Jon Voight’s an idiot. So, what can I tell you?

July 28, 2022 8:01 AM

With Deliverance celebrating its 50th anniversary or RoboCop celebrating its 35th anniversary, the AVClub talks to Ronny Cox about his two most well-known roles. They also talk about his music and how gets recognized in public as anyone other than himself ("You’ve just been my gynecologist for 14 years!”).
posted by tommasz (24 comments total)

"I hate sequels, or prequels. It’s like putting on a wet bathing suit."

Sounds like a mensch, with good taste to boot.
posted by condour75 at 8:14 AM on July 28, 2022 [12 favorites]

Huh. I thought Ronny Cox had passed away. Good for not dead Ronny Cox!
posted by briank at 8:17 AM on July 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

Delivering ‘Deliverance’
An oral history of one of the most unforgettable Southern movies of all time

posted by robbyrobs at 8:28 AM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I wish he was asked to elaborate on the Jon Voight is an idiot line. I mean he is and all, but someone who really knows would be great to hear from.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:39 AM on July 28, 2022 [5 favorites]

What a great interview.
posted by sfred at 8:42 AM on July 28, 2022

"I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake." Keeps going through my head now.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:52 AM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

and then there's Apple's Way
posted by philip-random at 8:59 AM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

I fucking love Ronny Cox!
posted by Saxon Kane at 9:18 AM on July 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

Apropos of the next thread down, I know Ronny Cox primarily as Senator Kinsey on Stargate SG-1.
posted by janell at 9:34 AM on July 28, 2022 [6 favorites]

The film that demonised rural America: How Deliverance set a controversial trend
posted by robbyrobs at 10:17 AM on July 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

And who can forget this little 3 minute gem of a scene from St. Elsewhere (1987, S06E03 "A Moon For the Misbegotten") with Cox as the villain opposite Ed Flanders.
posted by zaixfeep at 10:51 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Huh. I thought Ronny Cox had passed away. Good for not dead Ronny Cox!

You can't kill Ronny Cox

He'll blow this place up and be home in time for cornflakes
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:41 AM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Now I am wondering what that lady's gynecologist has to put up with when he flies anywhere.
posted by y2karl at 12:23 PM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Deliverance was the first movie for both Cox and Ned Beatty. Talk about jumping into the deep end!
posted by kirkaracha at 12:23 PM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I knew Ronny Cox mostly as Jellico from Star Trek, or Kinsey from Stargate SG-1, and in both cases he was just so very, very punchable. So, great actor, I guess?
posted by xedrik at 4:03 PM on July 28, 2022 [8 favorites]

Delightful interview! It's funny to read that he was typecast as a soft actor for so long when he plays such great hardasses.
posted by rodlymight at 5:06 PM on July 28, 2022

> with Cox as the villain opposite Ed Flanders

"You ding dong diddly fucked with the wrong guy."
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 5:20 PM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

Well, I guess we're gonna be friends after all... Richard.
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:00 PM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

in both cases he was just so very, very punchable.

Also very punchable in RoboCop. I always squee a bit whenever I see him or Kurtwood Smith. They're just such good villains in that film. I can't help but see them as at least a bit sinister in any role, it's burned into my brain since I first saw Robocop when I was like 7.

That they can ever not be totally villainous to me is a testament to their acting ability.
posted by wierdo at 11:34 PM on July 28, 2022

Red Forman comes to mind.
posted by y2karl at 12:38 AM on July 29, 2022

Rewatched Deliverance last year for the first time in probably 40 years and of course Cox, Voight and Beaty are great but I was struck at how good Reynolds was. He's playing a tough guy end-times prepper who actually sucks at survivalism and cries when he gets shot by an arrow. The portrayal is still very resonant in 2022.
posted by octothorpe at 6:21 AM on July 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

I just give him credit for not saying, "well, no wonder, it's not your face I'd recognize" to the gynecologist lady.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:58 PM on July 29, 2022

I adore Ronny Cox — have for years. Thanks for posting this.
posted by holborne at 6:08 PM on July 31, 2022

Can't remember where I read this--could have been Twitter--but someone described Deliverance as being notorious precisely because it showed men as being vulnerable to the same sort of sexual assault, in a very specific time and part of the country, that women are vulnerable to everywhere.

Anyway, Ronny Cox is a mensch; he spends most of his time now performing music. Paul Verhoeven also used him to great effect in Total Recall.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:11 PM on August 1, 2022