Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Moore (Michael D. (Micky)) Papers
0117
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives.
Title: Michael D. (Micky) Moore Papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0117
Physical Description:
15.08 Linear Feet
(24 boxes plus 4 oversize items)
Date (inclusive): 1914-2010
Abstract: Michael D.
Micky Moore was an American actor and director. He began his film career as a child actor on the silent screen in the 1920s and
later became a noted second unit director. His credits include
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
Patton, and
Raiders of the Lost Ark. The collection includes photographs, scripts, storyboards, letters, videos, movie memorabilia, and materials from his memoir.
Advance notice required for access.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
[Box/folder# or item name], Michael D. (Micky) Moore Papers, Collection no. 0117, Special Collections and University Archives,
University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were donated by Tricia Newman and Sandra Kastendiek-Drake, daughters of Michael D. "Micky" Moore, in several installments
during 2013.
Michael D.
Micky Moore was born Dennis Michael Sheffield in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on October 14, 1914, to Thomas William Sheffield
and Norah Moore Sheffield. When Moore's family moved to Santa Barbara in 1915, a neighbor who worked for the local Flying
A Studio suggested that the boys audition. Micky and his older brother Pat quickly found themselves in the thick of the early
film industry. A year later, when it became clear that Los Angeles was the heart of the film industry, the Sheffield family
moved to Hollywood. Both Micky and Pat took their mother's maiden name, Moore, as their professional surname.
Between 1917 and 1929, Moore acted in over 40 films, several of them with his brother. He worked with such silent screen stars
as Mary Pickford, Jack Holt, Gloria Swanson, Lillian Gish, Conrad Nagel and Tom Mix. The most influential relationship he
developed during this time was with legendary director Cecil B. DeMille, who took an interest in Moore and became a mentor
to him. Moore acted in four of DeMille's films, including the epic
The King of Kings.
At the end of the 1920s, Moore faced the challenges of moving from child actor to more mature roles as well as the growing
popularity of
talkies. When these difficulties were combined with the Great Depression, which hit Moore's family hard, it spelled the end of Moore's
acting career. For several years, Moore worked in a grocery store or on fishing boats off the coast of Santa Monica, but he
never lost his desire to work in the movie business.
In 1933, Moore married his high school sweetheart, Esther McNeil. Spurred on by his new role as head of the household, Moore
made an appointment with Cecil B. DeMille to ask for a job, not as an actor, but as a prop man. DeMille said yes, and Moore
began his second career in film, this time behind the camera.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Moore worked on dozens of films as a Prop Man. He also became a father to two daughters, Tricia
(1936) and Sandra (1938). At the end of the 1940s, Moore was offered the opportunity to move in to production as an assistant
director. He jumped at the chance. As assistant director, Moore worked for some of the most famous directors of the day, including
his old mentor, Cecil B. DeMille, on DeMille's last film as a director,
The Ten Commandments. He also developed a relationship with noted Paramount Pictures producer and director Hal Wallis. Through Wallis, Moore became
a staple on the sets of the Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin films of the 1950s and the Elvis Presley movies of the 1960s. Wallis also
gave Moore his first opportunity as a director, for the 1966 Elvis movie,
Paradise, Hawaiian Style.
From the 1960s on, Moore became well-known as a reliable and confident second unit director with a knack for action sequences.
He worked on some of the most famous movies of the twentieth century, including
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
Patton,
Rooster Cogburn,
Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Moore retired in 2000 after wrapping his final movie, the Walt Disney picture
102 Dalmatians.
After retirement, Moore remained busy. He was frequently asked to speak at classic movie retrospectives and was interviewed
for several documentaries, including one on DeMille. He also occasionally consulted with former colleagues to give informal
advice on scripts and productions. Most notably, Moore wrote a memoir of his life, titled
My Magic Carpet of Films, for which both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg wrote forewords.
Moore's first wife, Esther, passed away in 1992. He remarried in 1997, this time to Laurie Abdo, whom he had known since his
days at Paramount, where she was Howard Koch's personal assistant. She passed away in 2011. Micky Moore died on March 4, 2013,
at the age of 98 in Malibu, California. He is survived by his two daughters, five grandsons, and four great-grandchildren.
The collection contains materials that span Moore's 90-plus years working in the film industry, first as a child actor in
silent films, then as a prop man, and finally as an assistant director, director, or second unit director on almost 100 films.
The collection includes correspondence, set photographs, headshots and publicity photographs, autographed photographs from
actors and actresses, press clippings, contracts and work agreements, scripts, storyboards, set memos, casting notes, posters,
video recordings, materials for Moore's memoir, and personal memorabilia.
