Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight will become the first recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts since President Trump took office.
The White House announced four recipients of the National Medal of Arts and four of the National Humanities Medal in a statement Sunday night. Trump will award the medals during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday.
In addition to his work in films and TV, Voight is one of Trump’s few vocal supporters in Hollywood, often deriding the president’s Democratic opposition and previously hailing him as “The greatest president of this century.”
The honors have been an annual affair during past administrations, but they had not been awarded since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. The most recent arts or humanities medals were bestowed by President Obama in September 2016.
Voight will receive the accolade “for his exceptional capacity as an actor to portray deeply complex characters.” The actor starred in “Midnight Cowboy,” the 1969 film that won an Academy Award for best picture, and he won the best actor Oscar for 1978’s “Coming Home.” He appears in the Showtime series “Ray Donovan.” – READ MORE