Ron Moody

Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924) is an English actor.

Life and work

Moody was born in London, England, the son of Kate (née Ogus) and Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive.^[1] He is the cousin of the popular director Laurence Moody and actress Clare Lawrence Moody. His surname was legally changed to "Moody" in 1930.^[1] Moody originally trained to be an accountant at the London School of Economics, but began appearing in shows and later decided to become a professional actor. Born in Tottenham, North London,^[2] he has worked in a variety of genres, but is perhaps best known for his starring role as the villainous yet loveable Fagin in Lionel Bart's stage and film musical Oliver! based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He created the role in the original West End production, and reprised it in 1984 on Broadway and in the 1968 film, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

He has appeared in several children's television series, including The Animals of Farthing Wood, Noah's Island, Telebugs, Into the Labyrinth, and the Discworld series.

Moody played French entertainer and mime artist The Great Orlando in the 1963 Cliff Richard film Summer Holiday.

He again appeared with Oliver! co-star Jack Wild in the movie Flight Of The Doves.

In 1969, he was offered, but declined, the lead role in Doctor Who, following the departure of Patrick Troughton from the part. He played Edwin Caldecott, an old nemesis of Jim Branning in EastEnders. He played Ippolit Vorobyaninov alongside Frank Langella (as Ostap Bender) in Mel Brooks' version of The Twelve Chairs (1970). In 2003, he starred in the black comedy Paradise Grove alongside Rula Lenska. In 2005, he acted in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio play Other Lives, playing the Duke of Wellington.

Moody married Pilates teacher Therese Blackbourn in 1985. They are the parents of six children, the youngest born when Moody was 73.

In 2004, the British ITV1 nostalgia series After They Were Famous hosted a documentary of the surviving cast of the motion picture Oliver!. Several of the film's musical numbers were reenacted. Most notable and poignant perhaps was Moody, then 80 but still spry, and Jack Wild, (the Artful Dodger from Oliver! and seriously ill with oral cancer at the time of the shooting), recreating their dance from the closing credits of the movie.

References

External links

• Ron Moody at the Internet Movie Database
• Ron Moody at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

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