Terry Moogan lived a life of poverty before he encountered Hollywood royalty.
The author is currently writing a follow-up to his memoir, “Liverpool Bank Robber to Hollywood Butler,” which details his journey to becoming a butler for several stars of Hollywood’s golden era.
Moogan told Fox News Digital that before landing in California, he struggled to find his way in his native Liverpool.
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“All the kids are very tough children in the city, and we all hung around gangs,” Moogan explained. “Liverpool’s got a history of gangs, very powerful men. . . . We’d just come out of the war in England, and we had nothing. We didn’t believe in anybody. We had to survive.”
Moogan described how, growing up, he and his team of misfits would hang out by the docks, steal whiskey and vodka from the warehouses and sell it to local pubs. They would also skip school and shoplift.
Moogan claimed that by age 16, he was doing “snatches from banks” with his pals.
“We had no money,” said Moogan. “We had a little bit of food. My father was absent, and I was left to my own devices to do what I wanted.”
In 1975, Moogan received an offer he couldn’t refuse. His brother said he was taking him to Southampton. There, he could find work on the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner.
“I’m absolutely lost,” Moogan recalled. “I didn’t know what to do. The only impulse I had was to go out and steal again. But my brother gives me money and says, ‘I’m taking you to Southampton.’
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“Eventually, I was brought in on the Queen Elizabeth 2. I’m on the ship working in the galley with all the chefs, but I couldn’t cook. I was faking it. Then a friend of mine there says, ‘Why don’t you become a waiter?’ So, I became a busboy first, and then I learned to be a waiter. I did that for two years.”
“I was coming on the ship one day and the chief steward tells me, ‘Teddy, there’s a job for you upstairs in the penthouse. Would you like that job?’”
Moogan was promoted to the penthouse room where the stars mingled. It was there that he met power couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
“I engaged with Elizabeth Taylor when Richard was downstairs in the casino,” Moogan recalled. “I wanted to be polite. She then looks at me and says, ‘Have you ever thought about being a movie star?’ I tell her no. It just didn’t seem like the life I wanted.
“I laughed it off. Me, an actor? I’m a tough guy. That wasn’t for me.’ She then tells me, ‘You should at least be a butler in California. They’ll love you there.’ She didn’t judge me. She genuinely wanted to get to know me. It was a simple gesture, but she gave me hope there was a better life out there for me.”
Moogan admitted that he was tempted to steal Taylor’s prized jewels. He took her advice instead.
“I couldn’t steal from Elizabeth Taylor,” said Moogan. “She was so beautiful; I just couldn’t do this to somebody like her. My mind also started thinking about redemption and having a life that I didn’t know, a life I couldn’t imagine for myself. [If I stole from Taylor], they’d come after me and I would probably have gotten 10 to 20 years if I got caught.”
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In 1980, at age 23, Moogan left for Los Angeles. When he arrived, he headed to the International Domestic Agency to take on the role of butler in Beverly Hills.
“My first job was at Jack Benny’s old house next to Lucille Ball,” said Moogan. “I got to know her. I used to take the garbage out for her. I would joke with her, and she would make me a cup of tea so we could chat.
“I used to tell her, ‘You look like my mother because my mother had red hair, too!’ I pretended not to know who she was. I think that made her warm up to me. She was always lovely to me, and I never hesitated to take out the trash for her.”
In 1982, Moogan began working for Maggie Eastwood, Clint Eastwood’s wife.
“They had two kids,” said Moogan. “Clint was getting divorced at the time, but . . . I remember the home feeling like a genuine home. Very lived-in, comfortable, clean. The children were very kind and polite. It was not at all what I expected from a movie star’s home.
“Clint was very reserved and quiet. He would come by, and I’d give him a beer. He would sit on the patio to relax and always spend time with the children. And they adored him. I could tell he was a fantastic father, one who was genuinely interested in their lives and wanted to be with them.”
Moogan worked for the Eastwood household for four months. According to the author, he was then assigned to work for Frederick R. Weisman. Wanting to make a good impression on the prominent art collector and businessman, he played Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” while tending to his home. In his book, Moogan claimed Weisman “exploded.”
Moogan wrote that Weismen spoke about his infamous barroom brawl that took place at The Polo Lounge in 1966, claiming it had happened because the track, and anything else by Sinatra, gave him a sore spot.
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According to multiple reports, Sinatra and Dean Martin were present, alongside bodyguard Jilly Rizzo and other pals. At the time, Weisman felt that the men were being “rowdy” at the celebrity hot spot and “shouted at them to be quiet.” Sinatra allegedly responded with an antisemitic remark.
“I couldn’t control myself, Terry,” Weisman is quoted as telling Moogan. “I jumped out of my seat and punched him off his chair. My fist landed perfectly on his nose. . . . The next thing I know, I was waking up in the hospital… Apparently, when I reached down to give old Frankie a further beating, one of his goons hit me on the head with what’s thought to be a telephone.”
“He was quite the fascinating guy,” Moogan told Fox News Digital.
And then there was George Segal. Moogan worked for him between 1985 and 1986.
“He was charming,” said Moogan. “He and his wife were quite friendly. He loved entertaining his guests and I would have to make my Irish stew. He and his friends, between the crude jokes and the chest-puffing, were really no different from the men of Liverpool I knew from my youth. . . . I loved working for him.”
Moogan retired in 1992. He still resides in California. Looking back, Moogan said he’s grateful for Taylor’s encouraging words.
Life today is good, he said.
“I’m a great believer of God now,” said Moogan. “I walk the path of the Lord. . . . I’m grateful for the opportunities I was given. . . . My life [changed] for the better.”
