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Ron Kovic

Ron Kovic

Actor, Writer, Other Crew

Born July 4, 1946 in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, USA

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Biography

Imagine having Tom Cruise play your life story in a movie, and ending up on stage in Hollywood celebrating the movie's two Oscars? All Ron Kovic had to do to achieve this fantasy was serve three tours of duty in Vietnam, get paralyzed for life by combat wounds, and write a best-selling book about it all.

A war veteran turned anti-war activist, Kovic turned his 1976 autobiography, "Born on the Fourth of July", into the eponymous film with the help of fellow Vietnam vet Oliver Stone. The son of a grocery clerk and a housewife, Kovic grew up in the Midwest and New York's suburban Massapequa, Long Island. In high school he competed as a wrestler and pole vaulter, and after graduation hoped to play major league baseball. But he enlisted in the Marines in 1964, in the early days of the Vietnam war, after the assassination of President Kennedy and inspired by the speech of a Marine recruiter. His gung-ho Marine patriotism was undermined by two incidents - one in which he feared he had accidentally killed a fellow Marine in the chaos of combat, and another in which Vietnamese children were unintentionally wounded in a night assault. These incidents made him so desperate he was relieved when he was wounded by gunfire. But a subsequent bullet tore into Kovic's spine and paralyzed him from the chest down. Kovic returned to the States in 1968 and was awarded a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart, as he received extensive medical care. He began college studies a year later, but landed in a rundown veterans hospital after an accident. The horrible conditions in the hospital turned his increasing despair into outrage over what he felt was America's betrayal of Vietnam veterans and he began to seriously question the government's conduct of the war itself.

Following the killings of student protestors by National Guardsman at Kent State College in 1970, Kovic joined the Vietnam Veterans against the War and transformed himself into a pro-active anti-war supporter. During the 1972 Republican Party convention, Kovic and some fellow vets in wheelchairs succeeded in disrupting President Nixon's televised acceptance speech, an event he considers one of the highlights of his activist years, which also included protests against nuclear-power plants, American interference in Central America and the too-often inferior medical treatment of war veterans.

Kovic seems to have served as the basis for Jon Voight's war-veteran-turned-anti-war activist in Coming Home (1978). He served as a writer in residence at State University of New York at Stonybrook in 1983 and later moved to Redondo Beach, California. Here he considered a career in politics, but eventually rejected a Democratic Party request that he run for Congress in 1990.

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Filmography

Actor

33

Type

Year

The End of Ethics Poster

The End of Ethics Feature Film2025Self

Citizen Bruce: The American Pal Poster

Citizen Bruce: The American Pal TV Movie2024Self

Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth Poster

Tom Cruise: An Eternal Youth Documentary2020Self

Hal Documentary2018Self

Jane Fonda in Five Acts Poster

Jane Fonda in Five Acts Documentary2018Self

Paying the Price for Peace Poster

Paying the Price for Peace Documentary2018Self

The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets Poster

The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets Documentary2017Self

We Are Many Poster

We Are Many Documentary2014Self

Five Day Bicycle Race Poster

Five Day Bicycle Race Documentary2011Self

6 Days in a Park Short Film2009Self

Convention Poster

Convention Documentary2009Hismelf

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts Poster

The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts TV Special2009Self

A Soldier's Peace Poster

A Soldier's Peace Documentary2008Self

Fred Baker- filmmaker Poster

Fred Baker- filmmaker Feature Film2007Self

The U.S. vs. John Lennon Poster

The U.S. vs. John Lennon Documentary2006Self

One Bright Shining Moment Poster

One Bright Shining Moment Documentary2005Self

Democracy Now! Poster

Democracy Now! TV Series2001Self

American Dreamers TV Movie1996Self

Oliver Stone: Inside Out Poster

Oliver Stone: Inside Out Documentary1992Self

The 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1990 Poster

The 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1990 TV Special1990Self - Winner

The 62nd Annual Academy Awards Poster

The 62nd Annual Academy Awards TV Special1990Self - Nominee

Born on the Fourth of July Poster

Born on the Fourth of July Feature Film1989Parade Veteran

Wogan TV Series1982Self

Showtime Looks at 1981 Documentary1981Self - Center for Veterans Rights

Good Morning America Poster

Good Morning America TV Series1975Self

PBS NewsHour Poster

PBS NewsHour TV Series1975Self

AFI Life Achievement Award Poster

AFI Life Achievement Award TV Series1973Self

Four More Years Poster

Four More Years Documentary1972Self

Operation Last Patrol Poster

Operation Last Patrol Documentary1972Self

Personenbeschreibung Poster

Personenbeschreibung TV Series1972Self

100 Years of Happiness Poster

100 Years of Happiness DocumentarySelf - Age 65

Behind Our Eyes: the Human Cost of War Poster

Behind Our Eyes: the Human Cost of War TV SeriesSelf

There Must Be Some Kind of Way Outta Here DocumentarySelf - Anti-war activist, writer and former US marine

Writer

1

Born on the Fourth of July Poster

Born on the Fourth of July Feature Film1989

Other Crew

1

Born on the Fourth of July Poster

Born on the Fourth of July Feature Film1989

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