From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/bud-cort-dead-harold-and-maude-1236659856/

Bud Cort, who personified the role of Harold in the 1971 Hal
Ashby classic "Harold and Maude," died Wednesday in Connecticut
after a long illness. He was 77.

His longtime friend Dorian Hannaway reported his death.

Cort also starred in Robert Altman's "Brewster McCloud" and
had roles in numerous other films and TV shows.

In "Harold and Maude," which became a beloved and enduring cult
classic despite a rocky start at the box office, Cort played
a 20-year old man obsessed by thoughts of suicide whose life
changes when he meets Maude, a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor
played by Ruth Gordon.

Born Walter Edward Cox in Rye, N.Y., he changed his name to
avoid confusion with character actor Wally Cox. He went to
school in New Rochelle, N.Y. and enjoyed going to Broadway
shows.

"I was only fourteen when I met Bud at the backstage door at
my sister's play," Roslyn Kind recalled in a statement. "He
was majoring in art at the time in high school. We became close
friends who shared our interest in entertainment. When I got
married, Bud and our songwriter friend, Bruce Roberts, wrote
a special song that was performed at the ceremony. His unique
spirit will always be with me."

Cort moved to Los Angeles to work in film, and was cast by
Altman in a small part in "MASH." Altman then selected his to
star in the quirky "Brewster McCloud" about a young man who
yearns to fly, with Sally Kellerman as a guardian angel.

"We were in the line for lunch when I spotted him," she later
recalled. "Although I didn't know who he was, I said 'Oh, boy.
We're going to be best friends.'"

His chemistry with Gordon while auditioning for the part of
Harold convinced Ashby and writer Colin Higgins to cast him in
"Harold and Maude," which has endured as a repertory screening
favorite for more than 50 years. He was nominated for a BAFTA
award as most promising newcomer and for a Golden Globe for
best actor in a musical or comedy.

"A young man obsessed with death falls in love with an old
woman obsessed with life. She dies and teaches the kid how to
live," Cameron Crowe described it for AFI in 2011. "And it's
done with music [by Cat Stevens] that scratches at your soul.
. . . that movie holds up -- to this minute."

His other roles included films "She Dances Alone," "Electric
Dreams" and "The Life Aquatic," as well as "Heat," "Dogma,"
"Coyote Ugly" and "Pollock."

He also voiced the character Toyman in "Superman: The Animated
Series," "Static Shock" and "Justic League Unlimited." He
co-wrote, starred in and directed the 1991 film "Ted and Venus."

In 1979, Cort narrowly survived a devastating car accident,
which necessitated numerous surgeries and affected his career.

He is survived by his brother Joseph Cox and his sister-in-law
Vickie and their daughters, Meave, Brytnn, and Jesse of Rye,
N.Y.; his sister Kerry Cox of Larchmont, N.Y.; his sister and
brother-in-law, Tracy Cox Berkman and Edward Berkman, and their
sons, Daniel and Peter. He is also survived by his sister,
Shelly Cox Dufour and brother-in-law Robert Dufour, and nieces
Madeline and Lucie.

A memorial will be held at a future date in Los Angeles.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries


In the previous article, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

In "Harold and Maude," which became a beloved and enduring cult
classic despite a rocky start at the box office, Cort played a
20-year old man obsessed by thoughts of suicide whose life
changes when he meets Maude, a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor
played by Ruth Gordon.

That picture ran for, like, two years at one Minneapolis theater
(where I first saw it). I vaguely remember Ruth Gordon showing up
there for the one-year anniversary. And this wasn't a multiplex: it
was a theater with one screen, and that is what they showed, twice
every evening and a few more showings on weekends.

My friends all agreed: I physically resembled Harold and had enough
of his general attitude (*absolute* deadpan delivery of wise-ass
remarks being my salient personality feature) that some of them
started calling me Harold occasionally. This wasn't a nickname as
such, it was just a way of tweaking me when I was maybe Harold-ing it
up a bit much.

And I introduced this film to one of my minor-celebrity friends. The
actor Doug Hutchison[1] was one of my closer friends in high school.
The Minneapolis theater that ran the picture had long since moved on
to other things, but when it ran at one of the art houses (Riverside
or Uptown, maybe), I got him to come along with me, and he was bowled
over by it.

