| Bud Cort | |
|---|---|
 Bud Cort made his cinematic debut as Private Boone in the 1970 film MASH. | |
| Personal Information | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Born: | March 29, 1948 |
| Birthplace | New Rochelle, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actor |
| Character information | |
| Appeared on/in: | M*A*S*H |
| Episodes appeared in: | 3 in Season 1 |
| Character(s) played: | Private Lorenzo Boone |
Bud Cort (born Walter Edward Cox March 29, 1948) made his screen debut as Private Boone in the M*A*S*H* movie. Bud is perhaps best known for his starring role, with Ruth Gordon in the cult classic film noir, Harold and Maude.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Bud was born in New Rochelle, New York, but grew up in the nearby town of 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 Cox (née Court), was a reporter and a merchant, who also worked at 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.
Acting career[]
Young Walter Cox (renamed Cort, since 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.[1]
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 nearly died 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.[2]
In 1989 he directed the "Hôtel de Paris" episode of the second series of the ZDF German television documentary series Hotels, about famous hotels around the world. Cort has since appeared in a number of 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, The Twilight Zone, 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.
Voice over work[]
Bud voiced Toyman, a Superman villain, over the course of various DCAU series including Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and Justice League Unlimited. He also voiced the character Josiah Wormwood in the animated television series Batman: The Animated Series. Cort had a cameo appearance as himself in the Arrested Development episode "Fakin' It", hosting a daytime court show called Bud Cort, a competitor to a similar daytime court show in the series called Mock Trial with J. Reinhold. On the November 8, 2007 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. In an ironic homage to his most famous role, his character, when faced with imminent capture, was shown hanging in an apparent suicide. Then, in 2012, he appeared as the artist "Gleeko" in the episode "Exit Wound the Gift Shop" in the second season of Adult Swim's Eagleheart.
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ American Film Institute (AFI) MASH film on top 100 All-Time film list, ranked #69th.
- ↑ Bud Cort - Salon.com
- Sources
- 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 in 2005