Editing Ron Moody (section)

==Career==
Despite training to be an economist, Moody began appearing in theatrical shows and later decided to become a professional actor.<ref name="BBC"/>

{{Quote box|width=28%|align=right|quote="My proudest moment was the number "Reviewing the Situation". I suspect that, because I gave my all to the role, and because I was working with such a fine team of people, it inhibited my future career. I turned down quite a few offers afterwards because I thought the people didn't come close to those I'd worked with on ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]''—which in retrospect was a mistake."|source=—Moody on his acclaimed role as Fagin and subsequent career.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|title=Oliver! actor Ron Moody dies aged 91|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33094914|publisher=BBC News|date=11 June 2015}}</ref>}}
Moody worked in a variety of genres, but he is perhaps best known for his starring role as [[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 theatre|West End]] production in 1960 and reprised it in the 1984 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] revival, receiving a [[Tony Award]] nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. For his performance in the 1968 film  ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'', he received the [[Golden Globe Award]] for Best Actor (Musical/Comedy), the Best Actor award at the [[6th Moscow International Film Festival]] and an [[Academy Award]] nomination in the same category.<ref name="Moscow1969">{{cite web |url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1969 |title=6th Moscow International Film Festival (1969) |access-date=21 December 2012 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194825/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1969 |archive-date=16 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Reflecting on the role, Moody states: "Fate destined me to play Fagin. It was the part of a lifetime. That summer of 1967 [during filming] was one of the happiest times of my life".<ref name="BBC"/> He reprised his role as Fagin in the 1983 [[Channel 4]] television programme ''The Other Side of London'',<ref>https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/ron-moody.html Ron Moody - The Other Side of London</ref> and again at the 1985 [[Royal Variety Performance]] in [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] before [[Queen Elizabeth II]] and the [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Duke of Edinburgh]].<ref>[http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Ron-Moody-Fagin-Oliver-dies-aged-91/story-26679360-detail/story.html "Ron Moody, Fagin in Oliver, dies aged 91] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612190332/http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Ron-Moody-Fagin-Oliver-dies-aged-91/story-26679360-detail/story.html |date=12 June 2015 }}. Gloucestershire Echo. Retrieved 11 June 2015</ref>

Moody appeared in several children's television series, including the voice of Badger and Toad in the TV Adaptation of [[Colin Dann]]'s ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood (TV series)|The Animals of Farthing Wood]]'', ''[[Noah's Island]]'', ''[[Telebugs]]'', and ''[[Into the Labyrinth (TV series)|Into the Labyrinth]]''. Among his better known roles was that of Prime Minister Rupert Mountjoy in the comedy ''[[The Mouse on the Moon]]'' (1963), alongside [[Margaret Rutherford]], with whom he appeared again the following year in ''[[Murder Most Foul (film)|Murder Most Foul]]'' (1964), one of Rutherford's Miss Marple films. He played French entertainer and [[mime artist]] The Great Orlando in the 1963 [[Cliff Richard]] film ''[[Summer Holiday (1963 film)|Summer Holiday]]''. He appeared as Hopkirk in the 1966 episode entitled "Honey For the Prince" of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]''. He acted again with former ''Oliver!'' co-star [[Jack Wild]] in ''[[Flight of the Doves]]'' (1971). 

In 1969, Moody was offered, but declined, the lead role in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', following the departure of [[Patrick Troughton]] from the part.<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book	
|last= Stevens	
|first= Christopher
|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams
|publisher= John Murray
|year= 2010
|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5
|page=370
}}</ref>  He later told many people (including ''Doctor Who'' companion [[Elisabeth Sladen]]) that declining the role was a decision he subsequently regretted.<ref name="BBC"/> He played Ippolit Vorobyaninov alongside [[Frank Langella]] (as [[Ostap Bender]]) in [[Mel Brooks]]' version of ''[[The Twelve Chairs (1970 film)|The Twelve Chairs]]'' (1970).In 1995 he appeared in the UK's longest running TV comedy series 'Last of the Summer Wine' as Lieutenant Willoughby. In 2003, he starred in the black comedy ''[[Paradise Grove]]'' alongside [[Rula Lenska]], and played [[Edwin Caldecott]], an old nemesis of [[Jim Branning]] on the BBC soap ''[[EastEnders]]''.<ref name="BBC"/> In 2005, he acted in the [[Big Finish Productions]] ''Doctor Who'' audio play ''[[Other Lives (audio drama)|Other Lives]]'', playing the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. He made several appearances in BBC TVs long running variety show, ''[[The Good Old Days (British TV series)|The Good Old Days]]'', enacting pastiche/comic Victorian melodramas.

Moody wrote a novel, ''The Devil You Don't'', which was published by Robson Books, London, in 1980.<ref>{{cite book
|last= Moody
|first= Ron
|title= The Devil You Don't
|date= 9 April 1980
|publisher= Robson Books
|isbn=0860511014}}
</ref>

In 2004, the British [[ITV1]] nostalgia series ''After They Were Famous'' hosted a documentary of the surviving cast of the film ''Oliver!'' Several of the film's musical numbers were reenacted. Moody, then 80 but still spry, and [[Jack Wild]] (seriously ill with oral cancer at the time) recreated their dance from the closing credits of the film.

Moody was a guest star in an episode of ITV's long running police drama ''[[The Bill]]'' in 2004 along with actress Molly Sugden and appeared in [[BBC1]]'s ''[[Casualty (TV series)|Casualty]]'' (aired on 30 January 2010) as a Scottish patient who had served with the [[Black Watch]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref name="BBC"/> On 30 June 2010, Moody appeared on stage at the end of a performance of [[Cameron Mackintosh]]'s revival of ''Oliver!'' and made a humorous speech about the show's 50th anniversary. He then reprised the "[[You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two|Pick a Pocket or Two]]" number with the cast.<ref name="BBC"/>

Moody was a supporter of [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.]]