Dudley Moore

Many people know Dudley Moore as the small, lovable star of Arthur, as a gifted jazz pianist, or as one of the sharp-witted performers of Beyond the Fringe. Barbra Paskin's biography argues that he was all of these, yet also a man badly unsettled by his own neuroses. Drawing on Moore's direct cooperation, the author offers a close, frank and detailed account that looks at every side of him.

Moore was born with a twisted foot and a weak leg that corrective surgery could not fix. He grew up feeling that he never received his mother's affection, and that longing for her approval still shapes him, even after three marriages ended in divorce.

The book revisits his years at Cambridge and his quick rise to fame alongside Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook. It also traces his later work with Cook and the unstable friendship between them. Moore's depression, and at times violent behaviour, strained all four of his marriages and held back his film career. Success came with the film 10, which made him a Hollywood star, and Arthur added to that fame. Several films that followed, however, did not seem to match his abilities.