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Ronald Lee Ermey
Born March 24, 1944 (1944-03-24) (age 65)
Ermey in November 2006 in Okinawa, Japan.
Nickname	"The Gunny"
Place of birth	Emporia, Kansas
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1961–1972
Rank	Gunnery Sergeant (Honorary) Staff Sergeant
Unit	MCRD San Diego Marine Wing Support Group 17
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Combat Action Ribbon Meritorious Unit Commendation Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Other work	Actor

Ronald Lee Ermey (born March 24, 1944) is a former U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor and later a Golden Globe Award nominated actor.

Ermey has often played 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 remake.

He has hosted two militainment programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answers viewers' questions about various militaria both modern and historic; and Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which focuses specifically on the development of different types of weapons.

[edit] Early life

Born in Emporia, Kansas, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1961, after being arrested several times as a teenager.^{[citation needed]} A court judge gave him the choice of the military or jail.^{[citation needed]} He later joked that the Marine Corps "put a screeching halt to my unconventional manner."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Military career

Ermey spent two years as 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 retired in 1972 for several injuries incurred during his tours.

[edit] Films

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 an Air Cavalry Officer in Apocalypse Now, doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola on that film. 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; Ermey also served as the technical advisor on the film. Initially, he was only intended to be the technical advisor, but Kubrick changed his mind after Ermey put together an instructional tape to convince Kubrick he was the right person for the role, in which Ermey went on an extended hair-raising drill instructor tirade towards several Royal Marines cast as extras, all the while being pelted by oranges and tennis balls, and managing to do so without repeating himself, stopping, or even flinching.^{[citation needed]} Kubrick allowed 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, often needing just two or three takes per scene, also a noted rarity for a Kubrick film.^[1] Ermey's performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He would subsequently play 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.

He has since appeared in approximately sixty films, including Mississippi Burning, Dead Man Walking, Se7en, Leaving Las Vegas, Prefontaine, Saving Silverman, On Deadly Ground, Life, Man of the House, Toy Soldiers, as well as the remakes of Willard and as an evil sadist in the two The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films. Ermey also lent his voice to The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Toy Story and Toy Story 2, as well as Roughnecks and X-Men 3. He usually appears in a commanding military role, for shows such as Kim Possible, The Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, Miami Vice, House, Scrubs, My Life as a Teenage Robot and Invader Zim, in addition to hosting the documentary series Mail Call.

[edit] Military appearances

(2006) Ermey, as seen here, loading ammo for the Bofors 40 mm gun aboard an Lockheed AC-130H Gunship.

On May 17, 2002, he received an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) from the Commandant of the Marine Corps (later Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)) United States Marine Corps General James L. Jones in recognition of his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket, becoming the first retired military member in the history of the United States Marine Corps to be promoted.^[2]

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 GySgt Hartman and conducted a comedy routine. He also did the same thing at Doha, Qatar, in 2003.

[edit] Television work

On Mail Call, Ermey discusses weaponry, tactical matters, and military history. Mail Call's subject matter is dictated by viewer emails; one episode may focus on an M1A1 Battle Tank, while another may involve World War II secrets, while a third might focus on elements of Medieval warfare. The set consists of a military tent, other military gear and weapons, and Ermey's personal jeep armed with his own 30 cal. M1919 Browning machine gun. Commercial breaks are signaled with typical DI type language, such as, "Goin' to the can? I don't think so. Keep your butt parked on that couch!"

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.

Ermey also made guest appearances on the hit TV drama House, playing the role of Dr. Gregory House's father, who was a decorated pilot of the USMC ("Birthmarks", "Daddy's Boy"), and the sitcom Scrubs, playing the Janitor's father. He has also voiced Wildcat in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

In 2009, Ermey began hosting a second History Channel show entitled Lock N' Load, which discussed the developmental history of various weapons used by militaries of today.

[edit] Video games

Ermey has lent his distinctive voice to several video games, including Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (as General Barnaky) and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (as Wa-Wa). He also made a cameo in Real War: Air, Land, Sea, a retail real-time strategy computer game based on the official Joint Chiefs of Staff training game.

