Whatever happened to Bud Cort of Harold and Maude fame; did he get married; what about his friendship with Groucho Marx?

Who could forget Bud Cort's heartwrenching line in the 1971 cult movie, Harold and Maude ?

"I don't want you to die, Maude. I love you..."

And Maude's poignant response.

"Oh, Harold... That's wonderful. Go and love some more."

Go and love some more... a line that inspired me as a high school senior and continues to work magic in my mind and heart. If I could write such a line.

The profound statement was written by Colin Higgins, who went on to write Nine to Five (I don't think I could ever shoot a gun, I don't care... I can't understand guys like Hart, who go out and shoot things, like Bambi and Thumper... and that cute little skunk...), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Oh, Fred, you mean to tell me you don't think the cows don't appreciate the time off when a bull goes over to another pasture?), and Out on a Limb (Shirley MacLaine : I can't go to your event with you. Bella Abzug : Why not? Shirley MacLaine : Because I'm going to South America to look for extraterrestrials.)

Interesting trivia on Harold and Maude can be found clicking on Constance, i.e., Harold and Maude was Colin Higgins' thesis for the UCLA screenwriting MFA program. A little-known fact is that the professor told Collin that Maude should live at the end!

If she had, the sweetness of the line "Go and love some more" would have soured.

Cort: I had no choice. I had to act. I could memorize anything plus I only felt comfortable and safe on stage. And this was from nursery school to kindergarten and onward and continues up to this day. I played Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" in the third grade!

He was in M*A*S*H* and Brewster McCloud a year before he took on Harold...

Bud Cort: I saw her in a play called "The Loves of Cass McGuire" with the wonderful Irish actor Donal Donnelly, and I just remember seeing this little Minnie Mouse in a miniskirt and stiletto heels, racing across that stage from left to right, and I thought, "Good God almighty, what a torpedo!'"And it was Ruth. So it was nice when I finally got to meet her, when we did our screen test together. I said, "I'm playing this part," and she said, "Yes, you are!" And then I told her I'd seen her in Cass McGuire, and she says, "You're definitely playing the part." So it pays to go to the theatre. -- From The Austin Chronicle, March 14, 2008.

The actor's father passed away in 1971, weeks after Harold and Maude was released. NNDB: It was an extremely difficult time for Cort, and the friend who helped him through it was his co-star from the film. "Ruth was professionally distant during filming," he remembers. "But when my father died, she called and talked to me about the death of her own father. From that moment on, she became one of my best friends. We actually almost became the relationship we portrayed in Harold and Maude."

In 2004, he was Bill Ubell in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.  It is completely a shock to find him in the film because I was looking for his thick black hair.  But by then he was 56; he is the bald guy behind Steve Zissou.

Steve sees a young Filipino boy sitting on the beach, roasting a crab on a spit and raises his spear gun...
Bill Ubell: No, Captain! That's Cedric. He's a friend.
Steve Zissou: Merci, Cedric. Remind me, we'll send him a red cap and a Speedo.

Bud Cort now lives in Jack London's home built in the 1920s of ship parts.  He never married.

Bud Cort has appeared in 74 movies, thus far, including:

The Chocolate War
Coyote Ugly
Why Shoot the Teacher
The Strawberry Statement
Pollock.

His most recent, Passion Play- directed by Mitch Glazer- is In Post Production.