Early life

Martin Kove was born in Brooklyn, New York City and had a Jewish upbringing.

Career

Kove appeared as Cully in the 1967-1969 CBS series, Gentle Ben, with Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard. He was cast as George Baker in the short-lived CBS series Code R (1977) about the emergency services (fire, police, and ocean rescue) in the California Channel Islands. His co-stars were James Houghton, Tom Simcox, and Joan Freeman.

He also starred in the short-lived science fiction series Hard Time on Planet Earth and made guest appearances on several television programs including Gunsmoke, Three for the Road, Kojak, Quincy, M. E., The Incredible Hulk, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The Streets of San Francisco, and Black Scorpion.

Kove was a cast member on the 1982-1988 CBS television series Cagney & Lacey as Detective Victor Isbecki.

Kove appeared in the 1984 hit film The Karate Kid as Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese. After playing a traitorous helicopter pilot in the 1985 film Rambo: First Blood Part II, he reprised his role as Kreese in the 1986 sequel The Karate Kid, Part II and the 1989 sequel The Karate Kid, Part III. He studied Okinawa-te Karate under prominent black belt Gordon Doversola Shihan.

Kove appeared in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues as the Shadow Assassin in Episode 3, Season 1, "Shadow Assassin", which aired on 3 February 1993, and in Episode 23, Season 2, which aired on 26 January 1994.

In 2007, Kove appeared in the No More Kings video "Sweep The Leg", in a parody of his Karate Kid character. He appeared on Tosh.0 as his character from The Karate Kid, John Kreese, where he spoofed the final fight on the "Board Breaker Web Redemption". At the end of the skit, Daniel Tosh, dressed as Mr. Miyagi, honks Kove's nose, a reference to Mr. Miyagi's action in the scene at the beginning of The Karate Kid, Part II.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Year	Notes
1971	Little Murders		Uncredited
1971	Women in Revolt	Marty
1972	Savages	Archie, a Bully
1972	The Last House on the Left	Deputy
1973	Cops and Robbers	Ambulance Attendant
1975	The Wild Party	Editor
1975	Capone	Pete Gusenberg
1975	Death Race 2000	Nero the Hero
1975	White Line Fever	Clem
1977	The White Buffalo	Jack McCall
1979	Seven	Skip
1982	Cry For The Strangers	Jeff	Television film
1982	Blood Tide	Neil Grice
1984	The Karate Kid	John Kreese
1985	Rambo: First Blood Part II	Ericson
1986	The Karate Kid, Part II	John Kreese
1987	Steele Justice	John Steele
1989	The Karate Kid, Part III	John Kreese
1991	White Light	Sean Craig
1992	Project Shadowchaser	Desilva	Direct-to-video
1992	Shootfighter: Fight to the Death	Mr. Lee
1994	Wyatt Earp	Ed Ross
1994	Cagney & Lacey: The Return	Victor Isbecki	Television film
1996	Time Lock	Admiral Danny Teegs
2000	Nowhere Land	Hank
2001	Under Heavy Fire	Father Brazinski	Television film
2002	Crocodile 2: Death Swamp	Roland
2002	Curse of the Forty-Niner	Caleb
2003	Hard Ground	Floyd	Television film
2003	Barbarian	Munkar
2005	Glass Trap	Corrigan
2005	Miracle at Sage Street	Jess
2006	Max Havoc: Ring of Fire	Lt. Reynolds
2007	The Dead Sleep Easy	Bob Depugh
2008	Chinaman's Chance: America's Other Slaves	Sheriff Jones
2009	War Wolves	Malick	Television film
2009	Middle Men	US Senator
2011	Savage	Jack Lund
2014	Falcon Song	Caspian
2014	Eternity: The Movie	Barry Goldfield, Sr.
2014	Tapped Out	Principal Vanhorne
2014	The Extendables
2015	The Dog Who Saved Summer	Vernon

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Gunsmoke	Guthrie	Episode: "In Performance of Duty"
1975	Three for the Road		Episode: "The Rip-off"
1976	Kojak	Burl Stole	Episode: "Law Dance"
1976	The Streets of San Francisco	Willis Hines	Episode: "The Drop"
1977	Code R	George Baker	12 episodes
1977	The San Pedro Beach Bums		Episode: "The Shortest Yard"
1997-1978	We've Got Each Other	Ken Redford	5 episodes
1978	The Incredible Hulk	Henry "Rocky" Welsh	Episode: "Final Round"
1978-1979	Barnaby Jones	Greg Saunders, Stan Benson	2 episodes
1979	Quincy, M. E.	Joe Kirby	Episode: "The Death Challenge"
1982-1988	Cagney & Lacey	Victor Isbecki	113 episodes
1989	Hard Time on Planet Earth	Jess	13 episodes
1993-1994	Kung Fu: The Legend Continues	Chi'Ru Master	2 episodes
1993	Renegade	Mitch Raines / Goliath	2 episodes
1995	Walker, Texas Ranger	Fred Kimble	Episode: "Flashback"
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Demetrius	Episode: "The Mother of All Monsters"
1998-1999	Diagnosis Murder	Captain Walter Newman	3 episodes
2001	Black Scorpion	James Ames / Firearm	Episode: "Armed and Dangerous"
2011	Tosh.0	John Kreese	Episode: "Broad Breaker"
2015	Criminal Minds	John Folkmore	Episode: "Scream"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]