Jon Voight: Isn't it Romantic?

Q: How does someone like James Dean fit into that?

A: James Dean was great. He was authentic, terrific, and he had a truth. So did Brando. And there were other actors who gave us another portrait of what a film actor could be. Paul Newman passed on the highest aspects of the history of Hollywood. Redford, too. These guys were movie stars in the old school, but also represented an activist ethic, a force for compassion and justice. But then there were the artist-revolutionaries, a group I feel some part of, who didn't want to do formulas. I wanted to get to the bottom of things, to bring to life what I felt was happening at the time, what people were feeling. Obviously Dusty [Dustin Hoffman] was a product of that same kind of thinking. Jack Nicholson, Pacino, De Niro, and I know I've left out a whole bunch of others. We didn't want to be movie stars. We were dying to say something. Midnight Cowboy represented something. I found I was full of passion.

Q: How do you feel about your Midnight Cowboy character, Joe Buck, now?

A: Joe Buck really had some pretty bad programming as a youth. He made some mistakes and he had to face it all. He had to admit to his failings, make a turn in the road. If he had stayed that goofy Joe Buck and kept those silly aspirations and didn't have to suffer facing himself in the mirror, we wouldn't feel so much for him. We love him because we recognize ourselves in him. I certainly recognize myself in him.

Q: Did you recognize yourself at the time?

A: Yes, it was me.

Q: Did you ever consider playing a male hustler in _Midnight Cowbo_y a risk?

A: Honestly, no. I didn't think there was a downside. Although when I was young I'd always identified with the heroes of the romantic adventures--and I still do.

Q: It was a pretty ballsy, groundbreaking film.

A: I honestly don't know where that aspect of me came from. I can't trace it. I only know that the role expressed some deep truth for me. It's funny when you realize that the kind of films I'd recommend would be the Frank Capra movies, Fred Astaire and Beauty and the Beast--and [yet] I did Deliverance, Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home and Runaway Train. What happened? I don't know the answer.

Q: Did you go to the movies a lot as a kid?

A: Every Monday, my dad's day off, he would get us out of school early. My dad's family was Czech, and he would tell the school principal that we had to attend a meeting of the Czechoslovakians. But there was never any such meeting. My mother would make sandwiches, and we'd stop on Yonkers Avenue for sodas and go to one double feature downtown, and then another. Sometimes we would even go to a third and come back at one in the morning. I was a child in the '40s and '50s, and I think all the wonderful movies at that time really formed much of my philosophy. I thank God for them.

Q: What did you learn at the movies?

A: One of the major contributions of those early films that has carried on in Hollywood is the legacy of the happy ending. Many people think of the happy ending in a cynical fashion--"Oh, this is so Hollywood." I think the happy ending is a deep philosophical statement about life. Life is a love song. Sometimes we will be on the edge of despair, but as with all great love songs, there is always a happy ending--because we are not meant to be unhappy.

Q: What made you decide to act?

A: I just happened to have remarkable parents. Now that I'm in my late 50s, I see that more than ever. My dad was a very charismatic fellow, and a wonderful storyteller. He was a professional golfer, a very stylish person. He wore white jackets with yellow pants, salmon-colored shirts, with brown and white shoes--he was a flag from his own country. At that time, Jewish people weren't accepted at country clubs in New York, so they had to start their own, and he was the golf professional at the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale. He became this larger-than-life figure for many people. To this day I still bump into members of Sunningdale who want to talk about my dad.

Q: Was he larger than life for you?

A: Of course. All parents are larger than life to their children, in whatever way. He would come home after teaching golf all day and lie down in bed with his three boys and tell tales, many of them about his childhood. I told them to my children, and they, in turn, will pass them on to their children.

Q: What was your mother's influence?

A: When I was in the sixth grade, I designed and made the sets [for our plays]. When the lead comedy actor took sick, the cast asked me if I would take over the role. Then the teacher got sick and my mother came in [as the substitute teacher]. She became my first director. And she was terrific. She was completely my fan, but very artistic herself, strong-minded, a tough one, but playful. She could accomplish anything.

Q: How did you get your first real acting job?

A: I was standing in a rainstorm in New York and a fellow drove up on one of those little motor scooters and saw this drenched person and asked if I wanted a ride. I said yes, and when I told him I was an actor, he asked if I wanted representation! He managed musical acts, and I said, "That's fine with me!" I had a cold the day I auditioned for The Sound of Music and sang a little better than usual, but I was so used to them saying "Thank you" and walking away that when my manager caught me at the stage door with fear in his eyes and said, "They want you for the part!" I said, "You go back in there and tell them I can't sing!" He said, "I can't tell Richard Rogers you can't sing--Richard Rogers is out there himself." That's how I got the part.

Q: How did your dad respond to your success?

A: He was the perfect bragging father. No matter what we did, he would distort it to give it a little more shine. My father was the most delightful being I have ever come across.

Q: Maybe that's why humor is so important to you--it allows for a few foibles.

A: [Laughs] My father used funny words like "foible." If you call it a "foible," you can't chastise yourself too severely for it. It's a "foible." You have to be amused.

Q: What was your first important acting experience?

A: In the mid-'60s I did the Arthur Miller play A View from the Bridge, directed by Ulu Grosbard. His assistant was a young fellow by the name of Dustin Hoffman, who had a reputation as rather a brilliant actor. At one point in rehearsals, Dustin said, "You're going to be very good in this," which was the first moment I entered into the realm of serious dramatic acting. It was a marvelous experience and it set the course for me. I got a lot of information from Bobby Duvall, who played the lead, about character work--how he developed his walk and mannerisms from the people he met. Not long after that, and because of that to some degree, I was able to do Midnight Cowboy. Since then, I've had my ups and downs. I've had the ringside seat at my own decision-making processes--and my own foibles. [Laughs]

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