Obits
Actor Ron Moody Dead at 91 – Starred in OLIVER and Worked With Mel Brooks
Wouldn’t want this to get lost in all the coverage of Christopher Lee’s passing. When I saw Oliver, the musical version of “Oliver Twist” on stage at the Muny Opera in St. Louis in 1976, hometown hero Vincent Price essayed the roll of Fagin, the leader of the gang of juvenile pickpockets. Price was terrific but the role belonged to Ron Moody who had originated it on Broadway and received an Oscar nomination for OLIVER, the Best Picture-winning film version in 1969 (he lost to Cliff Robertson for CHARLY). Moody starred in Mel Brooks’ THE TWELVE CHAIRS in 1970 and had other film roles but was best known for his stage work. Moody died today in England at age 91.
From The New York Times:
Ron Moody, a British character actor who rose to prominence in the role of Fagin, Dickens’s guru of thievery, in “Oliver!”, the stage and movie versions of “Oliver Twist,” died on Thursday. He was 91. His death was confirmed to Variety by his wife, Therese Blackbourn. Mr. Moody was a spindly, long-faced man with, in performance, an effervescent sparkle, as those who recall his Fagin will attest. He wanted to be an actor from an early age and was always the class joker, he said in interviews, but he came into acting late; he actually studied at the London School of Economics and planned on becoming a sociologist…..
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