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Martin Kove

Appearances

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7357.045

That's a graphic novel of four issues, four issues of a comic book called The Prodigal Son that we're developing into a series. And there's a convention in Glendale this coming week. And then I'll be signing there. And I own it. And we're going to do it as a series. It's about a gunfighter that I'll play. who's killed everything, and is a 12-year-old kid that he bonds with.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7386.944

And they exchange moral fiber between them. And they each learn how to be human. The kid learns how to be a survivalist, and I learn how to be a human being.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7398.206

Yeah, yeah. If you open it up full, you'll see. Well, the character is all through the book. He's the lead, and he's the man in black. And they're both on a mission to get this bad gang that I at one time ran. And I was ostracized by my son, who in real life, my son will play the leader of the gang. And it's really a good story. It's very much like John Kreese in Cobra Kai, you know. Wow.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7429.459

I wrote all the broad strokes, the treatments for each four issues. One of my partners, Don Hanfield, he wrote the dialogue in the comic, in the captions. And then we had an artist do the artwork.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7446.133

It was beautiful artwork. Yeah, it's really incredible artwork.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7452.714

Oh, yeah. I find that the comic book world doesn't care what you look like. So in a couple of issues, you could see, as Martin Kove, a couple of issues, you would know if it's me or Elvis Costello. I mean, it's like, and they don't care. It explained to me that it's at the hands of the artist, you know, and

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7477.643

I don't really, you know, I'm a comic book collector of TV and movie comic books, you know, 60s westerns and all, but we'll talk about this during the thing.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7526.928

I, I, you know, it's interesting when, when that happens, you know, it's like when I, when I was Sean Connery standing in 1972 in a movie called the Anderson tapes, I just started acting and, Here I was working with Sean Connery and I was a glorified extra. It was called a photo double. You know, you stand in, line up a shot. You know, it was like my second year in the business.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7551.973

And the most fascinating thing I learned from him, and he was working with lots of actors then who were very popular, who are gone now. Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, just Diane Cannon, you know. And I learned how to listen from this guy. You know, it was really interesting. He had a plot to rob this Fifth Avenue building, and he had to get a lot of people's cooperation.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7574.625

And the greatest thing that I learned from Sean Connery, being there for six, eight weeks, was how to listen in a scene. And he was a great guy. I bumped into him years later. Played tennis with him over here in Motor Avenue opposite Fox. And it was great.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7593.801

Yeah, who won? Well, it was a very funny story. We can't really tell it aloud here because there's a lot of cursing. You can curse. You can curse here? It's up to you, but we allow it. Yeah. So we're playing tennis. I bump into him. This is like 15 years later. And I finished Cagney Lacey. And I finished Karate Kid 1. And I was a little established. And I said, Sean, do you remember me?

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7617.551

And he's looking for a tennis game. And this is probably 85, I think. And he says, no. And I said, well, okay, we're hitting. And he's hitting everything into the net over my head. He played terribly. He had a bad back and tennis wasn't his game. He played golf. So every time he hit the ball over the net, he screamed, fuck, fuck, bitch, son of a fucker, you know, screaming out loud.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7646.797

And I'm dying. I'm dying on the other end of the court, hysterical, because I'm saying to myself, shit, I'm playing tennis with James Bond and he curses just like me. You know?

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7661.344

And it was just, it was the height of the day, you know? He was a good guy, really good guy.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7670.147

No, I asked if he remembered me at the very top of what we chatted at the beginning when I saw him, he was looking for a game. And he didn't remember me. And I said, Sean, do you remember me? I was just standing. And he says, nope. But do you want to play? So yeah, sure.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7707.006

The character was a very one-dimensional character in the movies. But when we did the series, I did not want him to be anything really but vulnerable and have an arc and have a lot of colors in his emotional colors and people to learn why he was the way he was in the movies, tough, hard, one-dimensional. You know, and they did it. They wrote those things.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7734.285

And it made me feel really good, especially in the end, you know, season six, where he has, you know, there's so many people that there are so many interviews. My son reads me all the interviews. And, you know, there's so many, you know, I guess they're not really interviews. They're actually, you know, criticisms or appreciation in the sense of a review of the final season.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7756.692

And all of them wanted to see more. of what happened to me, they wanted to have more development of the redemption. Yeah, that makes sense. And I thought that was really good because it made me feel like, well, you know, Johnny Lawrence is the lead of the show, but that this tough guy had enough redemption through the season because six is good for the character.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7780.818

