Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight (born December 29, 1938) is a controversial American film and television actor. He came to prominence at the end of the
1960sThe 1960s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1960, to December 31, 1969.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends in the west, particularly United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, France,...
, with a performance as a would-be hustler in
1969'sThe year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue
source: http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1969.shtml- Awards :Academy Awards:*Anne of the Thousand Days...
Best Picture winnerThe Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
,
Midnight CowboyMidnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and then-newcomer Jon Voight in the title role...
, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination. Throughout the following decades, Voight built his reputation with an array of challenging roles and has appeared in such landmark films as
DeliveranceDeliverance is a 1972 thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the film as a...
(1972), and
Coming HomeComing Home is a 1978 drama film which tells the story of an injured Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life after his return from the war. It stars Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine and Robert Ginty.The movie, which was adapted from the...
(1978), for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor. Voight's impersonation of sportscaster/journalist
Howard CosellHoward William Cosell was an American sports journalist.-Early life:Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Nellie and Isidore Cohen, who was an accountant. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer...
, in the 2001 biopic
AliAli is a American biographical film directed by Michael Mann. The film tells the story of boxing icon Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974 featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, banishment from boxing, his return to fight...
, earned Voight critical raves and his fourth Oscar nomination. He has starred in the
seventh seasonSeason Seven, also known as Day 7 of the American serial television series 24, was to premiere on January 13, 2008, but was delayed for one year due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. On November 23, 2008, Fox aired 24: Redemption, a two-hour TV movie set between seasons. Season...
of
2424 is an American serial action/drama television series. Broadcast by Fox in the United States and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6, 2001, with an initial 13 episodes...
as the villain Jonas Hodges.
Voight is the father of actress
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie is an American actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through...
and actor
James HavenJames Haven is an American actor and producer. He is also the brother of Hollywood actress, Angelina Jolie.-Personal life:...
, as well as brother of singer-songwriter
Chip TaylorChip Taylor is the stage name of American songwriter James Wesley Voight noted for writing the song, "Wild Thing". Taylor's brothers are actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight. He is the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.- Early career :Taylor attended Archbishop Stepinac...
and geologist Barry Voight. He has six grandchildren by Jolie and her partner
Brad PittWilliam Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. He has been cited as one of the world's most attractive men, a label that entices the media to report on his off-screen life...
.
Early life
Voight was born in
Yonkers, New YorkYonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, New York, with a population of 196,086 . More recent estimates put the population at 197,234 in 2002, 197,126 in 2004 and 196,425 in 2005...
, the son of Barbara (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Kamp;
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, January 7, 1910Palm Beach County,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, December 3, 1995) and German-American Elmer Voight (October 29, 1909June 1973), a professional golfer. His maternal grandparents were German; his paternal grandfather was an immigrant from the city of
KošiceKošice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the Hornád River at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the borders with Hungary...
in
SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
. Voight attended
Archbishop Stepinac High SchoolArchbishop Stepinac High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in White Plains, New York, operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It was founded in 1948 and named for Blessed Aloysius Stepinac, who was archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia at the time.- History :Archbishop...
in
White Plains, New YorkThe City of White Plains is the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, where he first took an interest in acting, playing the comic role of Count Pepi Le Loup in the school's annual musical,
The Song of Norway. After graduating from high school in 1956, he went to college at
The Catholic University of AmericaThe Catholic University of America , located in Northeast Washington, D.C., is the national university of the Roman Catholic Church and the only higher education institution founded by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops...
in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, where he majored in art and graduated with a
B.A.Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
in 1960. At CUA, he demonstrated his artistic skill by designing the cardinal that adorned the
center of the floor of the basketball court. This section of floor now resides on display in the school's Pryzbyla University Center.
Early career
After graduation, Voight moved to New York City, where he pursued an acting career. In 1962 he married actress
Lauri PetersLauri Peters is an American actress, dancer, singer, drama teacher and author. Birth name - Patricia Peterson.Peters created the role of Liesl Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in...
, whose credits include 1962's
Mr. Hobbs Takes a VacationMr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is a 1962 American comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara. The film is based on a novel by Edward Streeter and features popular singer Fabian.- Plot :Mr...
and 1963's
Summer Holiday. In the early sixties, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, between 1962 and 1966, as well as guest spots on
Naked CityNaked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format.-Synopsis:...
, and
The DefendersThe Defenders is an Emmy-winning American courtroom drama series which ran on CBS from 1961–1965. It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights...
, both in 1963, and
Twelve O'Clock HighTwelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High is an American drama series set in World War II. It aired on ABC for three seasons from September 18, 1964, to January 13, 1967, and was based on the 1949 motion picture of the same name.-Overview:...
, in 1966.
His theatre career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in
Arthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include awards-winning plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible.Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and...
's
A View From The BridgeA View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller first staged on 29 September 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway....
in an
Off-BroadwayOff Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of plays, musicals or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, the hub of the theater industry in the United...
revival.
Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof,
Fearless Frank. Voight also took a small role in 1967's western,
Hour of the GunHour of the Gun is 1967 Western film about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers, in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona....
, directed by veteran helmer
John SturgesJohn Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
. That year he and
Lauri PetersLauri Peters is an American actress, dancer, singer, drama teacher and author. Birth name - Patricia Peterson.Peters created the role of Liesl Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music. She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in...
were divorced, after five years of marriage. In 1968 Voight took a role in director Paul Williams'
Out of It.
While Voight pursued acting, his brother Wes found success as a songwriter under the nom de plume
Chip TaylorChip Taylor is the stage name of American songwriter James Wesley Voight noted for writing the song, "Wild Thing". Taylor's brothers are actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight. He is the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.- Early career :Taylor attended Archbishop Stepinac...
. Taylor penned
The TroggsThe Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in Britain and the USA, including their most famous song, "Wild Thing". The Troggs were from the town of Andover in southern England...
' 1966 hit,
Wild Thing, as well as
Angel of the Morning"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including John Stamos, Merrilee Rush, P.P...
. Another of Jon's brothers, Barry Voight, studied
geologyGeology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed...
at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
and became a world-renowned volcanologist at
Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University is a state-related, land-grant, space grant public research university located in the University Park area and within State College and College Township in Pennsylvania, United States...
.
Becoming a star in the 1970s
In 1969, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking
Midnight CowboyMidnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and then-newcomer Jon Voight in the title role...
