Editing Jon Voight (section)

===1961–1969: Early roles and breakthrough ===
[[File:Jon Voight as Prince Hamlet.jpg|thumb|Voight as Prince Hamlet in ''[[Hamlet]]'' in 1976]]
Voight started his off-Broadway career in a [[revue]] called ''O Oysters'', which ran in early 1961.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/cowboy-ar2.html | title=The New York Times: Best Pictures | website=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=January 6, 2024 | archive-date=January 18, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118101522/http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/cowboy-ar2.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KiEEAAAAMBAJ&dq=o+oysters+revue+jon+voight&pg=PA12 | title=Billboard | date=February 6, 1961 }}</ref> He made his Broadway debut in the fall of 1961 as Rolf in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zNGGDwAAQBAJ&dq=jon+voight+sound+of+music+1961&pg=PT65 | title=The Sound of Music FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Maria, the von Trapps and Our Favorite Things | isbn=978-1-4950-2595-2 | last1=Monush | first1=Barry | date=February 2015 | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jon-Voight | title=Jon Voight &#124; Biography, Movies, Midnight Cowboy, & Facts &#124; Britannica | date=December 25, 2023 | access-date=December 2, 2020 | archive-date=October 3, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003161039/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jon-Voight | url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 1960s, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', between 1963 and 1968, as well as guest spots on ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'' and ''[[The Defenders (1961 TV series)|The Defenders]]'', both in 1963, and ''[[Twelve O'Clock High (TV series)|Twelve O'Clock High]]'', in 1966 and ''[[Cimarron Strip]]'' in 1968. Voight's theater career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in [[Arthur Miller]]'s ''[[A View from the Bridge]]'' in an [[Off-Broadway]] revival. Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof, ''Fearless Frank''. He also took a small role in 1967's western, ''[[Hour of the Gun]]'', directed by veteran [[Film director|helmer]] [[John Sturges]]. In 1968 he took a role in director Paul Williams's ''Out of It''.

In 1968, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking ''[[Midnight Cowboy]]'' (1969), the film that would make his career. He played Joe Buck, a naïve male [[Male prostitution|hustler]] from [[Texas]], adrift in [[New York City]]. He comes under the tutelage of [[Dustin Hoffman]]'s Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty [[thief]] and [[con artist]]. The film explored late 1960s New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by [[John Schlesinger]] and based on a novel by [[James Leo Herlihy]], the film struck a chord with critics and audiences. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to [[John Wayne]] in'' [[True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit]].''