R. Lee Ermey

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R. Lee Ermey
born March 24, 1944
R. Lee Ermey
Nickname	The Gunny
Place of birth	Emporia, Kansas
Allegiance	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1961-1972
Rank	Gunnery Sergeant (Honorary)
Unit	MCRD San Diego Marine Wing Support Group 17
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Other work	Actor

United States Marine Corps Portal

Ronald Lee Ermey (born March 24, 1944) is a former U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor and later Golden Globe-nominated actor, often playing the roles of authority figures, such as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning and Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He currently hosts Mail Call, a military history program on The History Channel, where Ermey answers military-related viewer questions. Ermey is also an official spokesperson for Glock firearms.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life & military career
- 1.2 Acting career
2 Filmography
3 Other media
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life & military career

Born in Emporia, Kansas, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1961, after being arrested several times as a teenager. A court judge gave him the choice of the military or jail. He later joked that the Marine Corps "put a screeching halt to my unconventional manner." He spent two years as a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California from 1965 to 1967. In 1968, Ermey arrived in Vietnam where he served for 14 months with the Marine Wing Support Group 17. He then served two tours of duty in Okinawa, Japan, during which he rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant and was medically discharged in 1972 for several injuries incurred during his tours. He did not receive a Purple Heart due to his injuries being noncombat in origin. Ermey has admitted that he still has nightmares about his combat experiences, a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. Ermey was later bestowed with the honorary rank of Gunnery Sergeant by the Marine Corps.

Ermey's Marine Corps awards and decorations are as follows:

Graphical representation of R. Lee Ermey's USMC awards

Ermey in his highly acclaimed and Golden Globe-nominated role as the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket

[edit] Acting career

Ermey was cast in his first movie while attending the University of Manila in the Philippines, using his G.I. Bill benefits. He first played a Marine drill instructor (SSgt. Loyce) in the 1978 Vietnam-era film The Boys in Company "C", which brought Ermey to the attention of Stanley Kubrick in later years. Ermey then played a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now, doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola on that film. He played a series of minor film roles until 1987, when he was cast as tough drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket; Ermey also served as the technical advisor on the film. He was only intended to be the technical advisor, but Kubrick changed his mind after hearing Ermey's hair-raising DI tirades, allowing him to write his own dialogue and improvise on set, a noted rarity in a Kubrick film. Kubrick later indicated that Ermey was an excellent performer, needing just two or three takes per scene. Ermey's performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He would subsequently play tough drill instructors in the pilot episode of Space Above and Beyond and in the film The Frighteners, both similar to his character in Full Metal Jacket.

He has since appeared in approximately sixty films, including Mississippi Burning, Dead Man Walking, Se7en, Leaving Las Vegas, Prefontaine, Saving Silverman, Man of the House, as well as the remakes of Willard and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ermey also lent his voice to Toy Story and Toy Story 2, as well as Roughnecks and X-Men 3. He has appeared on television shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, Miami Vice, House, Scrubs and Invader Zim, in addition to hosting the documentary series Mail Call.

Ermey has lent his distinctive voice to several video games, including Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. He also made a cameo in Real War: Air, Land, Sea. Ermey traveled to Kuwait in June 2003 during the first phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom to film mail distribution by the Defense Department to service personnel for an episode of "Mail Call". According to a 2005 episode of Mail Call filmed at Whiteman Air Force Base, he is the 341st person to fly in the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

On May 17, 2002 he received an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) by Commander of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) United States Marine Corps General James L. Jones, becoming the first retiree in the history of the United States Marine Corps to be promoted.

He has also conducted morale tours visiting U.S. troops in locations such as Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan in which he filmed parts for his television show Mail Call. While at Bagram Air Base he held a USO type show in which he portrayed Gunnery SGT Hartman and conducted a comedy routine.

He is on the History Channel on the show Mail Call, in which weapons, tactical matters, military history is discussed, and he shoots various weapons on the show. That show is driven by viewer E-Mails as far as subject matter is concerned, such as one may talk about a M 1A1 Battle Tank, while another may involve World War II secrets, while a third could ask about an element of Medieval warfare. On the set is a military tent, other military gear, his jeep which has a 30 cal. "Heavy machine gun" mounted on it, various weapons and military gear. Commercial breaks are signaled with what appears to be typical DI type language, used when going to a commercial and getting back to the show itself.

