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Jul 4, 2019 · Tom Cruise earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for Oliver Stone's star-spangled Vietnam War flick, but the role of Ron Kovic was supposed to be Al Pacino's.
Ron Kovic was born July 4, 1946, in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. He was the second of six children in a patriotic, working-class, Catholic family. When Kovic was a boy, his family moved to Massapequa, Long Island, New York. He loved spending time outdoors, playing baseball or staging mock battles in the woods with his friends.
Ron Kovic’s legacy is a testament to the transformative power of individual stories in shaping collective understanding. Kovic, through activism, shaped discourse on war consequences, challenging norms, and advocating for veteran rights, influencing public opinion.
A war veteran turned anti-war activist, Kovic turned his 1976 autobiography, "Born on the Fourth of July", into the eponymous film with the help of fellow Vietnam vet Oliver Stone. The son of a grocery clerk and a housewife, Kovic grew up in the Midwest and New York's suburban Massapequa, Long Island. In high school he competed as a wrestler ...
Dec 20, 2011 · Born on the 4th of July in 1946, Kovic grew up on Long Island, one of six children in a staunchly patriotic Catholic family. His parents met while serving in the Navy during World War II. He was an all-American boy, so proud of being born on his country's birthday, he said. A natural athlete, he idolized Mickey Mantle and dreamed of growing up ...
Feb 13, 2024 · RON KOVIC served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. He was paralyzed from his chest down in combat in 1968 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Along with Oliver Stone, Kovic was the coscreenwriter of the 1989 Academy Award–winning film based on Kovic’s best-selling memoir Born on the Fourth of July (starring Tom Cruise as Kovic).
- Ron Kovic
Jan 5, 1990 · Born on the Fourth of July: Directed by Oliver Stone. With Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava. The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
