You saw him in ‘RoboCop’ and ‘Total Recall.’ Now see him in concert in Atascadero

For much of the 1980s and ’90s, actor Ronny Cox was the ultimate face of authority on the big screen — appearing in everything from “RoboCop” to “Total Recall.”

So when people see him with a guitar, he said, “It kind of blows their minds a little bit.”

Cox, 78, divides his time between acting and music, performing across the country as a folksy singer-songwriter.

He’ll sing, strum and tell stories Friday as part of the Música del Río house concert series in Atascadero, marking the third time he’s played there. (He previously performed Música del Río shows in 2010 and 2012.)

“My show starts as soon as they open the door,” Cox said. “Even in an auditorium of 500 seats, I will have a conversation with everyone in the audience before the (concert) starts.”

Cox’s love of music was fostered by his father, a guitarist who performed at square dances, and his New Mexico upbringing.

“We were always around people … playing music,” recalled Cox, who grew up immersed in Western swing and rock music.

He fell in love with folk music while majoring in theater and speech correction at Eastern New Mexico University. After graduating in 1963, he pursued acting — first on the stage, then on the screen.

Cox’s guitar-playing chops landed him his first film role as hapless city slicker Drew Ballinger in 1972’s “Deliverance.” In one of the movie’s most iconic scenes, Drew faces off against a banjo-playing backwoods boy in a duet of “Dueling Banjos” — trying, and ultimately failing, to match him note-for-note.

Director John Boorman “liked the idea of this savant kid showing up this mediocre city boy,” explained Cox, who wrote about his experiences filming “Deliverance” in his 2012 book “Dueling Banjos: The Deliverance of Drew.”

Cox next appeared in the Woody Guthrie biopic “Bound for Glory,” playing a country-singing union organizer. Then he played architect George Apple in the brief-lived TV drama “Apple’s Way.”

“The first 10 years of my career, I played Mr. Boy Scout Nice Guy,” Cox said.

According to Cox, Dick Jones — the corrupt corporate executive he played in 1987’s “RoboCop” — “was as big as a boon to my career as ‘Deliverance’ was.” Suddenly, the actor, who played a police lieutentant in two “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, was being offered such juicy roles as ruthless Mars administrator Vilos Cohaagen in “Total Recall” and no-nonsense Capt. Edward Jellico in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

In particular, Cox said he relishes playing villains.

“I liken it to painting,” the actor explained. “Playing the good guys, you get three colors — red, white and blue. Playing the bad guys, you get the whole palette.”

Although Cox has had chances to show off his musical chops on-screen — in the short-lived TV show “Cop Rock,” for instance, he played a singing police chief — he decided about a decade ago to focus more on folk music.

“Now I won’t let any movie or television show interfere with any music gig I’ve booked,” Cox explained, which means he turns down roles if the shooting schedule coincides with concerts or touring.

That policy hasn’t hurt his acting career. Rather, it’s helped it. “One of the greatest negotiating tools in Hollywood is the ability to say ‘no,’” Cox said with a chuckle.

As a singer-songwriter, Cox said he offers an informal, intimate experience.

“It’s really important for me to have that kind of rapport with the audience,” he said. “I want it to feel like (we’re) sitting around in the living room or the front porch with our family and our friends.”

It’s that intimacy that draws him to music.

In film, television and theater, Cox explained, “There is and must be the imaginary fourth wall between you and the audience. You can’t reach through the camera. You have to stay within the confines of the character.

“In my shows there is the possibility of a profound one-on-one sharing that can take place.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "You saw him in ‘RoboCop’ and ‘Total Recall.’ Now see him in concert in Atascadero."