Dudley Moore Dead at 66

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Dudley Moore Dead at 66

Comedian Had Suffered From Disease for Years

L O S A N G E L E S, March 27 — Actor Dudley Moore, an unlikely Hollywood heartthrob in 10 and Arthur as a cuddly pipsqueak whose charm melted female hearts, died today at his home in New Jersey, a spokeswoman said. He was 66. Moore died at 11 a.m. ET, said publicist Michelle Bega in Los Angeles. He died of pneumona as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy, she said. There was more than a touch of autobiography in 10, in which Moore played a musician determined to marry a perfect woman, but the happy ending eluded him in real life. Four marriages ended in divorce.

He confessed to being driven by feelings of inferiority about his working-class origins in Dagenham, east London, and because of his height of 5 feet, 2 ½ inches. In later life he also spoke of the pain of being rejected by his mother because he was born with a deformed left foot.

Comedians, he said in an interview with Newsday in 1980, are often driven by such feelings. "I certainly did feel inferior. Because of class. Because of strength. Because of height. ... I guess if I'd been able to hit somebody in the nose, I wouldn't have been a comic."

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Answers

I'm sorry to read this: I liked Dudley Moore. Sixty-six is awfully young.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

I'll miss him, too.

At least we have his movies.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002


Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke had a long-running show on British TV in the sixties and seventies, I think, hysterically funny. One of the skits concerned two snotty music critics analyzing an American blues number. The title of the song: Momma's Got a Brand New Bag." Well, the two of them starting talking about "bag" as handbag, discussing the subject in sage and lofty detail. Various bits of the song were played and the slang completely wrongly interpreted in the most serious manner. Pity they didn't have Depends when I first heard it! The piece would be very un-PC these days, but wasn't meant to be. It was meant as a slap at snotty music critics. Maybe the material can be found on a British website somewhere.

Damn shame that entertainers such as--well, I won't go there.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002


The skit I remembered was done by Moore and Cooke characters Derek and Clive. I couldn't find a transcript but here are some notes from one of D&C's albums: Derek and Clive(Live) was the first genuinely philosophical album to sell more than 50 million copies. Inevitably superstardom brought problems to these two young men, whose only ambition was to run a quiet toilet. At first they invested their newfound wealth wisely. Derek installed high-class Swiss musical toilet rolls that went 'cuckoo' when pulled. Not to be outdone Clive erected quadraphonic cisterns that played Wagner when flushed. The Gents at the British Trade Centre became the talk of New York. The beautiful people flocked to 'The Ultimate Kazi.' As Clive put it so aptly, 'All the big nobs hang out here.' Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, who fist discovered them in 1973, put a great deal of pressure on them to embark on a World Tour. Staggering sums of money were offered. Derek and Clive resisted, although Derek did accept a commission to design a 'Nazi Kazi' for the National Front in Lewisham. They were also subjected to enormous pressure from fans and groupies. On one celebrated occassion in 1977 Clive was attacked by an 85-year-old woman who wanted him to sign his name on her thigh in Dayglow. Luckily his bodyguard Bruce Beame was on hand and calmed down the hysterical woman by shoving her headfirst down a lavatory. 'That's when the fan really hit the shit,' was Clive's wry comment. Derek, always a sensitive soul, developed strange phobias. He locked himself in the toilet for weeks on end watching reruns of Emmerdale Farm. He also had a morbid fear of germs and insisted on boiling his Peugeot before going for a drive. He also wanted to boil Clive who rightly insisted his mate should see a psychiatrist. Completely swarthed in Bronco, Derek went to see Dr Fritz Leprechaun on 5th Avenue. The consultation was a failure and the eminent doctor was found par-boiled in his own fish tank. Cook and Moore finally persuaded the pair to do a six-week tour of North Korea, where they have a huge cult following. Unfortunately one of the huge cults followed them back to their hotel and beat the shit out of them. Clive then turned to drugs. It seemed harmless at first. Just the occasional 'snort' of Harpic, but this escalated and he soon reached the stage that he couldn't reach the stage without massive injections of Fairy Snow and Jeyes Fluid. In October 1977 they got on what they thought was a Laker flight to Washington and found themselves in Amsterdam. This album was recorded immediately after their arrival. Despite their personal problems their inherant wisdom and decency shine through once again. Will they ever work together again? Can they resolve their artistic differences? Has stardom claimed two more victims? We may never know. Derek collapsed after the recording and Clive was last seen at a crematorium asking to be burnt alive and have his ashes scattered over Gracie Fields. There are links to material here which will cause even Barefoot and Carl (and SAR, lol!) to blush.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Oh.

Interesting bit there.

I've enjoyed Peter Cook in various movies without knowing who he was.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002



It's a lot funnier to listen to--there are some sound/video clips at the site.

Derek & Clive -
"Bo Duddley"
[ from the album "(Live)" (1976) ]

CLIVE:
Ladies and gentlemen, we are very pleased to have with us this evening the famous coloured singer, Bo Duddley. Take it away, Bo!

DEREK:
(sings scat and plays piano:)
#Mamma's got a brand new bag!
#Mamma's got a brand new bag!!
#Gonna groove it the whole night long!
#Mamma's got a brand new bag!
#Right on, baby! Get down, baby!
#Let's get it on now, baby!
#Lay it on me, brother!
#Later!
#Outta sight! Far out!
#Hnnngh!

CLIVE:
Well, now .....

DEREK:
Thank you very much.

CLIVE:
Thank you, thank you very much indeed, Bo, erm .....

DEREK:
Thank you.

CLIVE:
Erm, I think it can be truly said that the Americans have, er, their soul singers, and we English have ars-oul singers. And, er, Bo is one our leading, er, soul singers.

DEREK:
Arsehole singers, yes.

CLIVE:
Bo, I-, I wanted to ask you first of all, erm, .....

DEREK:
Yes.

CLIVE:
This is obviously a sort of, er, boogie, er, .....

DEREK:
This is a boogie, erm, .....

CLIVE:
What? Jive stuff, is it?

DEREK:
Jive boogie woogie song, erm, and, erm, it is-, it is a, a story of ..... well, shall I, shall I sort of go through it?

CLIVE:
Yes, I-, I-, I was thinking that some of the lyrics for, er-rm, English speaking audiences might be a little obscure.

DEREK:
Absolutely. Well let me .....

CLIVE:
I wonder what the-, what-, what-, what it really is all about?

DEREK:
Well, let me-, let me just go through it, erm, for you. Ah: (sings and plays piano:) "#Mamma's got a brand new bag!" Er, "Mamma's got a brand new bag", er, this means, erm, that the-, the Harlem mother has gone out into the bustling markets of Harlem .....

CLIVE:
Yes.

DEREK:
..... er, to buy a gaily coloured plastic bag. Erm, and there's a certain amount of pride in this: Mamma's got a brand new bag.

CLIVE:
I-, I suppo-, I suppose a gaily coloured plastic bag is, er, a bit of status symbol in Harlem.

DEREK:
It certainly is. Certainly is. Obviously, er, you know, sign of a birthday or something like that.

. . . .

CLIVE:
This, er-r-r, look-, seems a little puzzling, er, "Right on, baby", er .....

DEREK:
Yes.

CLIVE:
..... er-r, what ..... ?

DEREK:
This, well, er, let me explain, er, the, the, the father of the, of the house, er, has just walked into the wigwam and he says, erm ..... he says, "Right on, baby," to the mother, meaning, erm ...... 'write the shopping list on the baby for tomorrow morning.' Er .....

CLIVE:
They, th-, they actually, er, they actually use, er, babies .....



-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002


close tag?

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002


Oh, yes, please.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2002

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