[edit] Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other Notes
1978	The Boys in Company "C"	SSgt. Loyce (Drill Instructor, Co. 163)
1979	Apocalypse Now	Eagle Thrust Seven helicopter pilot	uncredited
1984	Purple Hearts	Gunny
1987	Full Metal Jacket	Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
1988	Mississippi Burning	Mayor Tilman
1989	The Siege of Firebase Gloria	Sgt. Maj. Bill Hafner/Narrator
	Fletch Lives	Jimmy Lee Farnsworth
	Demonstone	Col. Joe Haines
1990	The Take	Weller	television movie
	I'm Dangerous Tonight	Lt. Ackman	television movie
	83 Hours 'Til Dawn	Glen Fairling	television movie
	The Terror Within II	Von Demming
	The Rift aka Endless Descent	Capt. Phillips
1991	Toy Soldiers	General Kramer
	True Identity	Houston's Boss	uncredited
	Kid	Luke
1993	Hexed	Det. Ferguson
	Sommersby	Dick Mead
	Body Snatchers	General Platt
	Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Marshal Brisco County, Sr.
1994	French Silk	Chief Crowder	television movie
	On Deadly Ground	Stone
	Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story	Mr. Byrd	uncredited television movie
	The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult	Mess Hall Guard	uncredited
	Chain of Command	Benjamin Brewster
	Savate	Benedict	uncredited
	Love Is a Gun	Frank Deacon
	Kidnapped
1995	Murder in the First	Judge Clawson
	Leaving Las Vegas	Conventioneer
	Se7en	Police Captain
	The Simpsons	Colonel Leslie Hapablap	voice only episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" animated series
	Toy Story	Sergeant	voice only animated film
	Under the Hula Moon	Lt. Col. J. P. McIntire
	Dead Man Walking	Clyde Percy
	Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back	Preacher Brian	uncredited
1996	Space: Above and Beyond	Sgt. Maj. Bougus	television movie
	The Frighteners	(ghost of) Sgt Hiles
	Soul of the Game	Wilkie	television movie
1997	Prefontaine	Bill Bowerman
	Dead Men Can't Dance	Sen. Pullman T. Fowler
	The Angry Beavers	Sergeant Goonther	voice only episode "Fancy Prance/H2Whoa!" animated series
	Weapons of Mass Distraction	Billy Paxton	television movie
	Rough Riders	Secretary of State John Hay
	Cracker	Lieutenant Fry	TV series
	Switchback	Sheriff Buck Olmstead
	The Sender	Colonel Rosewater
1998	Gunshy	Jerry
1999	You Know My Name	Nix	television movie
	Life	Older Sheriff Pike
	Avalanche	Gary
	Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot	General Thorton	TV series
	The Apartment Complex	Frank Stanton
	Toy Story 2	Army Sarge	voice only animated film
2000	The Chaos Factor	Col. Ben Wilder
	Skipped Parts	Caspar Callahan
	Roughnecks: STC	Sky Marshall Sanchez
	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins	Sarge	voice only animated direct-to-video film
	Jericho	Marshall
2001	Saving Silverman	Coach Norton
	Recess: School's Out	Colonel O'Malley	voice only animated film
	Megiddo: The Omega Code 2	President Richard Benson
	Family Guy	Coach	voice only episode "Mr. Saturday Knight" animated series
	Taking Sides	General Wallace
	Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel	General Barnaky	voice only video game
	Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex	Wa-Wa the Water Elemental	voice only video game
	On the Borderline	Capt. Elias
2002	Run Ronnie Run!	Lead Kidnapper
	The Salton Sea	Verne Plummer
	Invader Zim	Sergeant Hobo 678	voice only animated series
	History Channel's Mail Call	Gunny (Himself)	TV series
	Frank McKlusky, C.I.	Jockey Master	uncredited direct-to-video
	A.K.A. Birdseye	Sheriff Gathers
	Scrubs	Janitor's Dad	guest star episode "My Old Man" TV series
	Y.M.I.	John
2003	Willard	Frank Martin
2003	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	Sheriff Hoyt
2004	The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy	Drill Sergeant	voice only animated series
2005	House	John House	guest star episode "Daddy's Boy" TV series
2005	Man of the House	Captain Nichols
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Sergeant	voice only
2006	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	Charlie Hewitt/Sheriff Hoyt

[edit] Other media

action figure featuring Ermey's voice

Samples from Full Metal Jacket are used on Ministry’s album The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, on the track "Thieves". Contrary to some reports, the voice credited as "Sgt. Major" on the same band's Rio Grande Blood is not Ermey.

Samples from Full Metal Jacket are used on the Front Line Assembly track "Millenium".

Provided the voice for a speaking "motivational action figure" depicting him in USMC drill instructor uniform with preprogrammed voice messages activated by pressing a button on the figure. The figures' dialogue comes in two versions, one with (somewhat) family-friendly language and one with "Extra-Salty" dialogue which includes profanity, the latter of which is packaged with an R rating as a warning to consumers (pictured at right).

Sample of the line "Here you are all equally worthless" from Full Metal Jacket is repeated throughout the song "Never Get Caught" by American Head Charge