Midnight Cowboy, the excellent 1969 Best Picture Oscar winner, made Jon Voight a star. His performance as Joe Buck even earned him an Oscar nomination. But in a new interview, the veteran star says that he was paid next to nothing to appear in the film.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Voigt recalled telling his agent, “I said, 'Tell them I'll do this part for nothing.’” He wanted to do the part that badly. But he was still surprised when “they took me at my word and they gave me minimum for Midnight Cowboy.”
United Artists “even sent me a $14.73 coffee shop charge,” he recalled. “It was the worst,” but he has no regrets. “I knew what it meant. It was going to give me a career and I was right.”
He also said that he convinced Dustin Hoffman to audition for the iconic role of ‘Ratso’ while they were in an Off-Broadway show together. Both actors ended up getting Oscar nominations, but lost to John Wayne.
Still, as The Guardian notes, Voigt won a shelf-full of other prizes for the film, including a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. He eventually won an Oscar for 1979’s Coming Home.
Voigt can be seen this weekend in Getaway with Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez. He currently stars on Showtime’s Ray Donovan.
image: CBS/Showtime