[edit] Sponsorship

Ermey is an official spokesman for Glock firearms, Tupperware, Hoover, and the Young Marines, and has also appeared in commercials for Coors Light and Dick's Sporting Goods.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Military awards

Graphical representation of Ermey's USMC awards

• Combat Action Ribbon
• Meritorious Unit Commendation
• Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal with two bronze Service Stars
• National Defense Service Medal
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
• Vietnam Service Medal with one bronze service star
• Drill Instructor Ribbon with one bronze service star
• Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
• Vietnam Campaign Medal
• Rifle Expert Badge
• Pistol Sharpshooter Badge

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Music samples

Samples of Ermey from Full Metal Jacket are used in several albums:

• Fear Factory's Suffer Age.
• Ministry’s album The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, on the track "Thieves". Contrary to some reports^[who?], the voice credited as "Sgt. Major" on the same band's Rio Grande Blood is not Ermey.^{[citation needed]}
• Front Line Assembly's track "Millennium"
• Grendel's track "Soilbleed V.3"
• Combichrist's track "This Is My Rifle"
• Killarmy's track "War Face"
• Terre Thaemlitz's release "Soil", on the track "Yer Ass is Grass"
• Quotes of Ermey saying, "Now go home and snuff that bitch!" "Here you are all equally worthless." "Get on your knees, scumbag!" "Who's the slimy little communist shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker down here who just signed his own death warrant?" and others appear on multiple songs by the band Killwhitneydead.
• Samples of the line "Here you are all equally worthless" from Full Metal Jacket are repeated throughout the song "Never Get Caught" by American Head Charge.

[edit] Other media

• Provided the voice for a speaking "motivational action figure" depicting him in USMC drill instructor uniform with pre-programmed 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). One of these figurines also appears on occasion on Mail Call, wherein it is often referred to as 'Mini-Lee' by the host, sometimes seen berating a G.I. Joe figurine.
• In the early 1990s, appeared as a Martian pilot in a training video for Virtual World Entertainment's game "Red Planet," alongside other actors such as Cheech Marin, Nora Dunn, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Joan Severance, and Judge Reinhold.
• In one showing of a UFC: Fight Night Live event, Ermey was shown on camera as a guest along with an audience of US Marines.
• A Japanese audiobook/comic parody on "Learning Japanese"-books; Drill Sergeant Maritan contains several quotes of Ermey from Full Metal Jacket, such as "I bet you could suck a golfball through a garden hose" and "Who said that? Who the fuck said that? Who's the slimy little communist shit, twinkle-toed cocksucker down here who just signed his own death warrant?"
• Pani Poni Dash, an anime which bases its humor heavily on parody and references has one scene which clearly parodies Ermey from Full Metal Jacket, featuring an animated drill instructor who looks just like Ermey.
• Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, another anime series, features one episode where the main character is put in charge of a weak, effete rugby team and whips them into shape, berating them in a similar manner as Hartman and using similar quotes from Full Metal Jacket.
• The computer game Star Trek: Armada II contains a reference to Ermey. The random name cycle of the Federation's Iwo Jima-class boarding vessel will eventually create a ship named the R. L. Ermey.
• The video game Fallout 3 also contains a reference to Ermey. Wandering the wasteland is a robot dealer. One of the robots is a military grade model named RL-3, which in computer savvy terms (or leet) translates to RL-E; Ermey's initials.
• The video game Half-Life: Opposing Force features a nod to Ermey in a character named Drill Sergeant S. T. Barnes. He talks in the same tone as him and sometimes uses lines similar to Ermey, including the "Texas" line.
• On July 26, 2009, Ermey made a brief guest appearance at the end of an episode of the History Channel series Pawn Stars, as a lead-in for the series premiere of Lock N' Load. Pawn Stars follows the operations of a family-run pawn shop in Las Vegas; Ermey came in to ask about an antique rifle that the staff had recently acquired (it was sold before his arrival). He later made another appearance to lead into Lock N' Load in the August 2 episode of Pawn Stars evaluating a 19th century revolver. On the August 9 episode, he tried to sell one of his "motivational action figures" for the lead in.
• The "Blackest Night: Tales of The Corps" comic miniseries features a story entitled "New Blood", in which rookie Green Lanterns are trained by a drill instructor by the name of "Ermey", who uses a similar method of training the recruits as was seen in Full Metal Jacket. Later in the Blackest Night storyline Ermey returns as a revenant to plague Kilowog, berating him as Hartman used to berate cadet Lawrence.
• On April 27, 1997, he played a Lipizzaner horse trainer in "Fancy Prance," an episode of The Angry Beavers, where Norbert trains to become the perfect Lipizzaner, instead of being a "lolligagger."
• On November 23, 2007, he played the Warden in "The Inmates of Summer" in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

United States Marine Corps portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: R. Lee Ermey

• Official website for R. Lee Ermey
• Official website for Gunny Ermey's Mail Call Forum
• Gunny Ermey's Gunny Approved websites
• Official website for Mail Call
• R. Lee Ermey at the Internet Movie Database
• R. Lee Ermey interview with Radar magazine

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