Bud Cort, who starred in 1971's 'Harold and Maude,' dies at 77

"Movies 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. 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 Gordon's 79-year-old, happy-go-lucky Holocaust survivor named Maude in the 1971 off-kilter romantic comedy "Harold and Maude," died Wednesday in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was 77."

"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."

"Though initially a critical and commercial flop - Variety said that it "has all the fun and gaiety of a burning orphanage" - through the 1970s it developed a cult following, especially on college campuses, where its quirky, antiestablishment 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."

Bud Cort, a veteran stage and screen actor, died at 77 in Norwalk, Connecticut from complications of pneumonia at an assisted-living facility. Cort's best-known role was Harold Chasen, a death-obsessed 19-year-old who befriends and falls for Maude, a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, in the 1971 off-kilter romantic comedy Harold and Maude. The film, directed by Hal Ashby, balances humor, melancholy and poignant moments such as Maude's tattoo from a concentration camp. The movie flopped initially but developed a strong college-campus cult following in the 1970s and later received critical reassessment and AFI recognition. Cort appeared in over 40 films and many TV and theater productions, yet remained widely identified with Harold. Robert Altman had earlier cast Cort in M*A*S*H and then in the title role of Brewster McCloud.

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