Introduction

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"We can't all do good, but at least do no harm."

A message to the fans of Bud Cort: Again I say, the fan site is in NO WAY affiliated with Bud Cort or anyone who represents him. I hope someday to be endorsed as his "official" fan site, or at least be the BEST one for him on the Internet, should he not ever have one of his own.

Secondly, from time to time, I have had fans ask me for mailing addresses to send a letter or autograph request to Bud Cort. Over the years regarding my research on Bud, via the Internet and public libraries I've frequented, I have found several addresses for him, which I wrote letters to, but NEVER got a reply, (nor the return of my letters). Mr. Cort is a very private individual and I am sure that he appreciates our admiration of his work, but last I heard, he has no agent and for the time being, I have no way of contacting him directly or through any representative. If that ever changes, I will let you all know. Until then, the fan site alone will have to suffice.

Now that THAT information is out of the way....

Welcome! I am the proud moderator of Bud Cort's only, though unofficial, fan site. Formerly known as "A Tribute to Bud Cort," originally founded in 1996 by Christina Rogers, who, in 2002, was no longer able to maintain it. I was honored when she asked me if I would be interested in taking it over, with permission to incorporate anything from her site into mine. Hers was the most informative site for Mr. Cort on the Web at the time. Her site had inspired me to start a new one for Bud, and thanks to her giving it to me, I now have the ONLY ONE on the Internet dedicated to him!

About myself, I live in northern New Jersey, and am in my late-40's. I am a secretary, a writer, a film study major, and am a single mother of a teenaged son. I enjoy photography, reading, growing indoor plants, going to the theater and concerts, seeing many kinds of films, classic TV shows, and listening to varied kinds of music. Of my writing, I have been published, but not for pay--yet).

What brought me to my passionate fanship of Bud Cort and the inheritance and enhancement of this fan site was that I became re-acquainted with him and his most famous film, "Harold and Maude" several years ago when it was broadcast on AMC TV. I never got to see it when it first came out back in the early 1970's, nor when it was re-released in 1979, but I was aware of it, via the TV ads for it. Back then, I remember being shocked by the nature of their relationship because I couldn't see Harold and Maude as being more than just friends--nothing romantic, and heaven's not sexual either! (But I was a naive 19 year old then). Years later, when it was aired on broadcast TV, I would always come into the film, without fail, during the last half-hour of it, but what I got to see, I grew to love. AMC showed it a few years ago, and I finally got to see the WHOLE film! I was hooked, and just HAD to find out more about Bud Cort, thus bringing me to where I am here and now.

However, when I started doing research on his life and career, I was pleased and surprised to discover that my earliest memory of him (via TV) came from watching the original broadcast of "Bernice Bobs Her Hair", which I saw on PBS back in the late 1970's. Back in the early 1980's, I had also been a fan of Shelley Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theatre" and saw the productions he appeared in for that series. With still further research, I was amazed to realize just how many of the TV series he made guest appearances in I had watched, and/or been a fan of: shows like "Room 222," "The Governor and JJ," and even the soap opera "The Doctors," of which my mother was a regular viewer. He also did commercials for TV products that I remember, like Imperial and Chiffon Margarine and Lays Potato Chips. I love doing this kind of research, and my Cort-ly voyage of discovery is such a pleasure for me, as I am growing more in admiration of him because of what I am finding regarding his life and career.

I have amassed quite a collection of nearly all of his (known and not-so-well-known) film and TV performances on VHS and DVD; a few radio performances and interviews, along with a large collection of photos, and many articles and scripts. In earnest, I have been trying to find anything AND everything that I can about his life and his work. I also hope to someday interview him. I am so enjoying this experience as I have heard from fans who met him and people who either went to school with him or worked with him, and I enjoy and am honored that they want to share anecdotes and reminiscences with me about him. I also find him to be such an inspiration to me as a writer as I get characters and story ideas just from watching him and studying his performances, photos, and from listening to his voice. He is a wonderful muse!

I have yet to have the pleasure of seeing Bud on stage and am glad that he still has a connection with the theater. I especially admire actors who still work in the theater, which gives some of us lucky Bud Cort fans something to look forward to in the future. If film doesn't offer Mr. Cort much in the way of variety and versatility in the choice of roles to play, at least he gets it from his stage work.

I don't know how much of a film fan many of you are, but I have to say as a fan of silent films, I've noticed something interesting. Bud Cort's style of acting, his facial features, with those big expressive light blue eyes of his, and how he uses his body, reminds me of the great silent comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harry Langdon. Comedy and drama flowed from them by how they used their expressive faces, eyes and bodies. Of anyone in the sound era, I would say that he most reminds me of the late Jack Lemmon and Johnny Depp, as both are deft at comedy and dramatic roles, even regarding playing quirky characters. Mind you though, Bud is in a class by himself. I think that as an actor, Bud was/is way ahead of his time. Had he been born 10 or 20 years later than he was, I am sure that he wouldn't have had to deal with the issues he faced earlier in his career which had him unfairly typecast and kept him from being recognized and celebrated as one of our most talented and versatile actors.

It's kind of sad that a lot of people are stuck in the 1970's regarding him though, and forget, or neglect to see, that he's an actor of great versatility, with a wide range of parts on stage, on the big and small screen, and even radio, to his credit. As great a film as "Harold and Maude" is, people just cannot see him beyond that film, and beyond the role of 'Harold Chasen'. It's like he should be a "Dorian Gray" forever, in that even though that film, and others of his early career, get older, he's always supposed to stay young-looking; in his lean, long-haired and lanky 20's. He has an adorably youthful persona for a man of 60, and why shouldn't he be allowed to grow older and look however he wants to?