And he had enough redemption that people wanted more of that. And it wasn't something you saw in the character because, you know, he's tough. He was very moral, but it was his way of the highway. You know, very impatient character. And a lot of those residual effects that playing John Kreese stayed with me for a long time. You know, he finished five years, five months a year, four months a year.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7808.504

And some of that darkness was hard to rub off. It was, you know.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

7835.069

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8006.783

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8194.446

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8519.668

Certainly. You go to a Comic-Con and I used to ask people, why do you like the show? And they say, well, the kids watch the show and then we go up to them and say, would you like to see the movies that we grew up on with the same characters? And the kids say, well, okay, daddy. They all go and they watch the movies and the kids love the movies.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8539.578

All the family will gather around the TV to watch Cobra Kai now. It's a family event. So there aren't very many family events on television. So that's how it became popular from the beginning. And then people say, you're the best villain on TV. We love to hate you. But when you got stabbed in the prison, you cried. So I said to myself, you know, I don't want to be known as a villain.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8564.826

I really don't. And the mere fact that they cried, I actually did my job. Yeah. You connected with them. I connected with them. And certainly in the sixth season, lots of tears. That last scene with Billy is wonderful. They wrote great stuff. Sure, could I have been longer? Could you have seen me survive the boat explosion? We shot a scene where you see my hand

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8592.934

Going to a magazine with just my ring and a cigar to be introduced into episode 15, the last bit. You don't see me. You would see that and assume I made it. But it was a little hokey to have that boat blow up the way it did. And 24 hours later, I survived.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8614.042

Yeah. So it was kind of like, you know, too much. And I understood it when, you know, but in the articles, you see people saying, wow, John Kreese always survives everything. He says, why didn't someone throw him a lifeline? There was one picture of me being in the water, right? Someone AI'd it and me holding on to a lifeline in the water. It's funny. You know, the reactions are enormous.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8641.517

You know, they're very popular. That's awesome. So you wish you can take that into, you know, Prodigal Son, that kind of success. I'd love to have the, you know, the writers be... Basically, the showrunners of my, you know, my friend Lincoln Logison is wonderful.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8656.473

He was a producer, a line producer on a variety of things, Rough Riders, and did a lot of Larry Levinson's movies and did A Touch of Love for Hallmark. for a picture that my son started, and I play a restaurateur. And I liked those kind of movies, even though it wasn't real schmaltzy like a Hallmark movie. It was about love and food.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8680.742

And I'd like to be able to do that again, you know, have the emotionality of what I displayed in the final season utilized in other characters. That would be fun. Characters that are not bad guys.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8709.338

Yeah, it allowed me to just have a level of confidence in your instrument and your work because anything practiced makes perfect. So the mere fact you get a TV series, you can go act several times a week No matter who you are, you're going to get better. I tell that to my son. And he's really good. He has a movie out that I produced, which is a film called The Gunfighter's Deal.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8740.24

And it's the story of a coward in a Western town. who makes a deal with the devil to be the fastest gun in the West. And then he tries to renege and the devil says, no. It's a lovely little movie. We shot it about a year ago in Florida. And it's a Western. And it was just bought by the Shouth Factory for distribution. And they're a Western organization.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8764.338

They co-produced this movie on streaming called Old Henry about Billy the Kid. And they own Stagecoach, the original John Ford Stagecoach from 1939, and all of Kenny Rogers' Westerns, you know, the Gambler ones. And they're just Western lovers, so they'll really nurse this piece, you know, properly.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8846.344

Either reality, present day reality villain. And you just have to guess. Or an 80s villain.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8866.495

Ooh. Ooh. It's a good line. It's a good line. Yeah, it's a very good line. Well, it's definitely an 80s movie because it wouldn't work on reality TV. So... Mary?

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8883.301

All right, so do I say if it's like that an 80s movie? Yeah, just 80s movie or reality TV is perfect.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8902.011

Oh, really? That definitely could have been. They might say fuck. Yeah. Concurrence reality, even network reality TV.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8921.821

This Town Needs an Enema. It sounds like something from a reality show.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8939.384

He has so many great lines. That was a great movie. There was a movie that I always use as an example. It's an egotistical example. There's a movie called The Carnal Knowledge that he did back in 72. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he did it with Ann-Margaret. And he's in the bedroom, and she's wailing. And she says, I love you. I want you. I need you.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8958.355

And he says, and only the way Jack Nicholson can say it, like that line. He says, well, I'm taken. And he's getting dressed to leave, and she's in the bedroom. And she wants him to just come back to bed. And he says, I'm taken. And she says, by who? you know, as if she's jealous. And what woman do you have? And he says, by me. You know, it's a great line.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8983.087

And the way he delivers it, you know, it's like, I'm taken by me. That's good.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

8998.861

Ooh. Sounds like a very, someone giving someone else psychological advice about a relationship. Yeah. So we'll get reality TV.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9033.753

I just watched it again. It's such a good movie. You know that movie? Oh no, it's a good movie. Jack Nicholson again plays the devil and Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer play three women in a little town and he infects them. Because, and that line would work. I am the devil and don't you forget. It's an incredible movie. Okay, so what'd you say of the movie?