, a film that would make his career. Voight played Joe Buck, a naïve male
hustlerMale prostitution is the sale of sexual services by a male . The gender of the customer and the sexual act or sexual behavior that the prostitute engages in with that person may not correspond to the prostitute's own sexual orientation...
from
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, adrift in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He comes under the tutelage of
Dustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor who has had an active career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He first drew critical praise for the 1966 Off-Broadway play Eh? for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakout movie role as Ben...
's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored late sixties New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by
John SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
and based on a novel by
James Leo HerlihyJames Leo Herlihy was an American novelist, playwright and actor.Born into a working class family in Detroit, Michigan, Herlihy is known for his novels Midnight Cowboy and All Fall Down and his play Blue Denim, all of which were adapted for the screen...
, the film struck a chord with critics. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and co-star Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor but lost out to
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
, star of that year's
True GritTrue Grit is a 1969 Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. The film is adapted from the 1968 novel, True Grit, by Charles Portis.-Synopsis:...
.
In 1970 Voight appeared in
Mike NicholsMike Nichols is an American television, stage and film director, writer, and producer. Nichols is one of only ten people to have won all the major American entertainment awards: an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award.-Early years:...
' adaptation of
Catch-22Catch-22 is a 1970 war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical novel, the film was mired in production problems and artistic issues that led to its commercial failure.Although a talented...
, and re-teamed with director Paul Williams to star in
The Revolutionary, as a left wing college student struggling with his conscience.
Voight appeared in 1972's
DeliveranceDeliverance is a 1972 thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the film as a...
, directed by
John BoormanJohn Boorman is an English filmmaker, currently based in Ireland, best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory, The General and Zardoz.-Early life:...
, from a script that poet
James DickeyJames Lafayette Dickey was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1966.-Early years:...
had helped to adapt from his novel of the same name. The story of a
canoeA canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over .In its human-powered form, the canoe is propelled by the use of...
trip gone awry in a feral, backwoods America. The film and the performances of Voight and co-star
Burt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Paul "Wrecking" Crewe in The Longest Yard, Coach Nate Scarborough in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J...
received great critical acclaim and were popular with audiences.
On 12 December 1971 Voight married model and actress
Marcheline BertrandMarcia Lynne "Marcheline" Bertrand was an American actress.-Early life:Bertrand was born in Riverdale, Illinois, the daughter of Lois June and Rolland F. Bertrand. She had a brother, Raleigh Bertrand, and a sister Debbie Bertrand...
. Their son
James HavenJames Haven is an American actor and producer. He is also the brother of Hollywood actress, Angelina Jolie.-Personal life:...
was born in 1973, followed by daughter
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie is an American actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through...
in 1975. Both children would go on to enter the film business, James as an actor and writer, and Angelina as a movie star in her own right. Angelina went on to receive three Golden Globe Awards, two
Screen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
Awards, and an Academy Award. She is also the
Goodwill AmbassadorGoodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but most appropriately for a generic recognition it is job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized in...
for the UN Refugee Agency.
Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's
The All American Boy, then appeared in the 1974 film,
ConrackConrack is an Academy Award-nominated 1974 film based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jon Voight in the title role, alongside Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair, Hume Cronyn and Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas...
, directed by
Martin RittMartin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early Career and influences:...
. Based on
Pat ConroyPat Conroy , is a New York Times bestselling author who has written several acclaimed novels and memoirs.-Early life:...
's autobiographical novel
The Water Is WideThe Water Is Wide is a 1972 autobiography by Pat Conroy and is based on his work as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, which is called Yamacraw Island in the book. A film adaptation, titled Conrack, was created in 1974, starring Jon Voight...
, Voight portrayed the title character, an idealistic young schoolteacher sent to teach underprivileged black children on a remote
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
island. The same year he appeared in
The Odessa FileThe Odessa File is a 1974 film adaptation of the thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, about a struggle between a young German reporter and the ODESSA, an organization for ex-Nazis. The film stars Jon Voight and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.- Plot summary :The...
, based on
Frederick ForsythFrederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger and recently The Afghan.- Biography :The son of a...
's thriller, playing a young German journalist who discovers a conspiracy to protect former Nazis still operating within
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. This film first teamed him with the actor-director
Maximilian SchellMaximilian Schell is an Academy Award-winning Austrian actor. He is also a writer, director and producer of several films.- Early life :...
, for whom Voight would appear in 1976's
End of the Game, a psychological thriller based on a story by Swiss novelist and playwright,
Friedrich DürrenmattFriedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theater whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
.
In 1978, Voight portrayed the paraplegic Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in
Hal AshbyHal Ashby was an American film director and film editor.-Birth and early years:Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, Ashby grew up in a Mormon household and had a tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family which included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide and his...
's film
Coming HomeComing Home is a 1978 drama film which tells the story of an injured Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life after his return from the war. It stars Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine and Robert Ginty.The movie, which was adapted from the...
. Voight, who was awarded Best Actor at the
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
, for his portrait of an embittered paraplegic, reportedly based on real-life
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
veteran-turned-anti-war activist
Ron KovicRonald Lawrence Kovic is an anti-war activist, veteran and writer who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He is best known as the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into an Academy Award–winning movie directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise playing Kovic...
, with whom Fonda falls in love. The film included a much-talked-about love scene between the two.
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
won her second
Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
award for her role, and Voight won for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Voight's marriage to Marcheline Bertrand failed in 1978. The following year, Voight once again put on
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
gloves, starring in 1979's remake of the 1931
Wallace BeeryWallace Beery was an American actor, known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, his titular role in a series of films featuring the character Sweedie, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
and
Jackie CooperJackie Cooper is an American actor, TV director, TV producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to transition to an adult career...
vehicle,
The Champ, with Voight playing the part of an alcoholic ex-heavyweight and a young
Rick SchroderRichard Bartlett “Ricky” Schroder, Jr. is an American Golden Globe Award-winning actor.He debuted in the 1979 hit film The Champ, going on to become a child star on the sitcom Silver Spoons...
playing the role of his adoring son. The film was an international success, but less popular with American audiences.
Career in the 1980s
He next re-teamed with director Ashby in 1982's
Lookin' to Get OutLookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then seven years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie...