[1] Yes, thank you in advance, I am aware that he went a bit off the
deep end, to put it euphemistically.

Years later, he was working in a cookie shop in NYC and Ruth Gordon
walked by. He ran out with a cookie to give her and gushed about
Harold and Maude and -- this is what she later said was unique about
Doug -- he asked what Bud Cort was like and why didn't he have more of
a career. Ruth was struck by someone who complimented her but then
didn't just keep kissing her ass, but actually asked about Bud.

Doug became friendly with Ruth and her husband Garson Kanin and that
got him a couple of roles. I am unclear on details, except they
introduced him to David "Hoosiers" Anspaugh, who gave him a very
forgettable role in a very forgettable picture whose title I have
forgotten. But Doug would, shortly thereafter, work directly with Bud
Cort on a 1988 picture called The Chocolate War. (It's not a bad
movie.) So that's fun.
--
jd
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/movies/bud-cort-dead.html

Bud Cort, Who Starred in 1971rCOs rCyHarold and Maude,rCO Dies at 77

The role, one of his first, made him a household name and a film idol of
the anti-establishment 1970s. But it also limited his growth as an actor.

By Clay Risen
Feb. 11, 2026
Bud Cort, a veteran stage and screen actor whose best-known role was one
of his first, playing a death-obsessed, 19-year-old recluse named Harold opposite Ruth GordonrCOs 79-year-old, happy-go-lucky Holocaust survivor
named Maude in the 1971 off-kilter romantic comedy rCLHarold and Maude,rCY died on Wednesday in Norwalk, Conn. He was 77.

A representative for his family said that the death, at an assisted-living facility, was from complications from pneumonia.

Mr. Cort appeared in more than 40 movies, dozens of TV shows and countless theater productions, but even late in life he was often recognized on the street for a single role: that of Harold Chasen, a precocious, morose rich teenager who falls into friendship, and then love, with Maude Chardin, who lives in an abandoned railroad car and is old enough to be his
grandmother.

The film, directed by Hal Ashby, is by turns humorous, touching and melancholic; late in the film, Harold sees a tattoo on MauderCOs arm, left over from her time in a Nazi concentration camp.

Though initially a critical and commercial flop rCo Variety said that it rCLhas all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanagerCY rCo through the 1970s it
developed a cult following, especially on college campuses, where its
quirky, anti-establishment sensibility hit home in the post-hippie era.

Today it is widely considered one of the best films of the 1970s. In 2007,
the American Film Institute ranked it No. 9 in its list of best romantic comedies.

Mr. Cort got his first break a few years before rCLHarold and Maude,rCY when the director Robert Altman saw him doing stand-up comedy in Manhattan and
cast him in a small part in his 1970 Korean War comedy rCLM*A*S*H.rCY

Mr. Altman liked Mr. CortrCOs acting enough that he immediately gave him the title role in his next film, rCLBrewster McCloud,rCY which came out later that same year. In that movie, which also starred Shelley Duvall, Mr. Cort
played a flight-obsessed boy who lives in a shelter under the Houston Astrodome and becomes a suspect in a series of bird-dropping-related
deaths.

The film did poorly among critics and moviegoers, but it caught the
attention of Mr. Ashby, who was casting for his upcoming film about an extremely dark May-December romance between a similarly introverted young
man and a much, much older woman.

Mr. Cort was 21 when he played the part of Harold with wry confidence;
many of his most memorable moments, like a fourth-wall-breaking smile into
the camera, were his idea.

But the film that made him famous also made him something of an outcast.

He fought with the studio, Paramount, over edits, leading it to exclude
him from much of the filmrCOs publicity. He was later typecast as a
character actor and offered only offbeat roles when he believed he
deserved to play the lead.

He said that Milos Forman considered him for a supporting part in his 1975 film rCLOne Flew Over the CuckoorCOs Nest,rCY but that he lost his chance when he insisted that he get the lead. That part, Randle McMurphy, went to Jack Nicholson, who won an Oscar.

