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
Arthur (1981 film) singer Christopher Cross was initially asked to score the film, but writer/director Steven Gordon did not feel comfortable with his lack of experience in composing for film and the job was given to Burt Bacharach. Cross was asked to compose a song for the film which he did, "Arthur's Theme", which he wrote with Bacharach along with Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen. The film received critical acclaim upon its release and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1981. It currently holds an 88% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. "Arthur" was