A MUSICAL genius who became an unlikely movie star in middle age, Dudley Moore gained immortality as the tipsy but childlike millionaire in his most enduring film, “Arthur.”
In that Oscar-nominated role, he played Hollywood’s ultimate lovable drunk, cheerfully enduring withering put-downs from his butler (John Gielgud, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and defying his mother to marry the poor girl he loves (Liza Minnelli).
Diminutive, cuddly, whimsical and not at all conventionally handsome, Moore was a very difficult actor to cast in leading roles.
But he was an utterly charming man, especially in person – as I learned when I met him 15 years ago at Vassar College, where he entertained fans for hours at the piano.
The only other Hollywood role that did full justice to his talents was the one that had propelled him to the top at the age of 44: the wistful, middle-aged hero of “10,” obsessed from afar with a seemingly perfect blonde (Bo Derek).
Moore landed the role when he met director Blake Edwards at a therapy group in California in 1979. Edwards was desperately searching for a replacement for George Segal, who had walked off the movie.
That film’s success led to “Arthur” in 1981 and then a string of progressively less popular romantic comedies. An unfortunate sequel, “Arthur 2: On the Rocks,” was a notable flop. Even Moore couldn’t make alcoholism seem funny by 1988.
Following a short-lived TV series (“Dudley”), in 1995 he was fired by star/director Barbra Streisand from the role of her psychiatrist in the movie “The Mirror Has Two Faces.”
Moore, who was reportedly unable to deliver his lines because of the onset of the condition that ultimately took his life, was replaced.