By his own account, Mr. Cort spent much of the 1970s depressed and out of
film work, getting by with stage roles. For a time, he lived in the guest cottage at the Los Angeles home of Groucho Marx, with whom he became close friends. When Mr. Marx lost a tooth, he gave it to Mr. Cort as a gift.

Mr. Cort had bit parts in several movies, including rCLPumping IronrCY (1977), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, from which his only scene was ultimately
cut.

In 1979, he played the lead in rCLSon of Hitler,rCY about an illiterate woodworker who is thought to be the son of the Nazi dictator. It did not
do well at the box office.

That same year, Mr. Cort was in a car accident that left him with broken
bones and a disfigured face. Much of the money he had earned from acting
went to plastic surgeries.

He was back to acting by the mid-1980s but mostly in single episodes in TV series like rCLColumbo,rCY a reboot of rCLThe Twilight ZonerCY and the comedy- drama rCLUgly Betty.rCY He also had minor parts in movies like the crime thriller rCLHeatrCY (1995), which starred Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and the Bill Murray comedy rCLThe Life Aquatic With Steve ZissourCY (2004).

Part of what held him back, Mr. Cort said, was his emotional attachment to
his work and his willingness to fight directors, producers and writers
over every detail of his performance. He especially disliked critics who
gave him negative reviews.

After an interviewer for The Boston Globe told him to his face that he didnrCOt like his 1977 film rCLWhy Shoot the Teacher,rCY a comedy-drama set during the Depression, Mr. Cort got up to leave.

rCLI donrCOt want to talk to anyone who didnrCOt love the movie,rCY Mr. Cort said.
rCLI canrCOt believe that I opened up my personal life to you, and then you tell me you didnrCOt like this wonderful movie.rCY

The reporter, who wrote about the encounter anyway, asked Mr. Cort if he couldnrCOt separate his personal and professional lives.

rCLItrCOs the same thing,rCY he replied.

Walter Edward Cox was born on March 29, 1948, in Rye, N.Y. His parents
were in the entertainment business: His father, Joseph, was the leader of
a big band, the Joe Cox Orchestra, and his mother, Alma (Court) Cox,
worked as a publicist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, a job that involved hosting stars like Clark Gable and Judy Garland whenever they came to New York.

By high school, Mr. Cort said he knew he wanted to act. He skipped classes
to venture into Manhattan to catch matinees and, after graduation, he
enrolled at New York University to give him a base for auditions.

He had small roles in the movies rCLUp the Down StaircaserCY (1967), the high school drama starring Sandy Dennis, and rCLSweet Charity,rCY the 1969 musical with Shirley MacLaine. Eventually he left college and began doing stand-up comedy. He chose his stage name to avoid confusion with the television
star Wally Cox.

Mr. Cort is survived by a brother, Joseph, and three sisters, Kerry Cox,
Tracy Cox Berkman and Shelly Cox Dufour.

Mr. Cort maintained a love-hate relationship with the film that had made
him a household name, long after it entered the cinematic pantheon.

One of the biggest problems, he told The New York Times in 2000, were all
the Harold Chasen groupies.

rCLEveryone assumed I was that person,rCY he said. rCLIrCOve been through the whole thing of being followed around. People used to come to my hotel and leave tombstones and pictures of dead babies. I try to talk to them, tell
them they missed the point of the movie.rCY
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/movies/bud-cort-dead.html

Bud Cort, Who Starred in 1971's 'Harold and Maude,' Dies at 77

The role, one of his first, made him a household name and a film idol of
the anti-establishment 1970s. But it also limited his growth as an actor.

That's a bunch of crap.

A representative for his family said that the death, at an assisted-living >facility, was from complications from pneumonia.

Why was he in assisted living?

. . .

He fought with the studio, Paramount, over edits, leading it to exclude
him from much of the film's publicity. He was later typecast as a
character actor and offered only offbeat roles when he believed he
deserved to play the lead.

He hurt his own career, then. "I believe I should play the lead" doesn't
mean shit if you weren't offered the lead. Why, no, starring in Harold
and Maude isn't what hurt his career.

He said that Milos Forman considered him for a supporting part in his 1975 >film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," but that he lost his chance when
he insisted that he get the lead. That part, Randle McMurphy, went to Jack >Nicholson, who won an Oscar.

