THE US: The diminutive Moore's talents were spread over acting, comedyand music, report Rebecca Allison and OliverBurkeman, in New York
Dudley Moore, the 66-year-old actor and comedian, died yesterday after a long degenerative illness. The star died from pneumonia, a complication arising from progressive supernuclear palsy, surrounded by friends, his nurse, and medical aides, said his Los Angeles-based publicist, Michelle Bega.
He once said he felt inferior "because of class, because of strength, because of height." But for several years prior to his death at home in New Jersey yesterday afternoon, he had been battling inferiority from another source, a debilitating, degenerative brain illness.
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 then teamed up with Cook.
When he went public with his illness, he joked that he contracted the disease, which afflicts one in 100,000 people, as a favour to the other 99,999 members of the Screen Actors' Guild.
His last public appearance, in November 2001, had been an agonising affair for the actor. Pale and almost immobile, he had been wheeled into Buckingham Palace to receive a CBE from Prince Charles.
Asked whether he had ever imagined receiving such an honour, it was all he could do to get out the single word "No."
Describing his feelings in a television interview two years ago, Moore said: "It's totally mysterious the way this illness attacks, and eats you up, and then spits you out. There's always this feeling of why did it hit me? I cannot make peace with it because I know I am going to die from it. Yes I feel angry, that's true - to be reduced to this insignificant version of myself is overpowering."
The insignificant version was not what his close friends and colleagues remembered yesterday as they paid tribute to the actor.
Talk-show host Michael Parkinson, who interviewed Moore on a number of occasions, described him as "a bloody good comedian and a lovely man. He was the opposite of the cocksure entertainer."
Moore's movie career began in the 1960s with roles in comedies such as Bedazzled and Monte Carlo Or Bust. But it was in 1979 when cast in the raunchy romp 10, opposite Bo Derek, a role originally earmarked for George Segal, that he finally hit the Hollywood bigtime.
His winning streak continued when he played the title role of a hard-drinking millionaire in the 1981 film Arthur, which won him a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
In Britain, he will probably be best-remembered for his celebrated comic partnership with Peter Cook and his outstanding piano playing.
The cloth-capped duo, who developed a cult following in the 1960s with their "Dud and Pete" partnership on Not Only . . . but Also, a sketch comedy series, are widely credited with changing the face of British comedy.
Described by Oscar Peterson as one of the great jazz pianists of his generation, he was highly rated as a player and composer, writing scores for films.
Paying tribute last night, director Michael Winner said: "He was a considerable, sporadic explosion of acting talent. But he was just a wonderful chap. I shall miss him very much."- (Guardian Service)