Bloody Hell. Had no idea he was so ill. Dud and Pete, Spike, all the originals are exiting stage left. I might have a frog and peach in memory.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Answers

Was just about to start the thread, but Softie beat me to it. I'd heard Moore was ill, but didn't know it was this serious. RIP, Dudley.

Here's a piece from CNN:

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- British comedian and actor Dudley Moore has died at age 66 at his home in New Jersey after a long illness.

Moore died of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy at 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday, according to publicist Michelle Bega in Los Angeles.

He was last seen in public in Britain in November last year when he travelled to London to receive a honor from Queen Elizabeth II.

The frail-looking star of "10" and "Arthur" remained seated in a wheelchair as he received his CB (Commander of the British Empire) from Prince Charles.

At that time, Moore's illness robbed him of his speech and rendered him virtually immobile.

Announcing his illness in 1999, he said: "I understand that one person in 100,000 suffers from the disease and I am also aware that there are 100,000 members of my union, the Screen Actors Guild, who are working every day.

"I think, therefore, it is in some way considerate of me that I have taken on the disease for myself, thus protecting the remaining 99,999 members from this fate."

But in a later interview for the BBC he was less casual. He said: "There's always this feeling of, `Why did it hit me?' and 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."

Winner of Tony, Grammy, Golden Globes In a career spanning more than 30 years, the often-married and often- divorced Moore won Tony awards, a Grammy, two Golden Globes, as well as an Oscar nomination.

He set up the Dudley Moore Research Fund, dedicated to finding a cure for PSP and the charity Music for All Seasons, which takes live music into hospitals, homes for the elderly and prisons.

Moore was a musical prodigy as a child and won a music scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, to study the organ.

He left university an accomplished jazz pianist and performed widely before finding fame with "Beyond The Fringe," a comedy revue with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett.

In his native Britain, Moore is still best known for his comedy partnership with the late Cook in the 1960s and 1970s.

Their collaboration on the legendary TV shows "Not Only -- But Also" and "Derek and Clive" paved the way for Moore's Hollywood career as an unlikely romantic leads.

He married four times -- to actresses Suzy Kendall, Tuesday Weld, Brogan Lane and Nicole Rothschild -- and had two sons.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Dudley got very upset about that BBC interview last year, when it was suggested he just had a few weeks to live. He was brilliant in Arthur, a great comic actor, performer and superb musician. Very sad.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Derek and Clive - not live anymore.

One of the terrible things about getting a bit older is watching your heroes die. It was Milligan the other week and now Dudley, whose partnership with Peter Cook (also no longer with us) was just about the most blindingly funny thing I've ever seen or heard. I'm pretty sure that Cook was the real genius behind the ideas but Dudley was the perfect foil to him, a brilliant comedian, actor, superb musician and a very funny man.

I never saw "Beyond the Fringe" but "Not Only... But Also..." was absolutely groundbreaking for it's time in the 60's. In the 70's they went on to do "Derek and Clive Live" and produced 3 of the most crude and obscene albums ever made. I think very, very few artists could have carried that off. Obscenity for it's own sake is grossly unfunny but those 3 albums were achingly hilarious and at Uni we could recite almost every sketch word for word (it's good to know that people do learn something at university).

Softie refers above to the Frog and Peach. This was a sketch from "Not Only... ". The first time I heard it I had bought a tape and was playing it in the car. I literally had to pull over to the side of the road - I was in stitches and in some danger of crashing. The "Frog and Peach" was a restaurant opened by Cook in the middle of the Yorkshire moors. He was being interviewed about it's unusual menu by Dud. The menu consisted of just the 2 items, Frog a la Peche & Peche a la Frog. The former comprised a large frog "covered in boiling cointreau with a peach stuck in it's mouth". Peche a la Frog -

PC: a peach is brought to your table by the waiter, again covered in boiling cointreau
DM: the waiter?
PC: very often yes, alas, but the policy here is to aim the cointreau at the peach
and when you slice the peach open about 300 tadpoles wriggle out. It's sidesplitting. You have to hear it because these two guys are absolute masters of timing and delivery of a line.

There are many gems they did together and I hope we can spin this thread out and bring a few more to mind. I'll remind you of one classic, also from "Not Only...", the sketch were Dud plays the part of a one legged man interviewing for the part of Tarzan in a movie. He comes hopping in with a huge silly grin on his face, only to be politely turned down by Cook. "You Mr Spigot, a one legged actor, are applying for the part of Tarzan, a role for which two legs would appear to be a minimum requirement."..."Your right leg I like - I've got nothing against your right leg - unfortunately neither have you."

Thanks for the laughs Dud. RIP.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Awfully sad. The Tarzan sketch was my personal favourite Jonno.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

The only film I can think of tha I've seen with him was Santa Claus the movie, where he played the head elf. It was slated by the critics apparently, but I thought it was great as a kid.

Sad news, although it was reported last year that he was doing badly.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

My favorite Dudley movie was 10. He and Sir John Gielgud were brilliant. I was also pleasantly surprised over the years to find out what a good musician he was. Apparently he was shy about becoming known as a musician, so didn't really push that side of his talents in the public eye.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

This bloke come up to me the other day and said, "Hello"...

You can always tell a gret picture because the eyes follow you round the room...

What's the worst job you ever had?...

"So I was clutching my manhood and running around the room grabbing hold of the furniture..." Cuts in: "Just your run of the mill, average, Wednesday afternoon wank, then?" "Yes."

Hore racing commentary.

The Queen Mother's identity parade to identify which particulalry smelly crap had offended her.

Olympic coughing championship.

Scatalogical humour at its best. I don't think it would have worked without Dud. The fact that he was almost incapable of keeping a straight face through any of it and can often be heard sobbing with laughter in the background only adds to it.

Nearly all the people who've brought the most laughter to me have gone; Spike, Dud and Pete, Bill Hicks, Graham Chapman - I hope Michael Palin is looking after himself.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

I stormed into his office and there's the manager - lying there - stark naked - with an ant - sucking - 'is left nipple. And I said to him - with all the dignity I could muster - "Is this a way to run a f*****g ballroom?".

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

"...He took my point, and lead me by the point to the police station."

"Still, if it's an endangered species I say F*** 'em"

"If there's one thing I can't stand about Russia it's the dead bodies in your hotel room"

and I'm not even going to start with the My Old Man's a dustman song!

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

DM: The bogey that Winston had that was like the Titanic was in fact - there was so such f*****g thing as the Ti-f*****g-tanic - people went to sea on Winston's bogey - and the f******r sank!
PC: Well this is what I heard - and I've never had it confirmed.
DM: You see - the trouble is - bogeys are not really seaworthy.
PC: I've always said this - don't try to cross the ocean on a bogey otherwise you're sunk - and who took any notice? - I'll tell you who took any bloody notice - no-one.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

Hmmm....brain going faster than fingers. What I meant to say was...
He and Sir John Gielgud were brilliant in Arthur.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002