R. Lee Ermey

R. Lee Ermey
Born	Ronald Lee Ermey (1944-03-24) March 24, 1944 Emporia, Kansas, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Nila Ermey (m. 1975)
Children	4
Military career
Nickname(s)	"The Gunny"
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1961–1972
Rank	SSgt GySgt (Honorary)
Unit	India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion Marine Wing Support Group 17
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Combat Action Ribbon Meritorious Unit Commendation Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross

Ronald Lee Ermey (born March 24, 1944), known professionally as R. Lee Ermey, is an American actor, best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He is a former United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant; during his tenure in the U.S. Marine Corps, he served as a drill instructor.

Ermey has often been typecast in authority figure roles, such as Mayor Tilman in the film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in Prefontaine, Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Jimmy Lee Farnsworth in Fletch Lives, a police captain in Seven, plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films, Lt. "Tice" Ryan in Rocket Power, the warden in SpongeBob SquarePants, and John House, Gregory House's father in House.

Ermey has hosted two programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers' questions about various military issues both modern and historic; and Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which concerned the development of different types of weapons. He also hosted Gunny Time on the Outdoor channel.

Early life

Ermey was born in Emporia, Kansas, on March 24, 1944, and was raised with his five brothers on a farm outside of Kansas City, Kansas.^[1] In 1958, when Ermey was 14, his family and he left Kansas and moved to Toppenish, Washington.^[1] As a teenager, Ermey often got in trouble with the local authorities, and had been arrested twice for criminal mischief by age 17.^[1] After his second arrest, a judge gave him a choice between joining the military or being sent to jail; Ermey chose the former.

Military career

U.S. Marine Corps

In 1961, at age 17, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and went through recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California.^[1] For his first few years, he served in the aviation support field before becoming a drill instructor in India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, where he was assigned from 1965 to 1967.

Ermey then served in Marine Wing Support Group 17 at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, Japan.^[1] In 1968, he was ordered to Vietnam with MWSG-17, and spent 14 months in country. The remainder of his service was in Okinawa where he was advanced to staff sergeant (E-6). He was medically discharged in 1972 because of several injuries incurred during his service.^[2]

On May 17, 2002, he received an honorary promotion to gunnery sergeant (E-7) by Commandant James L. Jones, becoming the first retiree in the history of the Marines to be promoted.^[3]

Acting career

Films

Ermey was cast in his first film while attending the University of Manila in the Philippines, using his G.I. Bill benefits. He played a First Air Cavalry chopper pilot in Apocalypse Now,^[4] doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola. Ermey then was cast as a Marine drill instructor in Sidney Furie's The Boys In Company C. For the next few years, Ermey played a series of minor film roles until 1987 when he was cast as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.^[4]

Initially, he was intended to be only the technical advisor.^[4] Kubrick changed his mind after Ermey put together an instructional tape, in which he went on an extended tirade towards several extras, convincing Kubrick he was the right man for the role.^[4] Seeking absolute military authenticity for the film, Kubrick allowed Ermey to write or edit his own dialogue and improvise on the set, a notable 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.^[5]

Ermey's performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He later played a drill instructor in the pilot episode of Space: Above and Beyond and the ghost of a drill instructor in the film The Frighteners, both similar to his character in Full Metal Jacket.

Ermey has since appeared in about 60 films, including Purple Hearts, Mississippi Burning, The Siege of Firebase Gloria, Dead Man Walking, Seven, Fletch Lives, Leaving Las Vegas, Prefontaine, Saving Silverman, On Deadly Ground, Sommersby, Life, Man of the House, Toy Soldiers, and The Salton Sea, 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, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3, 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 and Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey.

Ermey loading ammo for the Bofors 40 mm gun aboard a Lockheed AC-130H "Spectre" Gunship in 2006

Television

On December 14, 1994, in Tales From The Crypt, season six, episode nine, "Staired In Horror", Ermey is the sheriff.^[6]

On Mail Call, Ermey discussed weaponry, tactical matters, and military history. Mail Call's subject matter was dictated by viewer emails; one episode focused on an M1 Abrams tank, while others involved World War II secrets, and others focused on elements of medieval warfare. The set consisted of a military tent, other military gear and weapons, and Ermey's personal jeep armed with his own 30 cal. M1919 Browning machine gun.

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. He also guest-starred in the episode "Second Chance" of Human Target.

Ermey also made guest appearances on the TV drama House, playing the role of Dr. Gregory House's father, who was a decorated naval aviator while serving in the Marine Corps ("Birthmarks", "Daddy's Boy"), and the sitcom Scrubs, playing the Janitor's father. He has also voiced Wildcat in several episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", Ermey voiced Colonel Leslie "Hap" Hapablap.

