- Born
- Nickname
- Marty
- Height1.86 m
- Martin Kove was born on March 6, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York. Strong-featured, narrow-eyed actor who has portrayed a mixed bag of both good guys and bad guys. He first turned up on screen in several minor roles, and was noticed as the villainous Nero the Hero in the low-budget road race La Course à la mort de l'an 2000 (1975), and then as Clem the sadistic rigger, breaking Jan-Michael Vincent's ribs in La route de la violence (1975). He cropped up on the television series Cagney et Lacey (1981) portraying honest Police Detective Isbecki, and then ended up on the wrong side of a rampaging Sylvester Stallone in Rambo II : La Mission (1985).
Kove probably scored his greatest visibility to the public in the hugely successful Karate Kid (1984) in which he played John Kreese, the head instructor of the Cobra Kai karate school. He reprised the role in the two sequels, Karate Kid II (1986) and Karate Kid 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 television guest roles.- IMDb mini biography by: firehouse44@hotmail.com
- SpouseVivienne Kove(1981 - 2005) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsFrances KoveTheodore Kove
- Square Jaw and Cleft Chin
- 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 "Karate Kid Part III Karate Kid 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.
- During the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a well-known television spokesman for King Cobra beer: "Don't let the smooth taste fool you." However, in more recent years, he has sworn off alcohol.
- Played a racer in competition with a non-famous Sylvester Stallone in "Death Race 2000" and later played antagonist to an extremely famous Sly in "Rambo: First Blood II.".
- [on one of his most famous roles, in 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 John 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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