, in which he played Alex Kovac, a con man who has run into debt with New York mobsters and hopes to win enough in Las Vegas to pay them off. Voight both co-wrote the script and also co-produced. He also produced and acted in 1983's
Table for Five, in which he played a widower bringing up his children by himself.
In 1985, Voight hooked up with Russian writer and director
Andrei KonchalovskyAndrey Sergeyevich Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker.-Early years:Born as Andron in Moscow, Soviet Russia to an aristocratic family of Mikhalkovs with centuries-old artistic and aristocratic roots, he changed his first name to Andrei and took his maternal grandfather's...
to play the role of escaped con Manny Manheim in
Runaway TrainRunaway Train is a 1985 film which tells the story of two escaped convicts and a female train worker who are stuck on a runaway train as it barrels through snowy desolate Alaska. It stars Jon Voight as Oscar "Manny" Manheim, Eric Roberts as Buck, John P...
. The script was based on a story by
Akira Kurosawawas a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. In a career that spanned 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in film history...
, and paired Voight with
Eric RobertsEric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
as a fellow escapee. Voight received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe's award for Best Actor. Roberts was also honored for his performance, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Voight followed up this and other performances with a role in the 1986 film,
Desert BloomDesert Bloom is a 1986 American drama film directed by Eugene Corr. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Annabeth Gish - Rose Chismore* Jon Voight - Jack Chismore* JoBeth Williams - Lily Chismore...
, and reportedly experienced a "spiritual awakening" toward the end of the decade. In 1989 Voight starred in and helped write
Eternity, which dealt with a television reporter's efforts to uncover corruption.
Work in the 1990s
He made his first foray into television movies, acting in 1991's
Chernobyl: The Final Warning, followed by
The Last of his Tribe, in 1992. He followed with 1992's
The Rainbow Warrior for ABC, the story of the
ill-fated Greenpeace shipThe Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation Greenpeace. She was active in supporting a number of Greenpeace protest activities against seal hunting, whaling and nuclear weapons testing during the late...
sunk by
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
operatives in the
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...
harbour. For the remainder of the decade, Voight would alternate between feature films and television movies, including a starring role in the 1993 miniseries
Return to Lonesome Dove, a continuation of
Larry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller, and Academy Award winning screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the "old west" or in contemporary Texas...
's
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
saga, 1989's
Lonesome Dove. Voight played Captain Woodrow F. Call, the part played by
Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and director.His film roles include federal marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, the villain "Two-Face" in Batman Forever, the mysterious Agent K in the Men in Black films, Western peace officers Woodrow F. Call in Lonesome Dove and Ed Tom...
in the original miniseries. Voight made a cameo appearance as himself on the
SeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. The eponymous series was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, with the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
episode "
The Mom & Pop Store"The Mom & Pop Store" is the 94th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 8th episode for the 6th season. It aired on November 17, 1994.-Plot:...
" airing November 17, 1994, in which
George CostanzaGeorge Louis Costanza is a fictional character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "Short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man". He is friends with Jerry Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer, and Elaine Benes. George appears in every episode...
buys a car that appears to be owned by Jon Voight. Voight described the process leading up to the episode in an interview on the Red Carpet at the 2006 BAFTA Emmy Awards:
Well what happened was I was asked to be on Seinfeld. They said: “Would you do a Seinfeld?” And I said, and I just happened to know to see a few Seinfelds and I knew these guys were really tops; they were really, really clever guys, and I liked the show. And so I said “Sure!” and I thought they would ask me to do a walk-on, the way it came: "Would you come be part of the show?" And I said “Yeah, sure I’ll do it.” You know what I mean? Then I got the script and my name was on every page because it was about my car. And I laughed; it was hysterically funny. So I was really delighted to do it. The writer came up to me and he said “Jon, would you come take a look at my car to see if you ever owned it?”, because the writer wrote it from a real experience where someone sold him the car based on the fact that it was my car. And I went down and I looked at the car and I said “No, I never had this car.” So unfortunately I had to give him the bad news. But it was a funny episode.
In 1995 Voight played a role in the film,
Heat, directed by
Michael MannMichael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. For his work, he has received nominations from international organizations and juries, including those at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Cannes and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, and appeared in the television films
Convict Cowboy, and
The Tin Soldier, also directing the latter film.
Voight next appeared in 1996's blockbuster
Mission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Hunt's mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team...
, directed by Brian DePalma and starring
Tom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards...
. Voight played the role of spymaster James Phelps, a role originated by
Peter GravesPeter Graves is an American film and television actor. He is known for his starring role in the television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973, and its revival, from 1988 to 1990.-Personal life:...
in the television series.
The year 1997 was a busy time for Voight in which he appeared in six films, beginning with
RosewoodRosewood is a 1997 film, directed by John Singleton. The film stars Ving Rhames as a fictional character who travels to the town of Rosewood, Florida, United States, and becomes a witness to the 1923 Rosewood massacre...
, based on the 1923 destruction of the primarily black town of
Rosewood, FloridaThe Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida, United States. At least six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed during what was characterized as...
, by the white residents of nearby Sumner. Voight played John Wright, a white Rosewood storeowner who follows his conscience and protects his black customers from the white rage. Voight next appeared in
AnacondaAnaconda is a 1997 horror film, directed by Luis Llosa, starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight. It centers around a film crew for National Geographic who are kidnapped by a hunter who is going after the world's largest giant anaconda, which is discovered in the remote jungle. Though a...
. Set in the
AmazonThe Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries. The South American rain forest of the Amazon is the largest in the world, covering about...
, Voight played Paul Sarone, a snake hunter obsessed with a fabled giant
anacondaAnaconda is a large, non-venomous snake found in tropical South America. They are found mostly in water, such as the Amazon River. Although the name actually applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus,...
, who hijacks an unwitting National Geographic film crew looking for a remote Indian tribe. Voight next appeared in a cameo role in
Oliver StoneWilliam Oliver Stone is an American film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural...
's
U TurnU Turn is a 1997 Neo-noir/drama film directed by Oliver Stone, based on the book Stray Dogs by John Ridley. It stars Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes and Nick Nolte.-Plot:...
, portraying a blind man. Voight took a supporting role in
The RainmakerThe Rainmaker is a 1997 American motion picture directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. It is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham.-Plot:Rudy Baylor is a graduate of. the Memphis State UniversityLaw School...
