Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon in the Hal Ashby-directed 1971 film, ‘Harold and Maude.’ (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
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.
Justin Baldoni and Emily Baldoni arrive at New York Federal Courthouse for his trial against Blake Lively on Feb. 11, 2026, in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
Actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are facing off in a New York City federal court for a settlement conference in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, with whom she co-starred in It Ends With Us.
The It Ends With Us co-stars, flanked by their attorneys, smiled at a small crowd of media gathered outside of the U.S. District Court as they entered Wednesday morning, but did not speak to reporters.
The court-ordered settlement conference is a last effort for a resolution ahead of the actors’ scheduled May 18 trial in a legal battle that has stretched on for more than a year.
According to court documents, each side will make a 10- to 15-minute presentation during the conference summarizing the issues attorneys believe are important for the opposing party to consider.
The judge will then meet separately with each side in private. The proceedings are not open to the public or press, and there is no word on how long Wednesday’s conference is expected to last.
Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us, and accusing both Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, of engaging in a “social manipulation” campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
The two later filed lawsuits against each other in New York, with Lively reiterating the claims made in her earlier complaint and accusing Baldoni and Wayfarer of allegedly engaging in “unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing” to ruin her reputation in a lawsuit seeking $500 million in damages.
Baldoni’s attorney denied the allegations.
Shortly after Lively filed her lawsuit, Baldoni filed a $400 million countersuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and the couple’s publicist for extortion and defamation, claiming Lively had “robbed” him of control over the film and had destroyed his reputation.
Lively’s lawyers denied the allegations and called Baldoni’s suit “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
A federal judge in New York dismissed Baldoni’s suit last June, formally ending the counterclaim in October after Baldoni did not refile an amended complaint.
James Van Der Beek arrives at the premiere of Prime Video series ‘Overcompensating’ at Hollywood Palladium on May 14, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek and films including Varsity Blues, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”
Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.
In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined Good Morning America to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.
“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments. … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.
“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank gGod this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”
Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.
It was while he was a student at Drew in 1998 that Van Der Beek auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek said about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with Good Morning America. “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”
Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle. “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”
Despite having already begun a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not, which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s Dawson’s Creek fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama Varsity Blues. Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
“It was a movie I really, really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told Good Morning America. “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially.”
The success of Varsity Blues led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up Scary Movie, in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his Dawson’s Creek character, the 2001 Western Texas Rangers and the 2002 dark comedy Rules of Attraction. Later film roles included the 2009 thriller Formosa Betrayed, 2013’s Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including How I Met Your Mother, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, One Tree Hill,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Cyber and Modern Family, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series Vampirina. Van Der Beek also placed fifth on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.
In September 2025, the cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person — Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place — but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
A graphic for the upcoming ‘Dreamgirls’ Broadway production. (Sonia Friedman Productions)
Jennifer Hudson’s got another job.
During her daytime talk show Wednesday, the EGOT winner announced she’ll be helping to produce a revival of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Jennifer starred in the award-winning movie based on the 1981 musical, which she said “changed my life.”
“Twenty years ago, my life changed forever because of a film called Dreamgirls,” Hudson said in a press release. “I am beyond honored to join the extraordinary producing team behind this special, newly reimagined Broadway revival, and to help bring Dreamgirls back to the stage through the visionary direction and choreography of Camille A. Brown. This fall cannot come soon enough.”
Brown, a five-time Tony Award nominee, will direct and choreograph the Broadwayrevival alongside producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Sue Wagner and John Johnson.
“There’s going to be so much more to share, in time,” Jennifer said to her audience. “But I’ve been having so much fun working with this amazing team and I cannot wait to share the incredible production this fall.”
While no ticket information has been released about the show, fans can subscribe to an email list for future announcements.
Jason Momoa attends ‘The Wrecking Crew’ UK special screening at Cineworld Leicester Square on Jan. 22, 2026, in London, England. (Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)
Jason Momoa is set to be the face of a popular video game’s film adaptation.
The actor will star in a movie adaptation of Helldivers for PlayStation Productions and Sony Pictures. This film will be based on the Arrowhead Game Studios video game of the same name. It has a release date of Nov. 10, 2027.
Justin Lin, who has directed many movies in the Fast and Furious franchise, including The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast Five and F9, will helm the film. Lin will also produce the film alongside Hutch Parker and Asad Qizilbash.
The Helldivers video game made its debut in 2015. Its sequel, Helldivers 2, sold over 12 million units on both the PlayStation 5 and PC in the first four months after its launch in 2024.
It is a shooter-style video game that has a story that focuses on an elite group of soldiers who battle alien creatures that threaten to destroy the fictional planet of Super Earth.
There is currently no word on who will star alongside Momoa in the upcoming film.
Anna Cathcart as Kitty Song Covey and Sang Heon Lee as Min Ho in ‘XO, Kitty’ season 3. (Netflix)
Still haven’t filled the Jenny Han love story hole in your heart after The Summer I Turned Pretty ended its three-season run? You’re in luck.
Netflix has shared its first look at season 3 of XO, Kitty. The streamer also announced that the third season will debut on April 2.
Additionally, the first synopsis for the third season of the show has arrived. It finds Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart) returning “for her final year at KISS with her perfect senior year mapped out. She’s going to make meaningful memories with her friends, grow closer to her relatives in Korea, and make big decisions about her future.”
“And she’s going to define her relationship with Min Ho (Sang Heon Lee). For real this time,” the synopsis continues. “But when surprise revelations throw her plans, and relationships, off course, Kitty will have to learn to embrace the unexpected.”
