Bud Cort, 'Harold & Maude' and 'MAS*H' Icon, Dead at 77

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Published Feb 11, 2026, 3:24 PM EST

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Bud Cort, one of cinema's great oddballs, has died. Best known for leading roles in iconic 1970s films like Brewster McCloud and Harold and Maude, Cort was an unforgettable screen presence in a career that extended well into the 21st century. Cort was 77.

Born Walter Edward Cox on March 29, 1948, in Rye, New York, he took on Bud Cort as a stage name and embarked on a stand-up comedy career in New York City. While performing in a revue, he was discovered by director Robert Altman. Altman cast him in his counter-cultural Korean War movie M*A*S*H in 1970; he had a small role in the film as nervous corpsman Lorenzo Boone. Cort took center stage in Altman's next film, Brewster McCloud; he played the title role, an owlish recluse living beneath the Houston Astrodome who attempts to build a set of wings for himself.

What Is 'Harold and Maude'?

Cort's most famous role came the next year, in 1971, when he starred in Hal Ashby's blackly comedic romance Harold and Maude. He played Harold, a suicidal young man who embarks on a bizarre romance with the eccentric, elderly Maude (Ruth Gordon). Critically and commercially unsuccessful upon its release, the film eventually became a cult classic. Cort survived a near-fatal car accident in 1979 that derailed his career for several years and necessitated several reconstructive surgeries. However, his career bounced back in the 1980s, with a number of memorable roles in Invaders From Mars (as a scientist), The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud (as the title figure), and Electric Dreams (as the voice of a lovestruck computer). He also starred in Bates Motel, a TV movie spin-off of Psycho in which he plays a friend of Norman Bates who inherits the title lodgings.

Cort's career continued into the 1990s and 2000s, with roles in films like Heat, Coyote Ugly, The Number 23, and Dogma; in the latter, he played an incarnation of God. One memorable later role had him play bond company stooge Bill Ubell in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Cort's distinctive voice made him an in-demand voice actor, and he played a number of animated roles on series like Batman: The Animated Series, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, and, most memorably, Superman: The Animated Series, where he had a recurring role as a particularly unsettling version of the villainous Toyman. On TV, he guested on Ugly Betty, Eagleheart, and Arrested Development; in the latter, he played himself as the host of a TV court show.

Cort passed away after a lengthy illness. He is survived by a brother and three sisters, and by a number of nieces and nephews. We extend our sympathies to Cort's friends and family.