Arthur is a 1981 comedy film written and directed by Steve Gordon. The film stars Dudley Moore as the eponymous Arthur Bach, a drunken New York City millionaire who is on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress, but ends up falling for a common working-class girl from Queens. It was the first and only film directed by Gordon, who died in 1982 of a heart attack at age 44.

Arthur earned nearly $96 million domestically, making it the fourth highest grossing film of 1981. It was notable for its title song, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", co-written by Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen, and was performed by Christopher Cross. The film was nominated for a total of four Academy Awards. John Gielgud won Best Supporting Actor and the theme song won Best Original Song.

Arthur was followed by a 1988 sequel, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, which was enough of a failure for star Dudley Moore to disown it. A remake starring Russell Brand was released in April 2011; Arthur (2011 film).

Arthur is a common masculine given name. Its etymology is disputed, but its popularity derives from its being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur.

Art is a diminutive form of the name. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur.

The origin of the name Arthur remains a matter of debate. Some suggest it is derived from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artōrius, of obscure and contested etymology (but possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin). Some scholars have suggested that is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur, or Arturus, in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (although Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh.

Another possibility is that it is derived from a Brittonic patronym *Arto-rīg-ios (the root of which, *arto-rīg- "bear-king" is to be found in the Old Irish personal name Art-ri) via a Latinized form Artōrius. Less likely is the commonly proposed derivation from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic); there are phonological difficulties with this theory - notably that a Brittonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr and not Arthur (in Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur - never words ending in -wr - which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr "man").

Box office results courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Academy Awards:

Golden Globe Awards:

Golden Raspberry Awards:

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

U.S.A. unless stated

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I-J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U-V

W

XYZ

Absence of Malice

1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). It is the 1981st year of the Common Era, or A.D.; the 981st year of the 2nd millennium; the 81st year of the 20th century; and the 2nd year of the 1980s decade.

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.

Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.