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9078.627

Yeah. I mean, sure. If we're cursing him reality TV, it's definitely, yeah, reality TV.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9098.267

There were so many classic moments in that movie. I mean, just classic.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9129.172

Have you seen the play? You know this play. Last night we saw Harry Potter. Took the family to see Harry Potter and And Back to the Future is coming to Pantages.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9139.06

And that's what I haven't seen. I've seen Moulin Rouge five times. I just love Moulin Rouge.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9145.602

And I've seen it in Nashville. I've seen it in Tampa. You know, I just love Moulin Rouge. It's all about John Kreese. It's all about... Every line is about a relationship that didn't work out because of... Bad emotions, you know?

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9161.768

And I think Moulin Rouge is brilliant because, and Back to the Future is supposed to be as good, because they take lyrics from a variety of songs, whether it's Elton John, Tina Turner, whatever, and they'll take one lyric and put it into the dialogue of the show. Oh. And the show is all about like the movie, you know, a romantic relationship.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9183.654

But it's better because you're right there, you know, and you just sit there and you cry. It's the best. Moulin Rouge, I hope it comes here again.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9193.658

Harry Potter was really good. You have to know Harry Potter, though. I mean, it goes fast. Did you read the books? Yeah. But the problem is, even when you read the books, what they depict on the stage, it's really a two-day event in your life. In New York, it's two days. So here, they had to cut stuff and talk fast to get it all happening.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9330.498

I have to go and do that. So I have to go to the other side of town and do it. A friend of mine, it's very interesting. He's been asking me for years to do it. And it's amazing. If children don't get enough attention from birth all the way to four,

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9351.494

if they spend a lot of time watching TV or looking out the window or just not getting the support and love in those formative years, 68% of those children end up dropping out of high school.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9368

We do. Oh, Mazel Tov. That's great. She just turned one. Yeah, you got it. You know, I mean, yeah, I kind of knew that because we had tried for five years to have a baby. And my ex-wife, we're still very good friends. And we tried everything, you know, gift and frozen embryo transplants and in vitro. And finally, we had twins. And after five years of attempting, it was incredible.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9396.04

The kids are great. And a boy and a girl. And I think that's when my career slowed down in 1990.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9403.482

I also think that's when I decided not to be Steve McQueen anymore and try, you know, for 20 years of my career, I was doing Steve McQueen, you know, and then all of a sudden the kids happened and I felt like, well, I'm okay now, you know, I've got the kids and I just sat there and watched in the crib, watched them sleep. I didn't even think about, I think it was eight months later.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9426.305

And I got a movie in London, so I took the kids. I could not be without them. I took them with a nanny in 1991, did a movie called The Shadow Chaser, and went to Pinewood Studios and took a flat in Kew, and I wouldn't leave them. I would just go back and watch these twins kiss. Aww. Got them these little things they call bagels, and they can hold and walk with them and learn to walk.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9453.803

And I just spent more time with the kids than ever on my career anymore. And then, of course, I realized I needed money. I needed to go back to work.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9473.595

It takes the focus, especially when we're sensitive as artists. You know, going to a job nine to five is a different deal, right? But when you're an artist, you're usually a little more sensitive. You have so much history that you use as an artist for whatever work you're doing, whether you're painting or poetry or acting. It doesn't matter, or music.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9495.212

So we're so familiar with what it takes to grow up that we want to cultivate our children's lives so much more, I think, than the average person. But in any case, I must go.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9509.464

and get to your mental health i've got to go and do that this guy's a good friend of mine he produced oxford blues this movie and and a lot of films and and uh i told him i promised him today so i'd go we'll get out of here yeah i'm gonna read from a teleprompter it's a lot of stuff so i don't have to They don't have to learn anything, but I wanted to come by and say hello.

The Viall Files

E890 - Southern Charm w/ Venita, Bachelor w/ Alexe, Love Is Blind, Martin Kove, Traitors, and Summer House

9543.979

Yeah. Season six premiered on Thursday and it's on Netflix and it's, you know, it's one of the biggest shows.