HOLLYWOOD - This comedian isn't laughing.
Dudley Moore says he's "hurt and discouraged" by recent media reports that he's near death as a result of his degenerative brain disorder.
"Imagine my surprise to be informed this morning by the BBC's Web site and other press, that I have only weeks to live. I should, I imagine, let my doctor know this as when I saw him last week he thought things were much better," Moore said in a statement released by his publicist.
Moore, 65, was quoted as telling the BBC in an interview that he faced a "short and uncertain future" in his struggle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, an incurable Parkinson's-related disease whose symptoms include falling and imbalance, Reuters reports.
The comedian, who first found fame with Peter Cook in the 1960s and later as a film star in Hollywood, was also upset over the media's decision to focus on his disease rather than report on the more recent positive news about him, including his new Web site and the release of a CD to raise research funds for his rare disease.
"I suppose my imminent death will sell papers, while my positive and life-affirming work is of no interest to anyone. I am hurt and discouraged by your cruelty," Moore said.
Moore, who starred in the movies "Arthur" and "10," underwent open-heart surgery in 1999 and has suffered four strokes. Doctors announced news of his condition in September.