Elmer Voight: Inside the Life Jon Voight’s father

Elmer Voight is the father of Jon Voight. Elmer Voight’s son is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. He is the father of  Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards-winning actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.

Elmer Voight: Bio Summary

Who is Jon Voight’s father?

Elmer Voight was born on October 29, 1909, in Košice, Košice I, Košický, Slovakia. He was the son of  George Voytka and Helen ‘Nellie’ and the brother of Agnes Voytka and George Voytka Jr. His parents were Slovak immigrants. He met and married  Barbara Voight, The couple went on to have three children- Jon Voight, Barry Voight, and Chip Taylor.

Elmer Voight was a Professional golfer

Jon Voight’s father became a golf pro at Sunningdale, an affluent club in Scarsdale, where the motto could have been “Dress British, Think Yiddish’. His three boys grew up in the game, spending afternoons and summers at the club with their Dad.

Elmer encouraged his sons to follow their interests and dreams. Barry, his oldest son became a renowned geologist and professor at Pennsylvania State University where he taught from 1964 until his retirement in 2005. Barry Voight remains an emeritus professor there and still conducts research, focusing on rock mechanics, plate tectonics, disaster prevention, and geotechnical engineering.

Elmer Voight’s middle son Jon, is an Academy Award-winning actor while his youngest, Chip Taylor (James Voight, nicknamed for his many hours on the golf course) would become a songwriter, known for “Angel of the Morning” and “Wild Thing”.

Taylor gained recognition for writing many pop and rock songs, both alone and with other songwriters, including Al Gorgoni (with whom he also performed, as the duo Just Us), Billy Vera, Ted Daryll, and Jerry Ragovoy, first freelancing and then as an employee of a New York City music publisher.

ALSO, READ; Barbara Voight: Who was Jon Voight’s mother?

According to Taylor’s Wikipedia, from 1980 through 1995 he was very successful at but unhappily addicted to, gambling professionally on blackjack in New Jersey casinos and on horse races. He then returned to music, starting by singing to his dying mother, Barbara Voight. Elmer Voight’s youngest son has said that the gambling addiction was hard on both himself and his family.

What happened to Jon Voight’s father?

Elmer Voight Passed away on 26 Jun 1973 at age 63 in New York City, New York. According to Geni he died tragically in a car crash. He was laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, USA.

When Elmer died, Sunningdale members flocked to his funeral and also sat shivah for their Catholic friend. Jon Voight and his two brothers played at Sunningdale more recently when they were together for a family wedding. Barry was asked what Elmer would say if he could see them on the first tee. Barry replied, “He’d say ‘let me out of this box.‘”

Elmer Voight’s granddaughter Angelina Jolie has been named Hollywood’s highest-paid actress multiple times. She is known for her humanitarian efforts, for which she has received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, among other honors. Through Jolie, he has six great-grandchildren.