Dudley Moore him an unprecedented status as a romantic leading man. Moore followed up with the comedy film "Wholly Moses!", which was not a major success. In 1981 Moore appeared in the title role of the comedy "Arthur", an even bigger hit than "10". Co-starring Liza Minnelli and Sir John Gielgud, it was both commercially and critically successful, Moore receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, whilst Gielgud won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Arthur's stern but compassionate manservant. Moore lost to Henry Fonda (for "On Golden Pond"). He did, however, win a Golden Globe award for Best
John Gielgud his own reputation. He told an interviewer, "They pay me very well for two or three days' work a month, so why not? It's nice at my age to be able to travel all over the world at other people's expense." Gielgud's most successful film performance of the decade was Steve Gordon's comedy "Arthur" (1981), which starred Dudley Moore as a self-indulgent playboy. Gielgud played Hobson, Moore's butler. He turned the part down twice before finally accepting it, nervous, after the "Caligula" débâcle, of the strong language used by the acerbic Hobson. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor