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Ronny Cox (born 23 July 1938; age 85) is the actor, singer, and songwriter who played Edward Jellico in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episodes "Chain Of Command, Part I" and "Chain Of Command, Part II" and the Star Trek: Prodigy first season episodes "Masquerade" and "Supernova, Part 1"; in his latter appearance, he was credited as Ronnie Cox.

He was a regular on the final season of St. Elsewhere, which also featured Norman Lloyd, William Daniels, Ed Begley, Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Kavi Raz, France Nuyen, Chad Allen, and Ellen Bry.

He is well known as Lieutenant / Captain / Chief Andrew Bogomil in Beverly Hills Cop (1984, co-starring Steven Berkoff, Michael Champion, Jonathan Banks, and Doug Warhit) and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987, with Darryl Henriques, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Dean Stockwell, and Valerie Wildman); as Dick Jones in RoboCop (which co-starred Robert DoQui, Miguel Ferrer, Kurtwood Smith, Peter Weller, and Ray Wise, and featured music by Basil Poledouris); and as Senator (later Vice President) Robert Kinsey in Stargate SG-1, working with Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Tony Amendola, Robert Picardo, Saul Rubinek, and Marc Worden.

He was also one of a large number of Star Trek actors to appear in Total Recall (1990), playing Vilos Cohaagen. Others included Marc Alaimo, Robert Picardo, Mel Johnson, Jr., Roy Brocksmith, Lycia Naff, Robert Costanzo, Frank Kopyc, Leslie Hoffman and Michael Champion.

He has played the President of the United States at least three times: once in Captain America (which co-starred Michael Nouri and Bill Mumy), once in Murder at 1600 (which co-starred Daniel Benzali, Harris Yulin, Tom Wright, and Charles Rocket) and in one episode of the television series Stargate SG-1.

His first major appearance in a film was in the 1972 motion picture Deliverance alongside Seamon Glass. Cox played Drew Ballinger. The most memorable scene is the duet in which he played the guitar in "Dueling Banjos". He actually played the guitar, but he was dubbed because of obvious sound problems. In 1977 Cox was in the horror film "The Car" with Leslie Hoffman. In 1978 Cox starred in the film Harper Valley P.T.A., directed by Ralph Senensky and featuring Clint Howard. In 2007, he appeared in the HBO dramatic series Tell Me You Love Me. Rosalind Chao has also appeared on that series. He made an appearance on the ABC series Desperate Housewives, starring Teri Hatcher and narrated by Brenda Strong.

In 1978, he appeared in the film Gray Lady Down with Stephen McHattie, Rosemary Forsyth, Ted Gehring, Tom Morga, David Clennon, and Robert Symonds. By the 1980s, Cox was regularly appearing in guest star television roles which included an episode of The Untouchables, also starring John Rhys-Davies. In 1986 he made a single yet significant appearance in Family Ties, playing the father of Alex Keaton's long term girlfriend Ellen Reed, played by Tracy Pollan. Family Ties further featured actor Brian Bonsall and had a number of Trek guest stars over the years, such as David Paymer as well as appearances by Wil Wheaton and Barry Jenner.

In addition to having a successful acting career, Cox is also an accomplished musician. He starred in the short-lived musical TV series Cop Rock in 1990, alongside Tim Russ and Armin Shimerman. Cox himself has said that music now comes first in his life. He turns down about 90% of the acting jobs he is offered in order to play over 100 shows at festivals and theaters each year. He is regularly accompanied by Radoslav Lorković (piano, accordion) and T Bruce Bowers (fiddle, mandolin).  Cox also leads a musical tour to Ireland each year. 

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