, adopted from the
John GrishamJohn Ray Grisham is an American author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Before becoming a writer, he was a successful lawyer and politician...
novel and directed by
Francis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola is an Italian-American film director, producer and screenwriter. Away from showbusiness, Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned an M.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School...
. He played an unscrupulous lawyer representing an
insuranceInsurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed and known...
company, facing off with a neophyte lawyer played by
Matt DamonMatthew Paige Damon is an American actor, writer and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting, from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
. His last film of 1997 was
Boys Will Be BoysBoys Will Be Boys is a 1935 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Will Hay, Gordon Harker and Jimmy Hanley.The film is set at Narkover School, where headmaster Doctor Alec Smart becomes involves in the disappearance of a valuable necklace.The setting is loosely based on...
, a family comedy directed by
Dom DeLuiseDominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, and actors David DeLuise and Michael DeLuise.- Early life...
.
The following year, Voight had the lead role in the television movie
The Fixer, in which he played Jack Killoran, a lawyer who crosses ethical lines in order to "fix" things for his wealthy clients. A near-fatal accident awakens his dormant conscience and Killoran soon runs afoul of his former clients. He also took a substantial role in
Tony ScottAnthony "Tony" D. L. Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Man on Fire and Spy Game...
's 1997 political thriller,
Enemy of the State, in which Voight played
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
's stalwart antagonist from the NSA .
Voight was reunited with director Boorman in 1998's
The GeneralThe General is a true film about Dublin criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off several daring heists in the early 1980s, and attracted attention from the Garda, IRA, and UVF. The film was directed by John Boorman, filmed in 1997 and released in 1998...
. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the film tells the true-life story of the charismatic leader of a gang of thieves,
Martin CahillMartin Cahill was a prominent Irish criminal from Dublin.Cahill generated a certain notoriety in the media, which referred to him by the sobriquet "The General". The name was also used by the media in order to discuss Cahill's activities while avoiding legal problems with libel...
, at odds with both the police and the
IRAThe Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which sought to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
. Voight portrays Inspector Ned Kenny, determined to bring Cahill to justice.
Voight next appeared in 1999's
Varsity BluesVarsity Blues is a 1999 film that follows a small-town high school football team and their overbearing coach through a tumultuous season. The players must deal with the pressures of adolescence and their football obsessed community while having their hard coach on their back constantly...
. Voight played a blunt, autocratic football coach, pitted in a test of wills against his star player, portrayed by
James Van Der BeekJames William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in the WB Network drama series Dawson's Creek.-Early life and stage career:...
. Produced by fledgling
MTVMTV is a cable television network based in New York City and launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs...
Pictures, the film became a surprise hit and helped connect Voight with a younger audience.
Voight played Noah in the 1999 television production
Noah's ArkNoah's Ark is a 1999 film directed by John Irvin and starring John Voight and Mary Steenburgen. The film, as many other related film and television projects, re-tells the Biblical story of Noah's Ark from the Book of Genesis...
, and appeared in
Second String, also for TV. He also appeared with
Cheryl LaddCheryl Ladd is an American singer, author and actress, perhaps best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the 1970s television series Charlie's Angels.-Career:...
in the feature
A Dog of FlandersA Dog of Flanders is a novel about a boy named Nello and his dog Patrasche, written by Marie Louise de la Ramée under the pseudonym Ouida in 1872. It is widely read in Japan, and has been adapted into several films and anime....
, a remake of a popular film set in
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
. The following year Voight would watch from the audience as his daughter received the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in 1999's
Girl, InterruptedGirl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teen's 18-month stay at a mental institution, and it stars Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. It was adapted from the original memoir of the same name, written by Susanna Kaysen. The film was directed by James Mangold, from a screenplay written by...
.
Work in the 21st century
Voight next portrayed President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
in 2001's action/war film,
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a war film directed by Michael Bay. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Colm Feore, Mako, Tom Sizemore, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner...
, reportedly beating out
Gene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and currently a novelist.Hackman has made 80 films. He came to fame in 1967 when his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde earned him his first Oscar nomination...
for the role (his performance was received favorably by critics). Also that year, he appeared as Lord Croft, father of the title character of
Lara Croft: Tomb RaiderLara Croft: Tomb Raider is a film adaptation of the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001....
. Based on the popular video game, the digital adventuress was played on the big screen by Voight's own real-life daughter,
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie is an American actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She has received three Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and an Academy Award. Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through...
.
That year, he also appeared in
ZoolanderZoolander is a 2001 comedy film directed by Ben Stiller. The films concept is based on the Bret Easton Ellis book Glamorama, with elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997....
, directed by
Ben StillerBenjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
who starred as the title character, a vapid supermodel with humble roots. Voight appeared as Zoolander's coal-miner father. The film extracted both pathos and cruel humor from the scenes of Zoolander's return home, when he entered the mines alongside his father and brothers and Voight's character expressed his unspoken disgust at his son's chosen profession.
Also in 2001, Voight joined
Leelee SobieskiLeelee Sobieski is an American actress. Sobieski rose to fame in her mid-teens with her appearance in the movie Deep Impact...
,
Hank AzariaHank Albert Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, comedian and voice artist. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons...
and
David SchwimmerDavid Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. Born in New York, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of two. Several years later, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
in the made-for-television movie
UprisingUprising is a 2001 war/drama television movie about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman...
, which was based on the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. Voight played Major-General Juergen Stroop, the German officer responsible for the destruction of the Jewish resistance, and received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Director Michael Mann tagged Voight for a small but crucial role in the 2001 biopic
AliAli is a American biographical film directed by Michael Mann. The film tells the story of boxing icon Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974 featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, banishment from boxing, his return to fight...
, which starred Will Smith as the controversial former heavyweight champ,
Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali is a retired American boxer and three-time World Heavyweight Champion, who is widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome...
. Voight was almost unrecognizable under his make-up and toupee, as he impersonated the sports broadcaster
Howard CosellHoward William Cosell was an American sports journalist.-Early life:Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Nellie and Isidore Cohen, who was an accountant. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer...
. Voight received his fourth Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance, extending his reign as one of Hollywoods most talented actors.
In the critically-acclaimed
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
miniseries
Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II is a 2005 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Pope John Paul II from his early adult years in Poland to his death on April 2, 2005 at age 84....
