R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey (born March 24, 1944) is a retired United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, Drill Instructor and actor.
Born in Emporia, Kansas, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1961. Ermey was a drill instructor at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, and Parris Island, South Carolina 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 (E-6) and was medically discharged in 1972 for several injuries incurred during his tours.
Ermey was cast in his first film 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 an Air Cavalry Officer in Apocalypse Now, doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola. He also served as Louis Gossett’s technical advisor for the film An Officer and a Gentleman. For the next few years, Ermey 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.
Initially he was intended to be only the technical advisor. Kubrick changed his mind after Ermey put together an instructional tape, in which Ermey went on an extended hair-raising drill instructor tirade towards several extras, convincing Kubrick he was the right person for the role. Seeking absolute military authenticity for the film, Kubrick allowed Ermey to write or edit his own dialogue and improvise on the set, a noted rarity in a Kubrick film. Kubrick later indicated that Ermey was an excellent performer, often needing just two or three takes per scene, also unusual for a Kubrick film. Ermey’s performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He later played a tough drill instructor in the pilot episode of Space: Above and Beyond and ghost of a drill instructor in the film The Frighteners, both similar to his character in Full Metal Jacket.
Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films and more recently as the terrifying Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and it’s prequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.
He has appeared in approximately sixty films, including The Siege of Firebase Gloria, Dead Man Walking, Se7en, Fletch Lives, Leaving Las Vegas, Perfontaine, On Deadly Ground, Toy Soldiers. As well as the Toy Story films, Ermey also lent his voice to The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, as well as Roughnecks and X-Men 3. He usually appears in a commanding military role, for shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, Kim Possible, Miami Vice, House, Scrubs, and Invader Zim, in addition to hosting the documentary series Mail Call and Lock N’ Load with R. Lee Ermey, which focused on the development of different types of weapons.
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