Dudley Moore dies

British actor Dudley Moore died today at his home in New Jersey, a spokeswoman said.

He was 66.

Moore, who became an unlikely Hollywood heart-throb portraying a cuddly pipsqueak whose charm melted hearts in ‘‘10’’ and ‘‘Arthur,’’ died of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy.

His publicist, Michelle Bega, said Moore died at 11am EST (1600 Irish time).

There was more than a touch of autobiography in ‘‘10,’’ the 1979 film starring Bo Derek in which Moore played a musician determined to marry a perfect woman.

But the happy ending eluded him in real life - four marriages ended in divorce.

He confessed to being driven by feelings of inferiority about his working-class origins in Dagenham, east London, and because of his height of 5ft 2.5ins.

In later life he also spoke of the pain of being rejected by his mother because he was born with a deformed left foot.

Comedians, he said in an interview with Newsday in 1980, were often driven by such feelings.

‘‘I certainly did feel inferior. Because of class. Because of strength. Because of height. ... I guess if I’d been able to hit somebody in the nose, I wouldn’t have been a comic.’’