Voight was born in Yonkers, New York, the son of Barbara (née Kamp; New York, January 7, 1910 – Palm Beach County, Florida, December 3, 1995) and Elmer Voytka, later Voight (October 29, 1909 – June, 1973), a professional golfer. His maternal grandparents were German and his paternal grandfather was an immigrant from KoÅ¡ice (Austria Hungary, now Slovakia) who worked as a coal Read more...

After graduation, Voight moved to New York City, where he pursued an acting career. In 1962 he married actress Lauri Peters, whose credits include 1962's Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and 1963's Summer Holiday. In the early sixties, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of Gunsmoke, between 1962 and 1966, as well as guest spots on Naked City, and The Defenders, both in 1963, Read more...

In 1969, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy, a film that would make his career, establishing him as one of the premier actors of his generation. Voight played Joe Buck, a naïve male hustler from Texas, adrift in New York City. He comes under the tutelage of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored the demimonde of late sixties Read more...