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| This Day in Gay History | |||
March 29 | |||
BUD CORT, American actor, born; As a teenager Cort was a local portrait painting prodigy and began taking acting lessons. He was discovered in a revue by director Robert Altman, who subsequently cast him in two of his movies, M.A.S.H. and Brewster McCloud (in the title role).
But Cort’s most iconic role, was as the suicide-obsessed Harold, in Harold and Maude with the legendary Ruth Gordon. Though the film was not particularly successful at the time of its release, it gained international cult status and now is acclaimed as an American film classic. Although he was grateful for the opportunity, it also had its downsides. During an interview with The Guardian, he referred to the movie as “a blessing and a curse” because it ultimately resulted in him being typecast.
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, Bud’s life nearly ended in a near-fatal car accident on the Hollywood Freeway. From behind, he collided with an abandoned car blocking a lane into which he was turning. Years of plastic surgery, enormous hospital bills, a losing court case, and the disruption of his career ensued.
Since, Cort has 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, Pollack, Arrested Development, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
On a November 2007 original episode of Ugly Betty, he made a guest appearance as the priest officiating at Wilhemina Slater’s ill-fated wedding.
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