 On November 21, 2019, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Donald Trump.Voight was born on December 29, 1938, in Yonkers, New York, to Barbara () and Elmer Voight (Elemír Vojtka, Slovakia), a professional golfer.He has two brothers, Barry Voight, a former volcanologist at Pennsylvania State University, and James Wesley Voight, known as Chip Taylor, a singer-songwriter who wrote "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning".