Hollywood is mourning the death of Bud Cort, the unforgettable star of the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude, after the beloved actor passed away in Connecticut following a long illness. He was 77.
Cort, born Walter Edward Cox in Rye, New York, on March 29, 1948, became one of Hollywood’s most distinctive faces after director Robert Altman discovered him and cast him in back-to-back films in 1970: MAS*H and Brewster McCloud. His breakout soon led to his most famous role — the death-obsessed Harold, who falls for free-spirited Maude in Hal Ashby’s dark romantic comedy Harold and Maude, a film that went from box-office flop to generational touchstone.
He earned Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the performance, and the movie cemented his status as a counterculture icon. As film critic Clarisse Loughrey later wrote, Cort’s Harold had a “mischievous wink” behind all the morbid humor — a quality fans adored for decades.
Cort’s career was nearly derailed in 1979 after a horrific car crash on the Hollywood Freeway left him with a broken arm, broken leg, fractured skull, concussion and severe facial injuries. The extensive surgeries and long recovery took a heavy toll on his work, but he continued acting in memorable roles throughout the ’90s and 2000s.
Fans will recognize him as Solenko, the uptight restaurant manager in Heat; the comatose homeless man who turns out to be God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma; Romero in Coyote Ugly; and Bill Ubell — the endlessly patient “Bond Company Stooge” — in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
No cause of death has yet been released, and funeral arrangements are still pending, but a memorial in Los Angeles is expected.
Cort leaves behind a legacy of oddballs, outcasts and unforgettable characters — roles that made him one of the most quietly influential cult stars of his generation.
He is now in the Lords theater.