Bud Cort, the actor known for his co-starring role in the 1971 film Harold and Maude, has died. He was 77.

Dorian Hannaway, a television producer and friend of Cort, confirmed Cort's death to ABC News on Wednesday. Cort died of what was described as a long illness.

Cort was born Walter Edward Cox on March 29, 1948, in Rye, New York. Director Robert Altman discovered the actor and cast him in two 1970 films, M*A*S*H and Brewster McCloud, which both went on to be hits.

He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Harold Chasen, a young man who falls in love with a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor played by Ruth Gordon, in director Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude. The movie was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 1997, as the Library of Congress deemed it to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

Other notable roles of his include parts in Michael Mann's 1995 film Heat, the 1999 movie Dogma and Wes Anderson's 2004 film The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. He also appeared in Coyote Ugly, Pollock, She Dances Alone and Electric Dreams.

Cort is survived by his brother, Joseph Cox, and his family; his sister Kerry Cox; his sister Tracy Cox Berkman and her family; and his sister Shelly Cox Dufour and her family.

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