Bud Cort, Star of 1971’s ‘Harold and Maude,’ Dies at 77

Bud Cort, a veteran stage and screen actor best known for his role as Harold in Hal Ashby’s 1971 film Harold and Maude, died on Wednesday in Norwalk, Conn. He was 77. His death, at an assisted‑living facility, was from complications of pneumonia, a representative for his family said.

Cort appeared in more than 40 movies, dozens of television shows and countless theater productions, yet he remained widely identified with Harold Chasen, a death‑obsessed 19‑year‑old who falls into friendship and then love with Maude, a 79‑year‑old Holocaust survivor played by Ruth Gordon.

Ashby’s off‑kilter romantic comedy, noted for moments both humorous and melancholic and for a scene revealing Maude’s concentration‑camp tattoo, was initially a critical and commercial failure but grew into a cult favorite on college campuses and is now regarded as one of the decade’s best films; the American Film Institute ranked it No.

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