Bud Cort

Bud Cort
Born	Walter Edward Cox (1948-03-29) March 29, 1948 New Rochelle, New York, United States
Years active	1967–Present

Bud Cort (born Walter Edward Cox in March 29, 1948) is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular "hero" in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud. Both films have large cult followings today.

Early life

Cort was born in New Rochelle, New York, but eventually grew up in Rye, New York. His father, Joseph Parker Cox, was a bandleader and pianist, also a World War II veteran, and merchant. His mother, Alma Mary Cox (née Court), was a reporter and a merchant, who also worked in MGM studios. Cort has four siblings—three younger sisters and one older brother. His parents ran a clothing business in downtown Rye from the 1950s until the mid-1980s. Most of Cort's adolescence was spent caring for his sisters and father; his father had multiple sclerosis and died of it in 1971. He also engaged in reading and painting. As a teenager he was a local portrait painting prodigy and began taking acting lessons. He was educated in Catholic schools and graduated from Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle in 1966.

Career

Cort was discovered in a revue by director Robert Altman, who subsequently cast him in two of his movies, MASH and Brewster McCloud, in which he played the title role.

Cort next went on to his most famous role, as the suicide-obsessed Harold, in Harold and Maude. Though the film was not particularly successful at the time of its release, it later gained international cult status and now is acclaimed as an American film classic.

On Broadway, Cort appeared in the short-lived 1972 play Wise Child by Simon Gray. Cort was invited to live with the famous comedian Groucho Marx in his Bel-Air mansion, and was present at Marx's death in 1977.

In 1979, Cort's life nearly ended in a car accident on the Hollywood Freeway where he collided with an abandoned car blocking a lane into which he was turning. He broke an arm and a leg and sustained a concussion and a fractured skull. His face was severely lacerated and his lower lip nearly severed. Years of plastic surgery, substantial hospital bills, a lost court case, and the disruption of his career ensued.

Cort has since appeared in various film, stage and TV roles: Endgame, He Who Gets Slapped, Sledge Hammer!, The Chocolate War, The Big Empty, Theodore Rex, Dogma, But I'm A Cheerleader, Pollock, Arrested Development, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Cort lent his voice to the computer in the movie Electric Dreams.

Cort voiced Toyman, a Superman villain, over the course of various DCAU series including Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited.

On the November 8, 2007 original episode of Ugly Betty, he made a guest appearance as the priest officiating at Wilhelmina Slater's ill-fated wedding. He guest-starred on Criminal Minds in the episode "Mosley Lane," playing a predator who, with his wife, was kidnapping young children.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	Up the Down Staircase	Student	Uncredited
1969	Sweet Charity	Hippie	Uncredited
1970	MASH	Pvt. Lorenzo Boone
	The Strawberry Statement	Elliot – Coxswain
	The Traveling Executioner	Jimmy Croft
	Brewster McCloud	Brewster McCloud	Nominated – Laurel Award for Male Star of Tomorrow
1971	Gas-s-s-s	Hooper
	Harold and Maude	Harold Parker Chasen	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1975	Hallucination Strip	Massimo Monaldi
1977	Why Shoot the Teacher?	Max Brown
1978	Son of Hitler	Willi Hitler
1980	Die Laughing	Mueller
1981	She Dances Alone	Director
1983	Hysterical	Dr. John
	Love Letters	Danny De Fronso
1984	The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud	Sigmund Freud
	Electric Dreams	Edgar, the Computer	Voice
	Maria's Lovers	Harvey
1986	Telephone
	Invaders from Mars	Mark Weinstein
1987	Bates Motel	Alex West
1988	Love at Stake	Parson Babcock
	The Chocolate War	Brother Jacques
1989	Out of the Dark	Doug Stringer
1990	Going Under	McNally	Uncredited
	Brain Dead	Jack Halsey
1991	Ted & Venus	Ted Whitley
1995	Girl in the Cadillac	Bud
	Heat	Solenko, Restaurant Manager	Uncredited
1996	Theodore Rex	Spinner
1998	I Woke Up Early the Day I Died	Shopkeeper	(as Lord Hienrich 'Binky' Alcoa III)
	Sweet Jane	Dr. Geiler
1999	Dogma	John Doe Jersey (aka God)
	But I'm a Cheerleader	Peter Bloomfield
2000	South of Heaven, West of Hell	Agent Otts
	The Million Dollar Hotel	Shorty
	Coyote Ugly	Romero
	Pollock	Howard Putzel
2001	Made	Bernardo, Gay House Owner	Uncredited
2003	The Big Empty	Neely
2004	The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou	Bill Ubell	Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2007	The Number 23	Dr. Sirius Leary	Uncredited

References

• Venice Magazine article, May 2005. (PDF)
• Salon.com's Bud Cort article, September 4, 1999
• Bud Cort interview, about his role in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, 2005

External links

• Bud Cort at IMDb