Dudley Moore was said to have based his performance in "Arthur" (1981) partly on Peter Cook, whose excessive drinking had soured his and Moore's comedic partnership in the 1970s.
Moore kept cracking up the cast and crew, so much so, that twenty-seven takes were needed to get one scene filmed at one point. Reportedly, when Moore was doing the mansion moose head sequence, a lighting technician laughed so much, that he fell off his ladder.
After shooting the scene where Arthur gets beaten up by his would-be father-in-law, Moore was still wearing his tattered costume and bloody make-up when he turned to his then-girlfriend Susan Anton (who was nearly eight and a half inches taller than him) in a Waldorf-Astoria elevator and said, "Susan, I told you I'd be home, why wouldn't you believe me?" The other elevator passengers were aghast.
Apparently, writer and director Steve Gordon had originally wanted to cast George Segal in the lead role of Arthur. After the box-office success of "10" (1979) however, Moore replaced Segal. This movie was actually the second time that Moore replaced Segal. Segal was originally cast in the lead role in "10," but Segal apparently walked off the set shortly after filming began. Reportedly, this was rumored because Julie Andrews' role had been built up. Apparently, after "10" had been released, Segal, when once asked if he had seen the movie, allegedly replied with a finger gesture.
Moore claimed he preferred "Arthur 2: On the Rocks" (1988, below) to the original because his character was forced to grow up and mature. The sequel's screenwriter, Andy Breckman, was allegedly disappointed by the movie and went to his hometown theater just to hang around and apologize to the people who went to see it.
