Bud Cort, Who Gained Fame for ‘Harold and Maude,’ Dies

Bud Cort, whose indelible portrayal of a death-obsessed young man who falls in love with a life-loving 79-year-old in Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude made him an icon of 1970s counterculture cinema, died Wednesday in Connecticut after a long illness. He was 77.

Cort died of pneumonia at an assisted living facility in Norwalk, Connecticut, according to longtime friend Dorian Hannaway.

Harold and Maude, released in 1971, initially bombed at the box office but has since become one of the most beloved cult films in American cinema. Cort was nominated for a BAFTA Award as most promising newcomer and for a Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy. Set to a soundtrack of Cat Stevens songs, the film paired Cort’s deadpan delivery with Ruth Gordon’s eccentric gusto as a Holocaust survivor who teaches his character to embrace life.​

​Born Walter Edward Cox on March 29, 1948, in New Rochelle, New York, Cort was the second of five children. He had a Christian education and was headed for the priesthood before pursuing acting through nightclub comedy, according to The Guardian. Director Robert Altman cast him in a small part in M*A*S*H and then as the lead in the whimsical 1970 comedy Brewster McCloud.

Cort was just 20 when he auditioned for Harold and Maude. He walked into the room and immediately told Ashby, writer Colin Higgins and producer Chuck Mulvehill: “I’m playing this part.” Ashby laughed and replied, “I guess you are!”

Cort and Ruth Gordon created an unforgettable cinematic odd couple in "Harold and Maude," which was released in 1971.

FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images

However, the film that made him famous became what Cort himself called “a blessing and a curse.” In a 1996 Los Angeles Times interview, he said: “I was typecast to the point where I didn’t make a film for five years after Harold and Maude. I fought certain opportunities off because I wasn’t ready to be a brand name. In retrospect, I should have done everything.”

Cort turned down the role of Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest because he wanted the lead instead. When Jack Nicholson was later cast as Randle McMurphy, Cort begged for the Bibbit role, but Brad Dourif had already been cast.

During his fallow period in the 1970s, Cort lived for a time in the guest cottage at Groucho Marx’s Los Angeles home. The two became close friends after being introduced by their shared psychiatrist. When Marx lost a tooth, he gave it to Cort as a gift — a memento Cort kept for years.

In 1979, Cort nearly died in a car crash on the Hollywood Freeway. He broke an arm and a leg and suffered a concussion, fractured skull, severe facial lacerations and a nearly severed lower lip. In another accident years later, his arm was almost torn off, The Guardian reported, and in yet another his knee “fell off” his leg, requiring him to relearn how to walk.

Despite these setbacks, Cort continued working, appearing in films including Heat, Dogma, Pollock and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. He also did voice-over work for DC animated shows like Superman: The Animated Series as the Toyman.

Cort cofounded LA Classic Theatre Works with Richard Dreyfuss and Rene Auberjonois. Most recently, he voiced the King in the 2015 animated film The Little Prince.

Immediate survivors were not disclosed.​