy revue Beyong the Fringe from 1960 that created a boom in satiric comedy. With a member of that team, Peter Cook, Moore collaborated on the BBC television series Not Only…But Also. As a popular double act, Moore’s buffoonery contrasted with Cook’s deadpan monologues. They jointly received the 1966 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and worked together on other projects until the mid-1970s, by which time Moore had settled in Los Angeles to concentrate on his film acting.
Moore’s career as a comedy film actor was marked by hit films, particularly Bedazzled (1967), set in swinging sixties London (in which he co-starred with Cook) and Hollywood productions Foul Play (1978), 10 (1979) and Arthur (1981). For Arthur, Moore was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe for his performance in Micki & Maude (1984). Moore was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987 and was made a CBE in November 2001 in what was his last public appearance.
Moore’s admitted principal musical influences were Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner. In an interview he recalled the day he finally mastered Garner’s unique left-hand strum and was so excited that he walked around for several days with his left hand constantly playing that cadence. His early recordings included “My Blue Heaven”, “Lysie Does It”, “Poova Nova”, “Take Your Time”, “Indiana”, “Sooz Blooz”, “Baubles, Bangles and Beads”, “Sad One for George” and “Autumn Leaves”.
During the 1960s he 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. The trio performed regularly on British television, made numerous recordings and had a long-running residency at Peter Cook’s London nightclub, the Establishment. Amongst other albums, they recorded The Dudley Moore Trio, Dudley Moore plays The Theme from Beyond the Fringe and All That Jazz, The World of Dudley Moore, The Other Side Of Dudley Moore and Genuine Dud.
Moore was a close friend of record producer Chris Gunning and played piano (uncredited) on the 1969 single “Broken Hearted Pirates” which Gunning produced for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. In 1976 he played piano on Larry Norman’s album In Another Land, in particular on the song The Sun Began to Rain. In 1981 he recorded Smilin’ Through with Cleo Laine. He composed the soundtracks for the films Bedazzled (1967), 30 is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968), Inadmissable Evidence (1968), Staircase (1969), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) and Six Weeks (1982), among others.
