For being such a relatively short-statured individual, Dudley Moore certainly had a large
gift for making it big.
Throughout his career which spanned over 4 decades, Moore managed to make a sizeable
mark on the entertainment industry in several different ways.
He was an accomplished ensemble comedian, part of one of the wildest comic duos to ever
come out of the UK, a movie star, and later on in life, a respected musician.
More often lamented that being 5'2'' and working-class coupled with the fact that he was born with
a deformed left foot put him at a tremendous disadvantage in life.
But he used these feelings of inferiority to fuel his comedy.
He had the will and drive to succeed and wasn't about to back down just because of a few obstacles.
Moore was born at Charing Cross Hospital in central London.
He was the son of Ada Francis, a secretary, and John Moore, a railroad worker from Glasgow.
Moore was raised in the Becontree estate in Dagenham, Essex.
He first rose to fame as a member of the Beyond the Fringe comic revue in the early 60s.
As a kindhearted and musically talented member of the quartet alongside the towering Peter
Cook, the playwright Alan Bennet and opera producer Jonathan Miller, Moore first made
a name for himself in London's East End theater scene and later on Broadway.
With Cook, Moore starred on British television and eventually in the classic film satires
Wrong Box in 1966 and Bedazzled in 1967.
Years later after parting ways with Cook, Moore showed up once again in a small role
in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn comedy film Foul Play in 1978 portraying a strikingly
funny yet haplessly lustful orchestra conductor.
A year later, he appeared in the male midlife crisis comedy film 10.
In 1981, Moore starred in the Steve Gordon-directed comedy film Arthur in which he played a drunken
New York City Billionaire named Arthur Bach who is on the verge of an arranged marriage
to a wealthy heiress but ends up falling in love with a working-class commoner girl from
Queens.
Moore received an Academy Award nomination for best actor for that role and just a few
years later he was awarded a Golden Globe for his performance in 1984s Micki & Maude.
Although Moore enjoyed a fruitful career as a comedian, actor, and musician, his love
life wasn't always quite as smooth sailing as his professional endeavors.
Keep watching to learn all about his 4 marriages and how each of them ended up eventually falling
apart.
Towards the end of this video, we'll also give you the heartbreaking details of the
debilitating disease that ultimately took Moore's life in 2002 at the age of 66.
Dudley Moore's First 2 Failed Marriages
Moore wed his first wife, British actress and model Suzy Kendall in 1968.
She's retired now, but she starred in dozens of films throughout the 60s and 70s including
1967s To Sir, With Love, 1969s Fraulein Dokter, and 1970s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Although she and Moore ended up getting divorced in 1972, they remained lifelong friends.
Three years after parting ways with Kendall while Moore was living in Los Angeles, he
got married to his second wife, Tuesday Weld.
She too was an actress who was best known for her roles in films like 1981s Thief, 1984s
Once Upon a Time in American, and 1993s Falling Down.
Moore and Weld reportedly split up roughly 20 or so times throughout their marriage.
But even though their relationship wasn't always the easiest to navigate, they did end
up having a son, Patrick, together in 1977.
Sadly, however, even bringing a child into the world wasn't enough to keep their marriage
alive and they ended up getting divorced in 1980.
Moore later expressed remorse that he had missed out on much of his son's childhood.
In the early 80s, Moore dated actress Susan Anton best known for appearing in films like
1977s Wizards, 1982s Spring Fever, and 1984s Cannonball Run II.
While they were together a great deal was made by the press out of their height difference.
Moore stood at 5' 2'' while Anton was 5' 11''.
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And don't go anywhere just yet.
Keep watching to see what shocking revelations Dudley Moore's fourth wife, Nicole Rothschild
had to share with the world after Moore's passing in 2002.
Moore's 3rd and 4th Marriages
On February 21, 1988, Moore married his third wife, actress Brogan Lane.
Lane, who was 25 years younger than Dudley was when they tied the knot, was born in Virginia
in 1955.
She is best known for her work on 1988s Arthur 2: On the Rocks and 1992s Blame it on the
Bellboy.
She first met Moore while she was an extra on Arthur in 1981.
Big surprise, but she and Moore's marriage fell apart just three years after they walked
the down aisle.
They ended up filing for divorce in December of 1991.
