Though he'd already been acting for a few years, Marine Corps veteran R Lee Ermey made an indelible impact on the cinematic world thanks to his portrayal of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. The stalwart performer has died at the age of 74.
Born in Kansas in 1944, Ronald Lee Ermey developed a reputation in his early days as a hellraiser, arrested for criminal mischief twice by the time he was 17. Given the choice of jail time or the military, he opted for the Marine Corps, serving as a drill instructor in San Diego in the 1960s. Posted to Vietnam, he spent 14 months in country before switching yo be a staff sergeant in Okinawa before he was discharged on medical grounds.
While studying in the Philippines, he got his first chance to appear in screen, playing a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now while acting as technical advisor on the movie. He kicked off a career drawing on his military background and ability to deliver gruff authority figures with The Boys In Company C before Stanley Kubrick came calling.
Full Metal Jacket led to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and helped put him on the radar. In his time, Ermey has appeared in movies such as Mississippi Burning, Fletch Lives, Toy Soldiers, Sommersby, the 1993 take on Body Snatchers Murder In The First, Dead Man Walking abd the first three Toy Story movies, for which he voiced Sarge.
He also enjoyed a lot of work on TV, including on House MD and The Simpsons. Emery is survived by his wife of 43 years, Nina, and their four children.
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