"Harold and Maude" didn't make a particularly huge splash at the box office when it was released back in 1971. But the quirky May-December (really May-December) love story about an elderly woman (Ruth Gordon) and a jaded teen (Bud Cort) has since become a cult classic that influenced numerous filmmakers. 
Sadly, as many may recall, Gordon died in the mid-1980s. But everyone may not know what became of Cort, even though they've probably seen him in numerous other movies and TV shows over the years. TMZ recently caught up with him at an event in Hollywood, snapped his photograph and offered a brief update on his life. But surely you want more details. So what is the story with Harold?
After getting his show business start as a teenager who popped up here and there on various TV shows, Cort broke into movies in the early '70s, with roles in Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H*," "Brewster McCloud," and, of course, "Harold and Maude." (For the record, he was 22 when he played the part of Harold. So from a child star perspective, I am cheating a little in this Rich or Rehab installment. But the baby-faced Cort still assumed the role of a teen back then so, you know, that counts for something.)
After his memorable turn in that iconic film, life took an unfortunate detour. Cort nearly died in a car accident on the Hollywood Freeway in 1979 and, as TMZ noted, fully recovered after years of surgery and physical therapy.
Meanwhile, he kept acting, amassing a heap of credits during the past two-plus decades. Without even realizing it, you may have spotted Cort in "Dogma," "Coyote Ugly," "Pollock," "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," "Ugly Betty" or playing himself in an episode of one of TV's greatest comedies ever, "Arrested Development":
Other Cort fun facts: He lived off and on in Groucho Marx's mansion. And he provided the voice of the computer in "Electric Dreams," an '80s romantic-comedy-thriller that myself and maybe two other people on the planet probably remember.
The guy is clearly a survivor. Some of the lessons Maude taught Harold about embracing life -- lessons that, of course, were further emphasized by the sweet sounds of Cat Stevens -- must have rubbed off on Cort, too
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Images: homevideos.com and Filmwad.com
