Bud Cort

Bud Cort
Cort in March 2008
Born	Walter Edward Cox (1948-03-29) March 29, 1948 (age 68) New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Years active	1967–present

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

Cort was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in Rye, New York. His father, Joseph Parker Cox, was a bandleader and pianist, as well as a World War II veteran and merchant. His mother, Alma Mary (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.

Cox (renamed Cort, a variation of his mother's maiden name, as the name Wally Cox was already taken) 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.