Jon Voight

Jon Voight was born on December 29, 1932. He is the son of a Czech professional golfer, Elmer Voytka (later Voight) and a New Yorker from a family of German emigrants. In 1960 he graduated in Dramatic Art fromthe Catholic Universityof America, and during these years he began to appear in plays, in one of which he met his first wife, Lauri Peters .

His film debut was in the western The Hour of the Guns (1967), and that same year he obtained the leading role in Fearless Frank , a fantastic comedy by Philip Kauffman. Two years later he rose to fame at the hands of John Schlesinger with Midnight Cowboy , a film with which he obtained his first Oscar nomination and which earned him the Golden Globe. Here Voight played a cowboy womanizer, who along with Dustin Hoffman, a poor tubercular patient, wandered around New York City facing all kinds of disappointments. The actor, referring to the story, commented years later that if it had been filmed today, “sexual elements would have to be introduced into the relationship between Buck and Ratso (Hoffman), or at least love, to make it sexually or erotically sincere.”

The following years were characterized by the actor’s foray into films with political and social themes; films like Trap 22 , a satire onthe second warWorld; or The Return (1978) , where Hal Ashby directs a Voight impotent due to war wounds and furious with the conflict, in a role for which he was recognized with an Oscar.

It was around this time that he met his second wife, Marcheline Bertrand, with whom he had the famous Angelina and also actor James Haven . Father and daughter not only have their relationship in common, but both are popular for their commitment to solidarity. She is a UNHCR ambassador and has adopted a large number of children who lived in poor conditions. He has been recognized as a major contributor to the New York Children’s Humane Fund. In addition, in 2001 he appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show dressed as a giant chicken, at an event that raised funds for Save the Children.

Jon Voight was again nominated for an Oscar on two more occasions; in 1985 for The Hell Train and in 2001 for Ali , about the legendary boxer Mohammed. Voight had already had contact with the world of the ring on previous occasions. In The All-American Boy (1973) he played a boxer, and in ’79 he put his fighting gloves back on to become Champion . In this Franco Zefirelli film, Voight played the father of a little Rick Schroder ; Years later, in the Return to Lonesome Dove series , the actor would return to tutor Schroder, already a teenager.

And we are going to curl the loop even more. As if Voight wanted to do each role twice to make his imprint very clear, he would also repeat some other character. It was in Game of Champions (1999) and Road to Glory (2006) , where Voight put on the coach’s tracksuit.

Jon Voight has always been open with his political ideals. In 2004, he publicly acknowledged having voted for George W. Bush and until recently supported the campaign of Republican Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York. He could also be seen inthe national conventionRepublican. Speaking about Obama, she stated: “He is an extremist, but he always tries to say something to hide it. He’s like a leftist from the sixties. I was on the left, that’s why I know how he is. He says that he will talk to the whole world, with Hamas, with Iran… but he is naive. It will be the biggest disaster for Israel – and for all democracies.”

Absolutely critical of socialism, Jon Voight is quite an exception in the world of artists, usually linked to left-wing parties and prone to be seen in all kinds of demonstrations. But regardless of his ideology or whether he likes Obama or McCain, it is undeniable that this veteran has a lot to say behind the screen.

The last works of his extensive filmography include titles such as the comedy Zoolander , the fantastic sequelThe Search 2. The secret diary and the film adaptation of the classic Transformers .