Gee. That was a movie filled with memorable supporting roles. He was an
idiot.

. . .

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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/movies/bud-cort-dead.html

By Clay Risen
Feb. 11, 2026

He fought with the studio, Paramount, over edits, leading it to exclude
him from much of the filmrCOs publicity. He was later typecast as a character actor and offered only offbeat roles when he believed he
deserved to play the lead.

He said that Milos Forman considered him for a supporting part in his 1975 film rCLOne Flew Over the CuckoorCOs Nest,rCY but that he lost his chance when
he insisted that he get the lead. That part, Randle McMurphy, went to Jack Nicholson, who won an Oscar.

Part of what held him back, Mr. Cort said, was his emotional attachment to his work and his willingness to fight directors, producers and writers
over every detail of his performance. He especially disliked critics who gave him negative reviews.

Shades of Dustin Hoffman's character in Tootsie?

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

Louis Epstein <le@lekno.ws> wrote:

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/movies/bud-cort-dead.html


By Clay Risen
Feb. 11, 2026

He fought with the studio, Paramount, over edits, leading it to exclude
him from much of the filmrCOs publicity. He was later typecast as a
character actor and offered only offbeat roles when he believed he
deserved to play the lead.

He said that Milos Forman considered him for a supporting part in his 1975 >> film rCLOne Flew Over the CuckoorCOs Nest,rCY but that he lost his

chance when

he insisted that he get the lead. That part, Randle McMurphy, went to Jack >> Nicholson, who won an Oscar.


Part of what held him back, Mr. Cort said, was his emotional attachment to >> his work and his willingness to fight directors, producers and writers
over every detail of his performance. He especially disliked critics who
gave him negative reviews.

Shades of Dustin Hoffman's character in Tootsie?

Snarf. When he played Michael, he was being himself! But the "I was a
stand-up tomato!" rant was absolutely hysterical.

Not funny was all the times he tried to take credit for the script.
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

J.D. Baldwin <SURNAME@panix.removethispart.com> wrote:

In the previous article, Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com> wrote:

In "Harold and Maude," which became a beloved and enduring cult
classic despite a rocky start at the box office, Cort played a
20-year old man obsessed by thoughts of suicide whose life
changes when he meets Maude, a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor
played by Ruth Gordon.

That picture ran for, like, two years at one Minneapolis theater
(where I first saw it). I vaguely remember Ruth Gordon showing up
there for the one-year anniversary. And this wasn't a multiplex: it
was a theater with one screen, and that is what they showed, twice
every evening and a few more showings on weekends.

My first stateside girlfriend (and later short-term fiance) dragged
me to a showing of that. I thought it was quirky as all hell and
enjoyed it quite a bit. She also dragged me to a midnight showing
of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which (along with the antics of
the audience) puzzled me no end. But she liked it, so so did I.

I could never get anyone else interested in watching H&M, though -
to a person, the'd heard that it was a "cult film" and dismissed it.

Oh well. De gustibus non est disputandum.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
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From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

Louis Epstein <le@lekno.ws> wrote:

Big Mongo <mongo@biteme.com> wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/movies/bud-cort-dead.html


By Clay Risen
Feb. 11, 2026

He fought with the studio, Paramount, over edits, leading it to exclude >>> him from much of the film???s publicity. He was later typecast as a
character actor and offered only offbeat roles when he believed he
deserved to play the lead.

He said that Milos Forman considered him for a supporting part in his 1975 >>> film ???One Flew Over the Cuckoo???s Nest,??? but that he lost his

chance when

he insisted that he get the lead. That part, Randle McMurphy, went to Jack >>> Nicholson, who won an Oscar.


Part of what held him back, Mr. Cort said, was his emotional attachment to >>> his work and his willingness to fight directors, producers and writers
over every detail of his performance. He especially disliked critics who >>> gave him negative reviews.

Shades of Dustin Hoffman's character in Tootsie?

Snarf. When he played Michael, he was being himself! But the "I was a stand-up tomato!" rant was absolutely hysterical.

It seems that Cort,like Michael but not Hoffman,had the
"nobody will work with you" problem for an extended period.

Not funny was all the times he tried to take credit for the script.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
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