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Despite the money pouring down on him, Moore lives modestly by Hollywood standards. His airy beach house, which was once owned by Rudy Vallee, is comfortable but not luxurious. A Yamaha grand piano is the focal point of the living room, and an electronic piano adorns his bedroom. "Having a piano nearby is an ever present box of delights in which I can always dip my hand," he says. He plays classical music for Anton, works out scores for movies, at the moment the love motif for Unfaithfully Yours. He pairs off easily with his friend Jazz Singer Cleo Laine, whether in a birthday serenade for Susan or on last summer's irresistible old-favorites album Smilin' Through.
He is content with this kind of "self-expression." He has no ambition to get behind the camera, package deals or plunge into real estate. Apart from the house, a white 1963 Bentley is one of his few major possessions. "I don't gain pleasure acquiring things to look at," he says. "I'd buy a museum reproduction before I'd go for the real antique. My mother used to keep books showing how much she spent—four pieces of bacon, three eggs—and made sure she had the right change in her purse. Maybe that strange sort of anal thoroughness stayed with me."
He is one of the few stars who admit to loving Hollywood parties; he enjoys dinners with six or eight guests, and he likes going to the movies as well as making them. One of his main goals still is to make people laugh, and that will probably never change. "I try to seduce," he says. "I want to attract people. I want their warmth. I want their love."
—By Gerald Clarke. Reported by Denise Worrell/Los Angeles