Dudley Stuart John Moore was born on April 19, 1935 in Dagenham, England to Jock and Ada Moore. From birth, he had a club foot and a withered right leg, which understandably distressed his parents and lead him to a childhood punctuated by operations and solitary recuperation. The only bright spot in what seems to have been a pretty unpleasant upbringing was music. He was abnormally talented pianist, playing in a local youth club and organ at his church, wearing an boot strapped over his normal shoe to give his bad foot extra length to reach the pedals. This didn't prevent him playing professionally with The Johnny Dankworth Seven.
Moore's abilities as a composer an jazz musician led to him being awarded a scholarship to Oxford University in the early '60s. It was here that Moore's comic career can to the fore whilst he was studying music at university. He met his future partner-in-comedy Peter Cook and the pair, along with fellow classmates Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennett created the legendary satirical sketch revue, 'Beyond the Fringe'.
Cook and Moore continued to work together after they left the revue, appearing on-stage, in clubs, and on record albums, primarily as Pete And Dud as well as their foul mouthed alter-ego's Derek and Clive. The pair also collaborated on TV show, Not Only... but Also..., (which was unfortunately deleted by the BBC in the 1970's), which led to Moore's first film part in The Wrong Box.
Dudley's first solo appearance was in the 1968 film, '30 is a Dangerous Age, Cythia' opposite Suzy Kendall who went on to become his wife. He then went on a ten year hiatus from the film industry before re-surfacing in Hollywood in the film Foul Play as a supporting actor, having recently split from Kendall. The role got him noticed by director Blake Edwards who cast him opposite Bo Derek in the 1979 film '10'. This was a box office smash, and propelled Moore to fame in the U.S.. It was at about this time that Moore started seeing a number of psychiatrists in an attempt to sort out the problems which dogged him from childhood.
Moore followed 10 up by appearing in Arthur in 1981, alongside Liza Minelli giving him another box office hit, as well as a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He split from his second wife Tuesday Weld after having a son Patrick, and became sought-after as a romantic lead.
None of his successives film ever lived up to the successes of 10 and Arthur, and he married and divorced his third wife, Brogan Lane, before moving onto his fourth Nicole Rothschild in 1994. Dudley was getting more and more frustrated at his lack of professional success and the fact that his recently diagnosed brain disorder, which led him slurring him speech, caused many to accuse him of being a drunk. Yet another divorce followed soon after in 1997, which saw him plastered all over the tabloid press, after accusations of spousal abuse, which proved to be unfounded.
Moore died on March 27, 2002 from pneumonia as a complication of the degenerative brain condition progressive supranucear palsy, in New Jersey
Filmography taken from IMDb
Sources include:
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/193652
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/biography.asp?ctr=70772
http://www.canoe.ca/JamBooksReviewsD/dudley_paskin.html
http://musicfinder.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800010419&cf=11&intl=us