In Memory Of Ruth Gordon... From Harold & Maude

Maude, played by Gordon, is in her late 70s & befriends a wealthy, suicidal young man (They meet as onlookers at a funeral). Here they walk among flowers at a nursery:


MAUDE: They grow and bloom, and fade, and die, and some change into something else. Ah, life! I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They are so tall and simple. And you, Harold, what flower would you like to be?

HAROLD: I don’t know. Just one of those. (He gestures toward a field of daisies)

M: Why do you say that?

H: Because they are all the same.

M: Oooh, but they are not. Look. (They bend down together.) See - some are smaller, some are fatter, some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have some petals missing - all kinds of observable differences, and we haven’t even touched the bio-chemical. You see, Harold, they’re like the Japanese. At first you think they all look alike, but after you get to know them you see there is not a repeat in the bunch. Each person is different, never existed before and never to exist again. Just like this daisy - (she picks it) - an individual.

H: Well, we may be individuals all right but- we have to grow up together.

M: Yes, that’s very true. Still I believe much of the world’s sorrow comes from people who know they are this (she holds the daisy) - yet let themselves be treated (she looks out at the field) - as that.