, released in December 2005, Voight, who was raised a Catholic, portrayed the pontiff from the time of his election until his death, garnering an Emmy nomination for the role.
In 2003, he played the role of Mr. Sir in
HolesHoles is a film based on the novel of the same title by Louis Sachar, who also wrote the screenplay, with Shia LaBeouf as the lead role of Stanley Yelnats...
. In 2004, Voight joined
Nicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor.Cage pursued acting as a career, making his debut on television in 1981...
, in
National TreasureThe idea of National Treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of Romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology which supports the nation as the fundamental unit of human social life, which includes shared...
as Patrick Gates, the father of Cage's character. In 2006, he was
Kentucky WildcatsThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public, co-educational, university, and is also the state's land-grant university, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
head coach
Adolph RuppAdolph Frederick Rupp was one of the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball. Rupp ranks third , in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching. He set a remarkable standard of excellence at Kentucky that exists...
in the Disney hit
Glory RoadGlory Road is an American film directed by James Gartner, released on January 13, 2006. The film is based on a true story dealing with the events leading to the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in which the late Don Haskins , head coach of the Texas Western College led a team...
. In 2007, he played
United States Secretary of DefenseThe United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the U.S. Department of Defense , concerned with the armed services and military matters. This position roughly corresponds to Minister of defense in other countries...
John Keller in the summer blockbuster
Transformers, reuniting him with
Holes star
Shia LaBeoufShia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian.LaBeouf began his comedy career when he was 10 years old, and then launched his acting career in 1998 at the age of 12. He became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens, also appearing...
. Also in 2007, Voight reprised his role as Patrick Gates in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
In 2008, Voight played Jonas Hodges, the villain, in the seventh season of the hit
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
drama "
2424 is an American serial action/drama television series. Broadcast by Fox in the United States and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6, 2001, with an initial 13 episodes...
", a role that many argue is based on real life figures
Alfried KruppAlfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , often referred to as Alfried Krupp, was a convicted war criminal, as well as one of the most preeminent industrialists of the 20th century, a member of the 400-year old Krupp dynasty of industrialists in Germany, and head of the Krupp company, once...
, Johann Rall and
Erik PrinceErik D. Prince is an alleged militant Christian fundamentalist and founder and sole owner of the private military company Xe, formerly Blackwater Worldwide...
. Voight plays the CEO of a fictitious
Arms industryThe arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. Arms producing companies, also referred to as defence companies or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states. Products include guns,...
called
Starkwood, which has loose resemblances to
Blackwater USAXe Services LLC is a private military company founded as Blackwater USA in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. In October 2007, the company was renamed Blackwater Worldwide and was colloquially referred to as "Blackwater"...
and
ThyssenKruppThyssenKrupp AG is a large German industrial conglomerate, with more than 200,000 employees. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers. It operates worldwide in three business areas: steel, capital goods, and services...
. Voight made his first appearance in the two-hour prequel episode "24: Redemption" on November 27.
Politics
Voight's first roles were almost uniformly counter-cultural. In his early life, his political views were liberal and he supported President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, whose death "traumatized" him. He also worked for
George McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is a former United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee. McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election in a landslide to Richard Nixon. As a decorated World War II combat veteran, McGovern was known for his opposition to the Vietnam...
's voter registrations efforts in the inner cities of
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
. Voight actively
protested againstOpposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War is significant because it was the first time a war was shown and accessed through the media to the public in the United States.-1945:...
the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. In the late 1970s, he made public appearances alongside
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
and
Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
in support of the leftist Unidad Popular group in
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
In a July 28, 2008
op-edAn op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board. These are different from editorials, which are usually unsigned and written by editorial board members...
in
The Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon and is subsidized by the Unification Church community.-Founding:...
, he wrote that he regrets his youthful
anti-warThe term anti-war usually refers to the opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many activists...
activism, calling it the result of "Marxist
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
". He pointed in particular to the massive human rights abuses in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
and
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
after the American withdrawal. Voight has said about his political transformation that:
Voight endorsed former
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
MayorThe Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The Mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
Rudy Giuliani| align="right"|Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani is an American lawyer, businessman and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He contacted Giuliani's California finance chairperson and asked to work on the campaign. According to
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
, his role in Giuliani's group "brought some high-wattage celebrity to a campaign that was in distress." He worked a variety of supporting side roles in the
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
primary, such as warming up crowds. He stated on that trail that New York City had become a much safer city in the 1990s, once remarking that "God sent an angel, his name was Rudy Giuliani." In another interview in Miami with AventuraUSA.com, Voight said he first met Giuliani "years ago" at a movie premiere in New York City and the main reason for his support was Giuliani's public poise in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
In March 2008, Voight appeared at a rally aboard the
USS MidwayUSS Midway may refer to:, was the Oritani and then the Tyree before being chartered as a general auxiliary in 1942, renamed to Panay in 1943, and returned to her owner in 1946, was an escort aircraft carrier commissioned in 1943, renamed St...
in
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
for the kick-off of
Vets for FreedomVets For Freedom is an American political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. Its stated purpose is advocacy of victory in America's ongoing War on Terrorism, and support of candidates with positions consistent with this goal. Vets For Freedom is a...
's National Heroes Tour. In an April 11, 2008, interview on the
CNN Headline NewsHLN, is a cable television news channel based in the United States, and a spinoff of the original cable news channel, CNN...
Glenn Beck Show Voight stated that he had thrown his support to
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
SenatorThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
for President.
In May 2008, Voight paid a solidarity visit to
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
in honor of its 60th birthday. "I’m coming to salute, encourage and strengthen the people of Israel on this joyous 60th birthday" said Voight. “This week is about highlighting Israel as a moral beacon. At a time when its enemies threaten
nuclear destructionNuclear warfare is battle in which nuclear weapons are used.Nuclear war may also refer to:*Nuclear War *Nuclear War *Nuclear War, an album by Sun Ra*"Nuclear War", a song by Sun Ra...
, Israel heals." On July 28, 2008, he wrote an editorial in
The Washington TimesThe Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon and is subsidized by the Unification Church community.-Founding:...
critical of then-Democratic presidential candidate
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
.
In September 2008 Voight appeared in a
videoVideo is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.-History:...
from the
Republican National ConventionThe Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...
admonishing viewers to support the United States Military. He also provided the narration for a video biography of
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
governor
Sarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 and was the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008....
, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, that appeared on McCain's campaign website. Voight was a guest at the
2008 Republican National ConventionThe United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
. Voight also starred with fellow Republican-leaning actors
Kelsey GrammerAllen Kelsey Grammer , best known as Kelsey Grammer, is an American actor best known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcoms Cheers and Frasier , and providing the voice of Sideshow Bob on the Fox animated series The Simpsons...
,
Dennis HopperDennis Lee Hopper is an American actor, filmmaker and artist, with a career that spanned half of the 20th century. Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1955, and appeared in two films also featuring...
, and
James WoodsJames Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor and comedian. Woods is best known for starring in films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Ghosts of Mississippi, Salvador, Casino and as the Disney villain Hades in Hercules.-Early life:Woods was born in Vernal, Utah...
in the
conservativeConservatism in the United States is a major American political philosophy. In contemporary American politics, it is often associated with the Republican Party...
-leaning comedy film
An American CarolAn American Carol is a 2008 American comedy film, directed by David Zucker and starring Kevin Farley. Outside North America, the film is known as Big Fat Important Movie...
, which opened on October 3, 2008.
On June 8, 2009, Voight hosted a Republican congressional fundraiser, and he also made his own speech within the event. He criticized President Obama and described his most pressing concern to be for Israel's safety, stating that he believed the
Palestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine...
s' only agenda to be wiping Israel off the map. Senator
Mitch McConnellAddison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. He was chosen by his Republican colleagues as the Minority Leader in November 2006, making him the top-ranking Republican in the 110th Congress, which convened January 3, 2007...
of
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is a Southern state situated in the Upland South, although the state is infrequently placed, geographically and culturally, in the Midwest. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a...
and former House Speaker
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. In 1995, Time magazine selected him as the Person of the Year for his role in leading the Republican Revolution in the House, ending 40 years of the...
praised Voight's speech. McConnell told Voight about his speech: "I really enjoyed that." Voight had said about criticism of the previous President,
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
, in an April 27, 2007 interview with
Bill O'ReillyWilliam James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator...
on
The O'Reilly FactorThe O'Reilly Factor is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political and social issues with guests. The show premiered in 1996, along with the Fox News Channel...
that: "And they — what I hear, you know, talking about our president. When I hear people saying quite unthinkable things about our president, when I see our president defaced, which is defacing our country. He's the leader of our country. He's the leader of the free world. It — my heart is very heavy." On June 10, 2009, on the topic of Voight's fundraiser speech,
Glenn BeckGlenn Lee Beck is an American talk radio and television host, conservative political commentator, author, and entrepreneur. He hosts the nationally syndicated Glenn Beck Program on Premiere Radio Networks, while also hosting the Glenn Beck Show every weekday on the Fox News Channel...
told Voight in a radio interview: "It's good not to be alone. It's good not to be alone." In a June 13, 2009 article,
New York Times columnist
Frank RichFrank Rich is a center-left New York Times columnist who focuses on American politics and popular culture. His column ran on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section from 2003 to 2005; it now appears in the expanded Sunday Week in Review section.-Early career:Rich graduated from Harvard...
said of Voight's speech, in which Voight called to “bring an end to this false prophet Obama” that: "This kind of rhetoric, with its pseudo-
ScripturalThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
call to action, is toxic."
When appearing on Governor
Mike HuckabeeMichael Dale "Mike" Huckabee is a Republican politician and political commentator for Fox News Channel and ABC Radio who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. Huckabee finished second in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries; he announced his candidacy on January 28,...
's Fox News talk show, Voight claimed President Obama was arrogant, caused civil unrest, and stood for all that this country was against during its past. He went on to state:
"I'm here to validate all the millions of people who are opposed to the Obama healthcare. We're witnessing a slow and steady takeover of our true freedoms. We're becoming a socialist nation, and Obama is causing civil unrest in this country...
The stimulus didn't work.... We're being told what cars we can drive, how much we can make....
Obama has made this [healthcare] a personal crusade now.... As we can see it really is about him. He is arrogant and he's adamant that he's going to get this passed....
He's trying everything, even the so-called God card. If you love God, he tells us, then it's your duty to vote this healthcare bill in....
They're taking away God's first gift to man. Our free will."
Voight's comments were criticized by Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher, whose article appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on September 16, 2009:
Last weekend, I tuned into a Fox program hosted by the avuncular former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, of whom I am a fan. There sat actor Jon Voight, staring gravely at the host, who praised the thespian's "courage."...Voight then accused the president of trying to depose God and deify himself -- as, according to the Book of Revelation, the Antichrist will do. It may sound ridiculous -- after all, who looks to celebrities for political wisdom? -- but it's deadly serious to millions of Americans. To his great discredit, Huckabee, a pastor, let this crazy talk pass unchallenged.
In a letter released on September 11, 2009, Voight accused his former
Coming HomeComing Home is a 1978 drama film which tells the story of an injured Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life after his return from the war. It stars Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine and Robert Ginty.The movie, which was adapted from the...
co-star
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
of “aiding and abetting those who seek the destruction of Israel”. Fonda was one of more than 50 celebrities who signed an online petition letter by John Greyson in which Greyson said he would pull his film Covered from the Toronto International Film Festival in protest over the Festival’s “inaugural City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv”. Greyson’s belief was that the spotlight on Tel Aviv would mean that the Festival was facilitating a propaganda campaign for the Israeli government. Greyson’s online letter is available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19370927/John-Greysons-Letter-to-TIFF
Here is part of what Voight said in his letter:
…people like Jane Fonda and all the names on that letter are assisting the Palestinian propagandists against the State of Israel. ... Jane Fonda's whole idea of the 'poor Palestinians,' and 'look how many Palestinians the Israelis killed in Gaza,' is misconstrued. Does she not remember what actually took place in Gaza? Did Israel not give the Palestinians of Gaza the hope that there could be peace? In response, did Hamas not launch rockets from Gaza into Israel, killing many innocent people? This seems to me to be another one of Jane Fonda's misplaced 'patriotic' duties toward the wrong people. I was in Israel. I saw the rockets coming down on Sderot, and visited many families who lost their loved ones. How long can a democratic country keep from defending itself? Time and again, [Israel] offered the Palestinians land. They always refused. They don't want a piece of the pie, they want the whole pie. They will not be happy until they see Israel in the sea.