The collection is arranged into four series: Series 1. Childhood Acting Career; Series 2. Film Crew and Directing Career;
Series 3.
My Magic Carpet of Films Book Materials; and Series 4. Personal Papers. Folders are arranged alphabetically by title within each series.
The Chuck Waters Papers, 0122, Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Mortensen, William,
The King of Kings : as portrayed by photographic reproductions of scenes and characters from the motion picture : based on
the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John : produced by Cecil B. DeMille
(Los Angeles : Phillips Print. Co.)1927. The Huntington Library, Rare Books, Call # 623053.
The following books were separated from the collection and added to Special Collections.
Ackroyd, Peter.
Dickens' London. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1989.
Aykroyd, Dan and Harold Ramis.
Making Ghostbusters. Edited by Don Shay. New York: New York Zoetrope, 1985.
Bach, Steven.
Marlene Dietrich: Life and Legend. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992.
Bram, Bill.
Elvis: Frame by Frame. Livermore, California: Wingspan Press, 2007.
Brownlow, Kevin.
The Parade's Gone By... New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1968.
Clayton, Marie.
Elvis Presley: Unseen Archives. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. 2004.
Cody, Diablo.
Juno. Film script. Twentieth Century Fox, 2007.
Columbia Pictures Corporation.
Lawrence of Arabia. New York: Richard Davis and Company, Inc., 1962.
Cooghan, Frank, Jr.
They Still Call Me Junior: autobiography of a child star. Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland & Company, Inc., 1993.
Dillon-Malone, Aubrey.
I was a Fugitive from a Hollywood Trivia Factory. London: Prion Books Limited., 1999.
Doll, Susan.
Elvis: A Tribute to His Life. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd., 1989.
Hampton, Christoper.
Atonement. Film script. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan. Focus Features, 2007.
Jacobsen, Arthur.
Arthur Jacobsen: A Director's Guild of America Oral History. By Irene Kahn Atkins. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1991.
Jenkins, Tamara.
The Savages. Film script. Twentieth Century Fox, 2007.
Jewison, Norman.
This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2004.
Jezek, George Ross.
Hollywood Now and Then. San Diego: George Ross Jezek Publishing, 2000.
Koszarski, Richard.
An Evening's Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
Lawton, Stephen.
Santa Barbara'a Flying A Studio. Santa Barbara: Fithian Press, 1997.
Leigh, Suzanna.
Paradise, Suzanna Style. London: Pen Press Publishers Limited, 2000.
Lyons, Timothy James.
The Silent Partner: The History of the American Film Manufacturing Company 1910-1921. New York: Arno Press, 1974.
Marton, Andrew.
Andrew Marton: A Director's Guild of America Oral History. By Joanne D'Antonio. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1991.
McDowall, Roddy.
Double Exposure: Take Two. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989.
McGilligan, Patrick.
George Cukor: A Double Life. New York, St. Martin's Press, 1991.
Moore, Micky.
My Magic Carpet of Films: A Personal Journey in the Motion Picture Industry 1916-2000. Albany, Georgia: Bear Manor Media, 2009.
Rebello, Stephen and Richard Allen.
Reel Art: Great Posters from the Golden Age of the Silver Screen. New York: Artabras, 1988.
Ringgold, Gene and DeWitt Bodeen.
The Complete Films of Cecil B. DeMille. Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1969.
Ringgold, Gene and DeWitt Bodeen.
The Films of Cecil B. DeMille. Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1974.
Rinzler, J. W. and Laurent Bouzereau.
The Complete Making of Indiana Jones. New York: Del Rey Books, 2008.
Rubin, Steven Jay.
The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1995.
Sennet, Ted.
Great Hollywood Movies. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1983.
Siegel, Don.
A Siegel Film: An Autobiography. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1993.
Shulman, Arthur and Roger Youman.
How Sweet it Was. New York: Shorecrest, Inc., 1966.
Taylor, Samuel L.
Take My Advice, Mr. President! Redwood City, California: Taylor Trust, 1996.
Vermilye, Jerry.
The Films of the Twenties. Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1985.
The collection was arranged and described by Beth McDonald, Pepperdine Special Collections and University Archives Intern,
under the supervision of Katie Richardson in November, 2013.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Silent films -- United States
Motion pictures, American
Screenplays
Videocassettes
Storyboards
Actors and actresses -- United States
Correspondence
Producers and directors
Photographs
Lewis, Jerry
Presley, Elvis
Wallis, Hal B.
DeMille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount)
Spielberg, Steven
Lucas, George
Moore, Michael