Moore, Dudley (Stuart John)
Moore, Dudley (Stuart John)
Moore, Dudley (Stuart John), pop-jazz pianist, actor, composer; b. London, England, April 19, 1935. Though far better known as a comic actor, he is also a fine classical and jazz pianist. Moore studied at Guildhall School of Music and in 1957 earned a music degree at Magdalen Coll., Oxford, where he also gigged with fellow students. He joined Vic Lewis, played in USA with him (1959); played in the John Dankworth Quintet and Big Band (1960), then led his own trio from the summer of 1960. Moore began appearing in the successful revue Beyond the Fringe, which later played in America. He enjoyed considerable success as a comedian and actor on British television, then starred in a number of Hollywood films during the 1970s through the early 1990s. Moore occasionally led his own trio (including tours of Britain) and hosted TV programs about music in the 1990s. He has composed music for films, plays, ballets, and television. In 1999, Moore announced that he was suffering from a degenerative nerve disease.
Discography
Theme from “Beyond the Fringe” (1962); “Beyond the Fringe” and All That (1962); 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1967); Bedazzled (original soundtrack; 1968); Dudley Moore at the Wavedon Festival (1976); Derek and Clive: Live (1981); Songs without Words (1991).
—John Chilton Who’s Who of British Jazz /Lewis Porter