Fonda later explained that she had regretted signing the petition, saying that she had signed the letter:
...without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn't exacerbate the situation rather than bring about constructive dialogue...In the hyper-sensitised reality of the region in which any criticism of Israel is swiftly and often unfairly branded as anti-Semitic, it can become counterproductive to inflame rather than explain and this means to hear the narratives of both sides, to articulate the suffering on both sides, not just the Palestinians. By neglecting to do this the letter allowed good people to close their ears and their hearts.
Filmography
| Year |
Film |
Role |
Notes |
| 1969 |
Midnight CowboyMidnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and then-newcomer Jon Voight in the title role...
|
Joe Buck |
BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer -Best British Director, Producer or Writer in the First Film:*2006 - Red Road - Andrea Arnold**Black Sun – Gary Tarn**Pierrepoint – Christine Langan**London to Brighton – Paul Andrew Williams...
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising NewcomerThe Golden Globe Awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to recognize outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television...
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorThe National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor is an annual award given by the National Society of Film Critics to honour the best leading actor of the year.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:...
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorThe New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking....
Nominated — Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1970 |
The Revolutionary The Revolutionary is a 1970 film directed by Paul Williams. The screenplay was written by Hans Koning , based on his novel of the same name. It was the film debut for actor Jeffrey Jones.-Main Cast:...
|
"A" |
Adapted from the novel by Hans Koning Hans Koning , author of over 40 fiction and non-fiction books, was also a prolific journalist, contributing for almost 60 years to many periodicals including the The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, Harper's, The New Yorker, and De Groene Amsterdammer.-...
|
| 1970 |
Catch-22Catch-22 is a 1970 war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical novel, the film was mired in production problems and artistic issues that led to its commercial failure.Although a talented...
|
1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder |
|
| 1972 |
DeliveranceDeliverance is a 1972 thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox, and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the film as a...
|
Ed Gentry |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1974 |
The ODESSA File The Odessa File is a 1974 film adaptation of the thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, about a struggle between a young German reporter and the ODESSA, an organization for ex-Nazis. The film stars Jon Voight and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.- Plot summary :The...
|
Peter Miller |
|
ConrackConrack is an Academy Award-nominated 1974 film based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jon Voight in the title role, alongside Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair, Hume Cronyn and Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas...
|
Pat Conroy |
|
| 1975 |
End of the Game End of the Game is a 1975 German thriller film directed by Maximilian Schell and starring Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw. Co-written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the film is an adaptation of his 1950 crime novella The Judge and His Hangman...
|
Walter Tschanz |
|
| 1978 |
Coming Home Coming Home is a 1978 drama film which tells the story of an injured Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life after his return from the war. It stars Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine and Robert Ginty.The movie, which was adapted from the...
|
Luke Martin |
Academy Award for Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)The Best Actor Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946.- Award Winners :-External links:* * ....
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorThe Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:...
National Board of Review Award for Best ActorAn incomplete list of the winners of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actor :-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:...
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorThe New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking....
|
| 1979 |
The Champ The Champ is a 1979 remake of the 1931 Academy Award-winning film of the same name which was directed by King Vidor.The remake was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, based on a story by Frances Marion and screenwriting by Walter Newman....
|
Billy |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1982 |
Lookin' to Get Out Lookin’ to Get Out is a 1982 film directed by Hal Ashby and written by Al Schwartz and Jon Voight, who also stars. Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, then seven years old, briefly appears as the Voight character's daughter near the end of the movie...
|
Alex Kovac |
Co-writer |
| 1983 |
Table For Five |
J.P. Tannen |
|
| 1985 |
Runaway TrainRunaway Train is a 1985 film which tells the story of two escaped convicts and a female train worker who are stuck on a runaway train as it barrels through snowy desolate Alaska. It stars Jon Voight as Oscar "Manny" Manheim, Eric Roberts as Buck, John P...
|
Oscar "Manny" Manheim |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
|
| 1986 |
Desert Bloom Desert Bloom is a 1986 American drama film directed by Eugene Corr. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Annabeth Gish - Rose Chismore* Jon Voight - Jack Chismore* JoBeth Williams - Lily Chismore...
|
Jack Chismore |
|
| 1989 |
Eternity |
Edward/James |
Co-writer |
| 1991 |
Chernobyl: The Final Warning |
Dr. Robert Peter Gale Robert Peter Gale is an American physician and medical researcher. Leukemia and other bone marrow disorders are the central theme of Gale’s basic scientific and clinical research for over 35 years.- Education :...
|
(TV) |
| 1992 |
The Last of His Tribe |
Professor Alfred Kroeber |
CableACE Award for Actor in a Movie or Miniseries The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film |
| The Rainbow Warrior The Rainbow Warrior, sometimes called The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, is a 1992 film starring Sam Neill and Jon Voight.Directed by Michael Tuchner.Written by Martin Copeland, Scott Busby....
|
Peter Willcox |
|
| 1995 |
Heat |
Nate |
|
Tin SoldierTin soldiers are miniature figures of soldiers, extremely popular in the world of collecting. They can be bought finished or in a raw state to be hand-painted. They are generally made of pewter, tin, lead, other metals or plastic...
|
Yarik |
Director A film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
|
| 1996 |
Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible is an 1996 action thriller directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The plot follows Hunt's mission to uncover the mole within the CIA who has framed him for the murders of his entire IMF team...
|
James Phelps |
|
| 1997 |
The Rainmaker The Rainmaker is a 1997 American motion picture directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. It is based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham.-Plot:Rudy Baylor is a graduate of. the Memphis State UniversityLaw School...
|
Leo F. Drummond |
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| Rosewood Rosewood is a 1997 film, directed by John Singleton. The film stars Ving Rhames as a fictional character who travels to the town of Rosewood, Florida, United States, and becomes a witness to the 1923 Rosewood massacre...
|
John Wright |
|
AnacondaAnaconda is a 1997 horror film, directed by Luis Llosa, starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight. It centers around a film crew for National Geographic who are kidnapped by a hunter who is going after the world's largest giant anaconda, which is discovered in the remote jungle. Though a...
|
Paul Sarone |
|
U TurnU Turn is a 1997 Neo-noir/drama film directed by Oliver Stone, based on the book Stray Dogs by John Ridley. It stars Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes and Nick Nolte.-Plot:...
