Dudley Moore's First Bandleader - Radio Biopic.

Broadcast on BBC Radio 4. during 2008.
Here is a fascinating insight into the rise to fame of this brilliant jazz pianist, composer, musical arranger, film star and comedian from the back streets of London's Dagenham to Hollywood USA. From the very start at Oxford the trumpeter and impresario Johnny Bassett was quite literally 'instrumental' in the shaping of Dudley Moore's future. Hear the story from the man himself. From the college jazz band the 'Bassett Hounds' to the Fringe Festival the West End and eventually to Hollywood. Throughout the years until Dudley's tragic end John Bassett remained a close friend and confidant.
Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE. 1935 - 2002. An English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-performers in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe from 1960 that created a boom in satirical comedy, and with one member of that team, Peter Cook, collaborated on the BBC television series Not Only... But Also. The double act worked on other projects until the mid-1970s, by which time Moore had settled in Los Angeles to concentrate on his film acting.
His solo career as a comedy film actor was heightened by the success of hit Hollywood films, particularly Foul Play (1978), 10 (1979) and Arthur (1981). For Arthur, Moore was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe for his performance in Micki & MDuring the 1960s he formed the Dudley Moore Trio, with drummer Chris Karan and bassist Pete McGurk. Following McGurk's suicide in June 1968, Peter Morgan joined the group as his replacement.
Dudley's admitted principal musical influences were Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner. In an interview he recalled the day he finally mastered Garner's unique left-hand strum and was so excited that he walked around for several days with his left hand constantly playing that cadence. His early recordings included "My Blue Heaven", "Lysie Does It", "Poova Nova", "Take Your Time", "Indiana", "Sooz Blooz", "Baubles, Bangles & Beads", "Sad One for George" and "Autumn Leaves". The trio performed regularly on British television, made numerous recordings and had a long-running residency at Peter Cook's London nightclub, the Establishment. Amongst other albums, they recorded The Dudley Moore Trio, Dudley Moore plays The Theme from Beyond the Fringe and All That Jazz, The World of Dudley Moore, The Other Side Of Dudley Moore and Genuine Dud.
Dudley was a close friend of record producer Chris Gunning and played piano on the 1969 single "Broken Hearted Pirates" which Gunning produced for Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. In 1976 he played piano on Larry Norman's album In Another Land, in particular on the song The Sun Began to Rain. In 1981 he recorded Smilin' Through with Cleo Laine.
He composed the soundtracks for the films Bedazzled (1967), 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968), Inadmissible Evidence (1968), Staircase (1969), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) and Six Weeks (1982), among others.
In April 1997, after spending five days in a New York hospital, Dudley was informed that he had calcium deposits in the basal ganglia of his brain and irreversible frontal lobe damage. In September 1997 he underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in London. He also suffered four strokes.
On 30 September 1999, he announced that he was suffering from the terminal degenerative brain disorder progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a Parkinson-plus syndrome, some of the early symptoms being so similar to intoxication that he had been reported as being drunk, and that the illness had been diagnosed earlier in the year.
Dudley died on the morning of 27 March 2002 as a result of pneumonia, secondary to immobility caused by the palsy, in Plainfield, New Jersey, at the age of 66. Rena Fruchter was holding his hand when he died; she reported his final words were "I can hear the music all around me." Dudley Moore was interred at Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Fruchter later wrote a memoir of their relationship entitled Dudley Moore.
Narrated by John Bassett.
Produced by Nick Romano
written and presented by Andrew McGibbon
A Curtains for Radio production.
2008. BBC Radio4.
Apologies for any unintended infringement of copyright. This video has not been made for any element of personal profit or gain