Biography for
Martin Kove

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Mini Biography

New York born, strong featured, narrow eyed and often untrustworthy looking actor who has portrayed a mixed bag of both good and bad guys! First turned up on screen in several minor roles, and got himself noticed as the villainous "Nero The Hero" in the low budget road race Death Race 2000 (1975), and then as "Clem" the sadistic rigger, breaking Jan-Michael Vincent's ribs in White Line Fever (1975). He cropped up in the hit TV series "Cagney & Lacey" (1982) as honest Police Detective Isbecki, and then (stupidly) got on the wrong side of rampaging Sylvester Stallone in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).

Kove probably scored his greatest visibility to the public (yet again, as another villain) in the hugely successful The Karate Kid (1984) in which he played "John Kreese", the brutal head instructor of the Cobra Kai karate school, and he reprised the role in the two sequels, The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) and The Karate Kid, Part III (1989).

Kove has since kept consistently busy, primarily in the action / thriller film genre, and has notched up over 80 film appearances to date, as well as numerous TV guest roles.

Spouse

Trivia

Honorary marshal of Tarzana, California

He was a substitute match teacher at Ward Melville High School in New York.

During the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, Kove was a well-known TV-spokesman for King Cobra beer: "Don't let the smooth taste fool you." In more recent years, however, he has sworn off alcohol.

Has twins: son Jesse Morgan Kove; and daughter Rachel Olivia Kove. Jesse and Rachel were born November 2, 1990.

Has black belts in all of the following martial arts: Kendo; Okinawa-te; and Tiger Kenpo.

Injured his hand during the fateful fight scene between his character, John Kreese, and Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Part II (1986). The effects team ill-timed one of the car window shattering shots, causing Kove to inadvertently break the prop window with his own fist. He sustained several injuries to his hand but continued filming.

Personal Quotes

[on one of his most famous characterizations, in The Karate Kid (1984)] Over the years, kids have come up to me in places like supermarkets, and hit me and said things like, "You hurt Ralph [Ralph Macchio]!" It makes me feel like the Darth Vader of the contemporary cinematic world. As "Sensei Jon Kreese," I'm truly hated and I love it. I had no idea how much anxiety people would be releasing by hating this character.

From the moment I got to Hollywood I've always felt like I never really got to do what I wanted to do. In general, artists feel that you're never really allowed to accomplish what you would like to accomplish because there's just so much of this system that gets in the way, the business gets in the way of the art.

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