|
Blind Man |
|
Most WantedMost Wanted is a 1997 film starring Keenen Ivory Wayans and Jill Hennessey and Jon Voight.-Plot:James Dunn , a United States Marine who served in the Gulf War, is wrongly accused of an assassination of an officer he had disputed with. Dunn is later saved from death row and recruited for top-secret...
|
Gen. Adam Woodward, alias Lt. Col. Grant Casey |
|
| 1998 |
Enemy of the State |
Thomas Brian Reynolds |
|
| The General The General is a true film about Dublin criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off several daring heists in the early 1980s, and attracted attention from the Garda, IRA, and UVF. The film was directed by John Boorman, filmed in 1997 and released in 1998...
|
Ned Kenny |
|
| 1999 |
Varsity BluesVarsity Blues is a 1999 film that follows a small-town high school football team and their overbearing coach through a tumultuous season. The players must deal with the pressures of adolescence and their football obsessed community while having their hard coach on their back constantly...
|
Coach Bud Kilmer |
|
| A Dog of Flanders |
Michel La Grande |
|
| 2000 |
Noah's ArkNoah’s Ark is a 1928 American early romantic Melodrama disaster film directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Darryl F. Zanuck. The film starred George O'Brien and Dolores Costello. Released by Warner Bros...
|
Noah |
|
| 2001 |
Zoolander Zoolander is a 2001 comedy film directed by Ben Stiller. The films concept is based on the Bret Easton Ellis book Glamorama, with elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997....
|
Larry Zoolander |
|
Lara Croft: Tomb RaiderLara Croft: Tomb Raider is a film adaptation of the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001....
|
Lord Richard Croft |
|
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a war film directed by Michael Bay. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Colm Feore, Mako, Tom Sizemore, Jaime King, and Jennifer Garner...
|
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
|
|
| Ali Ali is a American biographical film directed by Michael Mann. The film tells the story of boxing icon Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974 featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, banishment from boxing, his return to fight...
|
Howard CosellHoward William Cosell was an American sports journalist.-Early life:Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to Nellie and Isidore Cohen, who was an accountant. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York. His parents had wanted him to become a lawyer...
|
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorThe Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor is an annual award given by the Chicago Film Critics Association.-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:...
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture |
| Uprising Uprising is a 2001 war/drama television movie about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman...
|
Maj. Gen. Jürgen StroopJürgen Stroop, was a German SS and police general who oversaw the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II...
|
Nominated — Emmy Award for Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie |
| 2003 |
Holes Holes is a film based on the novel of the same title by Louis Sachar, who also wrote the screenplay, with Shia LaBeouf as the lead role of Stanley Yelnats...
|
Mr. Sir |
|
| 2004 |
The Five People You Meet in Heaven The Five People You Meet in Heaven... is a novel by the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom. It recounts the life and death of a simple yet dignified old man, Eddie. After dying in a freak accident, Eddie finds himself in heaven where he encounters five people who have significantly...
|
Eddie |
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |
National TreasureNational Treasure is a adventure film from Walt Disney Pictures written by Jim Kouf, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub...
|
Patrick Gates |
|
| SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 is a 2004 comedy film, and the last to be directed by Bob Clark. It is a sequel to the 1999 film Baby Geniuses. It received universal negative reviews from film critics, earning a 0% positive rating on review website Rotten Tomatoes...
|
Bill Biscane/Kane |
Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actor of the previous year. The following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated. Brooke Shields is the...
|
The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American film based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Richard Condon, and a reimagining of the previous 1962 film....
|
Senator Thomas Jordan |
|
| The Karate Dog Karate Dog is a 2004 made for TV movie starring Chevy Chase, Simon Rex, Jon Voight, and Jaime Pressly. Nicollette Sheridan and Pat Morita also make appearances...
|
Hamilton Cage |
Executive Producer |
| 2005 |
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II is a 2005 television miniseries dramatizing the life of Pope John Paul II from his early adult years in Poland to his death on April 2, 2005 at age 84....
|
John Paul II |
Nominated — Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.-Award winners:1950s*1952: Thomas Mitchell*1953: no award*1954: Robert Cummings – 12 Angry Men...
|
| 2006 |
The Legend of Simon Conjurer - Plot :In "The Legend of Simon Conjurer", a mystical college professor is framed for murder by his arch rival, the Pulitzer Prize-winning pyschiatrist Dr...
|
Dr. Crazx |
|
| Glory Road Glory Road is an American film directed by James Gartner, released on January 13, 2006. The film is based on a true story dealing with the events leading to the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in which the late Don Haskins , head coach of the Texas Western College led a team...
|
Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp was one of the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball. Rupp ranks third , in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching. He set a remarkable standard of excellence at Kentucky that exists...
|
|
| 2007 |
Transformers |
Secretary of Defense John Keller |
|
| September Dawn September Dawn is a 2007 film by Christopher Cain, released on August 24, 2007. It sets a fictional love story against a controversial historical interpretation of the Mountain Meadows massacre, which happened on September 11, 1857 when a wagon train of emigrants was attacked by a group of Mormon...
|
Jacob Samuelson |
|
| Bratz |
Principal Dimly |
|
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets |
Patrick Gates |
|
| 2008 |
Pride and Glory Pride and Glory is a 2008 crime/drama film, directed by Gavin O'Connor. It stars Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Noah Emmerich. The film was released on October 24, 2008 in the United States.-Premise:...
|
Francis Tierney Sr. |
|
| An American Carol An American Carol is a 2008 American comedy film, directed by David Zucker and starring Kevin Farley. Outside North America, the film is known as Big Fat Important Movie...
|
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
|
|
| Tropic Thunder Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action satire comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film. When their fed-up writer and director decide to drop them in the middle of a...
|
Himself |
Cameo appearance |
| 24: Redemption |
Jonas Hodges |
(TV) |
Four ChristmasesFour Christmases is a Christmas-themed romantic comedy film about a couple who go to see their divorced parents in one day...
|
Creighton |
|
| 2009 |
24Season Seven, also known as Day 7 of the American serial television series 24, was to premiere on January 13, 2008, but was delayed for one year due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. On November 23, 2008, Fox aired 24: Redemption, a two-hour TV movie set between seasons. Season...
|
Jonas Hodges |
(TV) |
External links