Ailing Dudley Moore bids farewell in TV interview

Ailing Dudley Moore bids farewell in TV interview
REUTERS

LONDON, DEC 4: British comic actor Dudley Moore, who has a rare degenerative brain disorder, says in a television interview to be screened on Monday that he faces a ``short and uncertain future'' and will die.

``It's totally mysterious the way this illness attacks, and eats you up, and then spits you out,'' says Moore, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1981 for his role in Arthur.

``I did get angry. But there's not much point feeling angry. 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,'' he said.

Extracts from his interview on a BBC Omnibus programme were published by British newspapers.

Moore (65) is said to appear in the programme looking drawn and fatigued and suffering from impaired speech.

Doctors for the diminutive star said in September he was being treated for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, an incurable Parkinson's-related disease.

Symptoms include falling, problems with walking, imbalance and slowed movements.

Oxford-educated Moore says in the BBC interview that the disease has robbed him of his greatest love -- his ability to play music.

``Music is my main comfort now. But it is difficult to know that all the keys are there to be played and I can't play them,'' he said.

He first found fame in the 1960s in the British satirical review Beyond the Fringe

and through his comedy partnership with the late British satirist Peter Cook.

In the late 1970s he moved to Hollywood, before finding fame as a movie star. He was later dubbed a `sex thimble' due to his short stature.

Announcing news of his condition in September, Moore retained his sense of humour.

``I understand that one person in 100,000 suffers from this disease and I am also aware that there are 100,000 members of my Union, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), who are working every day,'' he said.

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

The four-times married star says early symptoms of the illness led many to believe he was drunk.

``People started saying I was drunk on stage. It was dreadful,'' he said.

Moore has suffered from ill health for several years. He underwent open heart surgery in 1999 and has suffered four strokes.

The actor lives in New York where he is being cared for by friends.

``Dudley Moore knows that he is a dying man. It was therefore with great fortitude and bravery that he decided to make his last television appearance via Omnibus,'' a BBC spokesman told the Daily Mail.