Colin Higgins, a screenwriter and director whose works include ''Silver Streak,'' ''Foul Play'' and the quirky cult movie ''Harold and Maude'' died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 47 years old and had been suffering from AIDS, said a spokeswoman for his production company.

Mr. Higgins, who was born on the French island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, was known for creating light-hearted screenplays with a fine-tuned sense of humor. His best-known work was ''Harold and Maude,'' the story of a love affair between an 80-year-old woman and a troubled young man who finds happiness with her.

''Harold and Maude'' received tepid reviews and drew unenthusiastic audiences when it was released in 1971, but it grew into a cult classic that some viewers claimed to have seen more than 100 times. After making the rounds in revival and repertory movie houses around the country, it finally began to return a profit in 1983.

Mr. Higgins wrote ''Harold and Maude'' when he was 28 years old and a film student at the University of California at Los Angeles; the 20-minute drama was originally to be the basis for his master's thesis. He was poor at the time and, in return for lodging at the home of a Hollywood producer, Mr. Higgins cleaned the pool and swept the tennis court.

The expanded film of ''Harold and Maude'' starred Ruth Gordon as the free-wheeling elderly woman, and Bud Cort, as the young man obsessed with death until he meets Ms. Gordon.

A stage version of ''Harold and Maude,'' while popular in foreign countries like Japan, Turkey, Iceland and Brazil, was panned by reviewers in New York and closed after 21 performances.

After ''Harold and Maude,'' Mr. Higgins wrote ''Silver Streak,'' a 1976 comedy starring Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh and Gene Wilder.

In 1978, ''Foul Play,'' written and directed by Mr. Higgins, opened to favorable reviews. The thriller-comedy-romance starred Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase as lovers whose life is complicated by mystery and danger.

Mr. Higgins also wrote the screenplay for and directed the film ''Nine to Five,'' a 1980 movie about three downtrodded secretaries who kidnap their male-chauvinist employer and force him to rethink his views. The movie starred Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman Jr. The spokeswoman for Mr. Higgins's production office, who declined to be identified, said he is survived by his parents and five brothers. She said a memorial service would be held Tuesday at the Directors Guild Theater in Los Angeles.