By the time their marriage ended, Moore had already had a handful of affairs with various
lovers including with long-time lover Nicole Rothschild.
Moore was 30 years Ms. Rothschild's senior when she became his fourth and final wife
in 1994.
They first met when Moore's career was at its peak.
Apparently, Rothschild flung herself across the hood of his car and demanded his autograph.
Moore and Rothschild's marriage was replete with troubles and their antics became regular
fodder for gossip columns in both America and across the pond in England.
In 1994, Moore was arrested and charged with domestic assault after he allegedly assaulted
Rothschild in their home.
Their living situation was also fairly complicated while they were together.
Ms. Rothschild's ex-husband, Charles Cleveland, lived with the couple and was even present
at the birth of the couple's son, Nicholas, in 1995.
In the winter of 1996, Moore and Rothschild were pictured at the balcony of their home
reunited after having a pretty intense falling out.
But just a few months later in June of 1997, Rothschild sued her husband for millions in
damages claiming that she had been terrorized during their marriage.
But, after making several hard-hitting and shocking claims about sex, drugs, and violence,
Rothschild halted her divorce action in 1998 after learning that Moore was terminally ill.
While Moore maintained good relationships with Kendall, Weld, and Lane, he expressly
forbade Rothschild from attending his funeral.
Things Got Real Dark During Moore's Fourth Relationship
While Moore and Rothschild were together, he allegedly started smoking crystal meth.
A side-effect of that drug is compulsive sexual activity.
Rothschild claims that her husband would demand her to dance half-nude for hours on end at
his beachside mansion in Marina Del Ray.
When she could no longer dance any longer, Moore would then pay sex workers to keep on
dancing until the sun would rise.
In Rothschild's divorce petition, she admitted to punching Moore in the eye, knocking him
to the ground, and kicking him.
But according to her, she only resorted to such violence after he had attacked her in
a drug-induced rage.
In fact, just one week before they got married, Moore tried to choke her.
In 2009, Rothschild announced that she was in talks with various publishing houses to
distribute her tell-all memoir about her relationship with her late ex-husband.
News of her memoir was met with total disgust by friends of Moore who feared that the tome
would whitewash Rothschild's actions while demonizing Moores.
In the end, however, Rothschild's book was never published.
Moore's Illness and Death
In April 1997, Moore spent five days in a New York hospital.
He was then informed that had calcium deposits in the basal ganglia of his brain as well
as having irreversible frontal lobe damage.
Later that year, in September, Moore underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in
London.
Around this time, he also suffered four strokes.
On September 30, 1999, Moore revealed that he was suffering from a degenerative terminal
brain disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy which in the medical world is referred
to as a Parkinson-plus syndrome since such neurodegenerative disease tends to feature
the classical symptoms of Parkinson's disease with additional features that distinguish
them from simple idiopathic Parkinson's.
Some of the early symptoms that Moore exhibited were similar to being intoxicated by alcohol.
In fact, the press reported several times that he seemed to be drunk in public before
the news of his condition was made public.
In 2001, Moore was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Even though his health was quickly deteriorating and he was already confined to a wheelchair,
he ended up attending the ceremony at Buckingham Palace on November 16th to collect his honor.
Moore passed away in Plainfield, New Jersey on the morning of March 27, 2002, after succumbing
to pneumonia.
He was 66 years old.
Rena Fruchter, Moore's concert Piano partner and friend was holding his hand when he died.
Moore was then interred at Hillside Cemetary in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
Fruchter later penned a memoir detailing her and Moore's relationship entitled Dudley Moore.
It's a shame that Dudley Moore died at such a relatively young age.
The disease that ultimately claimed his life is extremely rare.
According to WebMD, it only affects about one out of every 100,000 people.
Fortunately, before he left this world he accomplished quite a bit.
He made more than 30 films, earned an Oscar nod, and won a couple of Tony's for Beyond
the Fringe and Good Evening, a 1974 program that he did with Peter Cook.
The soundtrack of the show also earned them a Grammy.
Moore additionally won two Golden Globes for Arthur and Micki and Maude.
While he might not have been the best husband, he was without a doubt a top-notch entertainer
that deserved every last bit of recognition that he received throughout his career and
since then.
What's your favorite memory of Dudley Moore?
Let us know in the comments section below.
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