Bud Cort is Gone but His Presence Will Remain with Me

After seeing Harold and Maude at The Brattle Theatre in 2022, I had some thoughts and concluded with this one:

I don't know how much time Bud Cort has in this world (or for that matter of any of us) but Harold will thanks to Maude always have his whole life ahead of him.

While Harold will always have his whole life ahead him, Bud Cort had four more years less a day. Cort passed away today at the age of 77 following a long illness. 

While Cort never attained the level of stardom he appeared destined for with roles in Harold and Maude and in Robert Altman's Brewster McCloud with Shelley Duvall, he did carve out a unique place for himself in and out of Hollywood even if it wasn't by his design. 

Some among us see ourselves one way while the world around us sees us in another way and is wedded to that vision. Cort wanted to play Randall McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest while the studio viewed him as Billy Bibbit. He didn't want to play Bibbit but the studio wanted Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. Only then did he change his mind, but by that time the role had gone to newcomer Brad Dourif. The thing of it is that Cort probably could have played both roles with equal effectiveness.

So, he would settle for smaller roles such as in Bernice Bobs Her Hair though it did give him an opportunity to reunite with Duvall as well as an uncredited appearance in Columbo though he did share screen time with Peter Falk. Cort spent much of the 1970's living with Groucho Marx which in of itself would be worthy of some letters and some dialogue. It did not help matters that Cort was twice seriously injured in car accidents in 1979 and again in 2011.

Outside of Harold and Maude, I remember a guest appearance Cort made on the 1980's revival of The Twilight Zone in which he played hapless hotel manager who came in possession of a trunk which made all wishes come true though he would not be careful about what we wished. Disappointed by what the trunk brought he went inside the trunk only to be unable to get out of it. 

The ending scene shows a woman alone in an empty apartment now with the trunk. While on the phone with her mother, she says she wished she had a husband and out pops Cort dressed as a groom. I haven't seen that episode since it aired nearly 40 years ago and yet it has stayed with me. It has stayed with me because Bud Cort's presence will never leave. R.I.P.