The Best Star Trek Actor From Each State
By Jeremy Dick
Ronny Cox – Courtesy of CBS
New Mexico – Ronny Cox
Ronny Cox is an actor and musician hailing from Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He has had a lot of prominent roles in his feature film career. Some of his biggest roles include parts in Deliverance, RoboCop, Beverly Hills Cop, and as the villain in Total Recall. As Deliverance might be his brightest role, he even personally wrote a book about his experience filming the movie forty years later.
Cox would appear on many different television shows, as well. He has a very notable stint on Star Trek: The Next Generation in a two part episode called “Chain of Command”. In the episode, Captain Picard is sent on a covert mission, temporarily stepping down as the captain of the ship. Replacing him is Captain Edward Jellico, played by Ronny Cox. His personality and the way he commands the ship is completely different than what the crew is used to.
Later, Picard is captured by Cardassians. When they confront Jellico about the capture, Jellico refuses to admit Picard was sent on behalf of Starfleet. Such an admission would have prevented the torture Picard would then have to endure. This led to great tension between Jellico and Riker, although the two eventually learn to work together to rescue the captain.