Wholly Moses!

Wholly Moses
The movie cover for Wholly Moses.
Directed by	Gary Weis
Produced by	Freddie Fields
Written by	Guy Thomas
Starring	Dudley Moore Laraine Newman James Coco Paul Sand Jack Gilford Dom DeLuise John Houseman Madeline Kahn David Lander Richard Pryor John Ritter
Music by	Patrick Williams
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 13, 1980
Running time	103 min.
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$14,155,617

Wholly Moses! is a 1980 Biblical spoof similar to that of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Dudley Moore, between performances in 10 and Arthur, plays Old Testament-era idol maker Herschel, whose life and adventures seem to parallel that of the more famous Moses, all the while being misled to think he is the prophet of God.

Cast

Dudley Moore .... Harvey Orchid/Herschel
Laraine Newman .... Zoey/Zerelda
James Coco .... Hyssop
Paul Sand .... God's Angel
Jack Gilford .... Tailor
Dom DeLuise .... Shadrach
John Houseman .... The Archangel
Madeline Kahn .... The Witch
David L. Lander .... The Beggar
Richard Pryor .... Pharaoh
John Ritter .... Satan (The Devil)
Richard B. Shull .... Jethro
Tanya Boyd .... Princess
Ruth Manning .... Landlady
Walker Edmiston .... God (voice)

External links

Wholly Moses at the Internet Movie Database

Production

Producer Freddie Fields hired Phil Silvers for one of several small cameo roles, but his only scene was cut from the final film.

Between scenes during filming on stage at the Burbank Studios, Dudley Moore entertained the cast and crew with improvised piano interludes.

On the final day of shooting, Richard Pryor who was signed to do a one-day cameo as the Pharaoh didn’t show up. With production at a complete standstill, frantic calls were made. There was even some talk of replacing him with Cleavon Little. Several hours later, that afternoon Pryor finally appeared but then refused to play the scene as written with a trained lion by his throne.