XO, Kitty is a spinoff series inspired by the popular To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before film trilogy, which itself is based on Han’s bestselling books. Season 3 will consist of eight 30-minute episodes. Valentina Garza serves as the showrunner, executive producer and writer while Han executive produces.
Han took to Instagram on Wednesday to share all of the new photos from the upcoming season. Her carousel begins with a photo of Kitty and Min Ho in front of a cherry blossom tree staring into each other’s eyes.
“First look at @xokittynetflix Season 3,” Han captioned the post alongside a love letter emoji. “Out April 2!”
Also starring in season 3 are Minyeong Choi as Dae, Gia Kim as Yuri, Anthony Keyvan as Q and Regan Aliyah as Juliana.
In an aerial view, law enforcement and news broadcasters are stationed outside of Nancy Guthrie’s residence on February 10, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
A man was briefly detained and then released Tuesday evening in connection with the Nancy Guthrie disappearance case, according to an ABC News’ affiliate KNXV and a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
In a day filled with a number of developments in the case of the suspected abduction of the mom of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the FBI, detained the individual in a location south of Tucson, the source said, and law enforcement searched a location associated with the individual.
In a statement on social media, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said deputies “detained a subject during a traffic stop.”
A court-authorized search related to the investigation was carried out by the sheriff’s department, with assistance of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, at a location in Rio Rico, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Tucson, the department said. The operation lasted several hours, according to the department.
The developments, more than a week into the disappearance case, came on the heels of a series of eerie images being released by law enforcement of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood.
Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel released images and video of an “armed individual” in connection with the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie.
The images showed someone wearing a mask, gloves, a backpack, armed with a holstered handgun, at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home around the time investigators suspect she was abducted on Feb. 1.
“[L]aw enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” Patel said in his post.
The Guthrie family was shown the images before their public release, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Savannah Guthrie posted the images to her Instagram account, with the message, “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Chicken Shop Date host and creator Amelia Dimoldenberg is set to star in a romantic comedy she is developing. The film will be about a journalist whose life unravels when a celebrity interview turns into a real-life romance. Dimoldenberg shared the news of the upcoming film to her Instagram, writing, “a dream come true : ) so excited to be developing my very own movie.” …
We now know who will step into the role that Odessa A’zion departed in the upcoming A24 film Deep Cuts. Deadline reports that Ariela Barer has joined the film and will play the role of Zoe Gutierrez. Sean Durkin wrote and will direct Deep Cuts, which is a love story set in the 2000s that will also star Cailee Spaeny and Drew Starkey …
The first images from Prime Video’s upcoming live-action series Spider-Noir have arrived. They show off star Nicolas Cage in his first-ever leading TV role. The new show will premiere in spring 2026. It’s a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li and Karen Rodriguez also star in the series, which will be available to stream in two different ways — what Prime Video is calling the Authentic Black & White option or the True-Hue Full Color option …
Ansel Elgort attends the ‘Bugonia’ New York premiere at the Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 21, 2025, in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Ansel Elgort has shared the first photo of his newborn child, confirming that he is now a father.
The actor took to Instagram on Tuesday to post a black-and-white photo of himself and his newborn son. In the photo, the elder Elgort wears a turtleneck sweater as he cuddles cheek-to-cheek with his young son, who is wrapped in a fleece onesie and wears a beanie.
“Fatherhood is exhilarating, exhausting, it’s everything and more. The present feels more present and the future brighter,” Elgort wrote. “He wakes us up all night and yet I’ve never felt stronger during the day. He goes from crying to laughing, expressing everything he feels and it’s freed me to do the same.”
Elgort continued, writing that at first he wanted to keep the news of his son’s birth “sacred, just for us, but now I want to share this story with you as it’s the brightest happiest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“I hope it brings you happiness too. So much love,” Elgort ended his post.
Elgort also shared a video of himself singing and playing the guitar to his newborn child, who sat across from him in a baby bouncer.
“Welcome to the world, little squirrel,” Elgort sings in the video. “Welcome to planet Earth. This is your turf.”
The actor captioned the video, “Goodmorning” with a smile emoji. His The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent costar Shailene Woodley commented a heart eyes emoji under the video.
In an aerial view, law enforcement and news broadcasters are stationed outside of Nancy Guthrie’s residence on February 10, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the FBI, has detained an individual for questioning in connection with the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told ABC News.
The individual was detained in a location south of Tucson, Arizona, the source said, and law enforcement is preparing to search a location associated with the individual.
The development followed the first images released of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood.
However, there’s no indication that the person who was detained is the figure seen in the newly released video footage.
Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel released images and video of an “armed individual” in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie.
The images showed someone wearing a mask, gloves, a backpack and armed with a holstered handgun at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home around the time investigators suspect she was abducted on Feb. 1.
“[L]aw enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” Patel said in his post.
The Guthrie family was shown the images before their public release, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Savannah Guthrie posted the images to her Instagram account, with the message, “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.”
In a second Instagram post on Tuesday afternoon, Guthrie wrote, “Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home on Sunday, Feb. 1, according to authorities. A Monday ransom deadline by persons claiming to be Guthrie’s abductors passed as the search for her continues.
Patel said the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s office worked with “private sector partners” in recent days to recover the video footage, which Patel said had been “lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors, including the removal of recording devices.”
“The video was recovered from residual data located in the backend systems,” Patel said. “Working with four partners — as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump was briefed on the latest details in the case and was reviewing the video footage posted online by Patel.
“We’re just praying for the safety of Nancy Guthrie and that she will return home soon. And the president directed me to please encourage all Americans with any information to call the FBI, and we hope that this case will come to a positive resolution as soon as possible,” Leavitt said.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
