This Is Your Life: Dudley Moore 1

Dudley MOORE (1935-2002)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Dudley Moore, actor, comedian, composer and musician, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

Dudley, who was born in London and grew up in Dagenham, studied music and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Magdalen College, Oxford. While at Oxford, he found fame as a member of the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe, which was at the forefront of the 1960s satire boom and introduced him to Peter Cook, with whom he formed a comedy partnership.

In 1965, the pair collaborated on the BBC television sketch show Not Only... But Also and later appeared in several films, including The Wrong Box and Bedazzled. In the early 1970s, they took the stage revue Beyond the Fringe on an international tour, which included Australia and New York.

Dudley Moore was a subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, surprised again by Eamonn Andrews at his restaurant in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, in February 1987.

programme details...

Edition No: 339
Subject No: 340
Broadcast date: Wed 13 Dec 1972
Broadcast time: 7.00-7.30pm
Recorded: Wed 22 Nov 1972
Repeated: Wed 27 Jun 1973 7.00pm
Venue: unknown
Series: 13
Edition: 5

on the guest list...

unknown

production team...

Researcher: unknown
Writer: unknown
Director: Margery Baker
Producer: Malcolm Morris

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

Dudley Moore

second tribute

The Glamorous Life

Hollywood in the spotlight

Life Second Time Around

surprised again!

William Cook recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, One Leg Too Few - The Adventures of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore...

Thanks to McGrath's wise stewardship and Peter and Dudley's irrepressible talent, the London producers were rewarded with a remarkably strong script. Yet, as the first night drew near, Peter began to get stage fright. Despite his bravado about 'the crickets', he was always more nervous about reviews than Dudley. This time, it wasn't just the fear of bad notices that made him jumpy. The management had followed his instructions and had booked one of the West End's biggest venues - the Cambridge Theatre, which held over 1,200 seats. This art deco auditorium was an architectural gem but Peter didn't like it. He thought it had no atmosphere. He thought it was too big. He was probably right. With its stark modernist design, the Cambridge Theatre was large and airy, far better suited for glitzy musicals. With hindsight, Peter and Dudley might have felt more comfortable in a smaller theatre like the Fortune, where Beyond The Fringe had thrived. Still, hiring a big venue had been Peter's idea. It was too late for second thoughts.

Joe McGrath also had his reservations about the theatre. The stagehands kept on changing, for one thing. They never got the lighting cues right, he said. 'We rehearsed for days before the first night, and half an hour before curtain-up a new group of stagehands came on, who hadn't even seen it. There was worse to come. On 21 November, as Peter and Dudley were about to start their dress rehearsal, just a few hours before the press night, Eamonn Andrews turned up at the theatre, disguised as a traffic warden, and spirited Dudley away for a surprise appearance on This Is Your Life. Meekly, Peter accompanied Dudley to the Thames TV studios - there was little else he could do. Dudley asked McGrath to come too, but he said no. He was far too cross. 'I'm not going!' he said. 'This is a first night! I'm not leaving this theatre until we go up!' Eventually, hours later, Peter and Dudley returned to the theatre, where McGrath had been waiting for them. By now it was too late for any sort of run-through. And that wasn't the only problem. While Dudley had been doing This Is Your Life, Peter had been in the green room, with the drinks trolley. He was completely pissed.

Series 13 subjects