On that note, I love the way he looks today!! I love the (still youthful) maturity in his facial features and in his body--I don't even care that he's lost most of his beautiful brown hair! He is a fine actor, and I look forward, with great excitement, to seeing him in new projects. He's a great scene-stealer!! Just watch how he can, sometimes without saying a word, dominate a scene. He BECOMES who he is playing so well that you cannot recognize him sometimes. (I found that out when I first saw "Dogma," not recognizing him as 'John Doe Jersey'). Just study his features and his movements in depth, like an artist studies the form and figure of a model, or how like one watches the movements of a dancer, and listen to his voice; what he says and HOW he says it, and you will find the "old" Bud Cort you're looking for. Watch his eyes, especially. The knowing twinkle in them is still there! His "best IS yet to be...."

Lastly, I hope that Bud Cort will check out this site someday, and that he'll like what he sees.

**Note: here is the answer to the above statement: On Friday and Saturday, July 20 & 21, 2007, I went with a friend and her young daughter to Waterville, ME to the 2007 Maine International Film Festival where Bud Cort was given a retrospective of 5 of his films and was to receive a Mid-Lifetime Achievement Award. I did SEE him on the 20th, as he was leaving the cinema from having given an introduction to his film, "Ted and Venus." He only stopped to notice my friend's daughter, who was with us to see the film. He briefly spoke to her and shook her hand and was gone before I knew it. I wasn't worried as to this "missed opportunity," as we still had Saturday's films and the award ceremony to go.

On Saturday, at the Opera House, a nice-sized audience was there, including Bud's niece, who was integral in getting him to come to Waterville for the honor. When he came from behind the stage curtain to get his award, he was charming, funny and very thankful for the presentation of the Festival plaque and his Moose award, given to him by the Festival director and his niece. When mentioning a film he saw there called "Crazy," Bud sang a bit of the Willie Nelson-composed (for Patsy Cline) song and also told a few anecdotes about his stay in the area. He also, naturally, thanked the late Ruth Gordon, Hal Ashby and Colin Higgins for their part in helping him to make "Harold and Maude" the great film it is.

Afterwards, there was a (public welcome) party for Bud at a local coffee house, and my friend, her daughter and I walked over to the place to find some people already there, but not Bud Cort. Hungry, I got into the food line, and just as I turned to my left, I saw Bud wiz by me. I went over to see where Bud was and it turns out the he was, excuse the pun, holding court on a near-by sofa sitting with his niece, her mother (I believe she was), and Ken Eisen, the host of the Bud Cort retrospective. People were slowly coming over to him to chat and shake hands, and eventually it got around to me….

This is where it gets kind of heady for me (be still my heart), for I was so trying to keep my cool that if I forgot anything or didn't remember it correctly in telling what happened, please forgive me.

I slowly and respectfully walked over to him and said hello and introduced myself, I think just by my 1st name, and he said, "I know who you are". (Or something to that effect.) Yipeeeee!!

In spite of my excitement, I prided myself, as I am sure Bud did too, that I was very composed and calm and gracious during the 5 or so minutes I was in his company. I remember him saying to me that he was aware of the content of my unofficial fan site and thanked me for respecting his privacy. (I assured him that it is my intention not to have anything in the site that would jeopardize his privacy--or safety for that matter.) He was sorry that he wasn't computer literate, (or didn't have a computer), and that (he was sure) we would meet again. He also said, "I have something for you," and reached into his pocket and pulled out a lanyard with an ID photo attached to it. He mentioned that he had recently come from a film festival in the Czech Republic, and wanted me to have his press pass. I was very moved and thanked him and we shook hands again.

In fact, after I introduced myself, he reached out his hand for me to shake, and throughout my time with him, we must have shaken hands about 5 or 6 times. He has very soft and smooth hands, and oh, how great he looked! The way he was dressed reminded me of Truman Capote, as he had this cool-looking canary yellow kind of wide-brimmed canvas hat with a white suit (can't remember the color or look of his shirt and tie) and some cool sporty sneakers that looked black with white squiggly lines on them. His eyes were big and bright, sparkling and light blue, and it was nice to see he still has those darling dimples too!

I looked him in the eyes to let him know how sincere I was. He was kind and gracious and seemed comfortable chatting with me.

Oh yes, I did ask him a question: regarding the Harold and Maude dolls I saw in a 1979 TV interview he did with Ruth Gordon and had also seen in a 2001 Vanity Fair magazine interview. He told me that, yes, they were the same dolls and that he had them made by a friend of his. (Those are some really cool-looking dolls!)

Although I hate looking at photos of myself, I would have made an exception in this case, to have seen a photo of myself with Bud. But alas, it didn't happen. My friend, who was attending to her daughter in another area of the coffee house, was deeply sorry to not have been around to take any photos of us, but I told her not to bother about it, as I have the memory of sharing a little bit of his space and time as well as being given Bud's piece of memorabilia to add to my own collection of Bud Cort memorabilia. (And the hope of seeing him again sometime in the future.) Oh yes, though there are no photos of me WITH him, I did take photos OF him there at the party which I'll add to the site very soon).

How nice it is to be lucky (or even blessed) to meet one of your favorite actors and to find him to be all that you ever expected him to be--and more!!

This was THE best birthday (July 14, actually) gift I ever had since I was 12. Interestingly, for that memorable birthday, I had 2 (late) uncles to thank: my Uncle Frankie, who bought me my 1st pizza (pepperoni) and my Uncle Walter, who bought me the best pair of sneakers, brand-new, blue Keds sneakers, I ever had (at that time). It amazed me that Uncle Walter, who I hadn't seen much since I was very little, worked at the now defunct S. Klein's department store in Manhattan, and knew my exact shoe size (7 ½ then), without me even telling him!!

~~Tiwanna

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