Actor Bud Cort, best known for Harold and Maude, died on Feb. 11 after a long illness. He was 77. Cort was acting in a revue when discovered by Robert Altman and cast in supporting roles in M*A*S*H and Brewster McCloud. In Harold and Maude (1971), the 23-year-old Cort played teenager obsessed with suicide, who falls in love with the elderly Maude (Ruth Gordon, for whom I have a very low tolerance). Despite being sidelined by a 1979 auto accident, Cort continued acting, in such vehicles as Invaders from Mars, Ugly Betty, Sledge Hammer!, and Dogma. Cort said of Harold and Maude, “we shot every single word that was in that script. There was no improvisation. There were moments that were hard, but Hal Ashby was such a loving director. Ever since Harold and Maude, people have generally regarded me as an arbiter of weirdness. So, I'll tell you what I find weird: I find Hollywood package deals weird. Agents are always sending me scripts and then reneging, telling me that I'm not Robert De Niro.”