In the episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "Inmates of Summer", he voiced an irate warden of a maximum-security island prison who demoralized the inmates whenever he could. In the episode of The Angry Beavers, "Fancy Prance", he voiced the Lipizzaner stallions' instructor, Drill Sergeant Goonther.

In 2009, Ermey hosted a second History Channel show entitled Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which discussed the history of various weapons used by militaries of today.

In late 2010, Ermey starred in a GEICO commercial as a drill-instructor-turned-therapist who insults a client, in a parody of some of his iconic characters.^[4] Ermey also was featured each week on ESPN's College GameDay. His role was to insult the experts' incorrect picks from the previous week. In that same year, Ermey appeared in the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Trophy" as a paroled sex offender.

In 2011, Ermey starred as a drill instructor on the X-Play special on Bulletstorm. In the "Family Guy" episode "Grumpy Old Man", Ermey guest-starred, again as a drill instructor.

Ermey serves as host of GunnyTime, a program that debuted on Outdoor Channel in 2015.

Video games

In 1993, Ermey played Lyle The Handyman in the full-motion video game Mega-CD/Sega CD game Double Switch, a game also starring Corey Haim and Deborah Harry.

Ermey lends his 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. In the game Fallout 3, a recruitable companion is named Sergeant RL-3, a modified military robot with a personality very similar to Ermey (the companion's name is a reference to Ermey's initials wherein the 3 is leetspeak for the letter E). In the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion is a character named "Lieutenant Emry" that speaks some of Ermey's signature lines from Full Metal Jacket. In Half-Life: Opposing Force, the drill sergeant from the initial boot camp stage had dialogue and mannerism very similar to Ermey's character in Full Metal Jacket. In 2014, he did voice-over work for the popular game Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Commercials

Ermey is an official spokesman for Black Book (National Auto Research), Glock firearms, TRU-SPEC apparel, Tupperware, Victory Motorcycles, Hoover, SOG Specialty Knives, WD-40, and the Young Marines, and has appeared in commercials for Coors Light, Dick's Sporting Goods, GEICO, and pistachio nuts. He has provided the introduction for the Professional Bull Riders.^[7] He can be seen giving a service announcement for Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, demanding that viewers be quiet during the film.^[8] He is a board member for the National Rifle Association.^[9]

Business ventures

Ermey is the co-founder of the Bravery Brewery in Lancaster, California.^[10]

Political views

Ermey, an outspoken Republican, said in an interview earlier in 2015 that he supports Texas Senator Ted Cruz for President. He said, "You know what, I just watched Ted Cruz – I mean, what a tough act to follow. I'm not going to tell you who I'm going to vote for, but I'm going to let you guess [...] and the first two guesses don't count!"^[11]

Toys for Tots speech

On December 10, 2010, Ermey criticized the Obama administration's economic policies while speaking at a Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots rally, stating that it was difficult to raise money for the charity because "the economy sucks". He went on to say:

In January 2011, Ermey posted an apology on his website, saying:

In spite of his apology, Ermey later told TMZ that he was "fired" by GEICO, which is owned by noted Obama supporter Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, with whom he made the above-mentioned 2010 "Drill Sergeant" commercial because of his political beliefs.^[14] The insurance giant also removed Ermey's commercial from their official YouTube channel.

Military appearances

On May 17, 2002, Ermey received an honorary post-service promotion to gunnery sergeant (E-7) from the Commandant of the Marine Corps General James L. Jones in recognition of his continuing support to Americans in military service.

He has also conducted morale tours visiting United States troops in locations such as Al Kut, Iraq, and Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in which he filmed parts for his television show Mail Call. While at Bagram Airfield, he held a USO-type show in which he portrayed GySgt Hartman and conducted a comedy routine. He also did the same at Doha, Qatar and Camp Doha, Kuwait City, Kuwait, in 2003.

Personal life

Ermey married his wife, Nila, in 1975. They have four children. In Ermey's television show Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, he refers to his wife as "Mrs. Gunny". He is also the official celebrity spokesperson of the youth organization, Young Marines.

Military awards

Ermey was retroactively awarded the Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbon after he retired from the military due to his prior service as a Marine Corps recruit training instructor. Ermey's military awards include:^[15]

Combat Action Ribbon		Meritorious Unit Commendation		Good Conduct Medal w/ two  3⁄16" bronze stars
National Defense Service Medal		Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal		Vietnam Service Medal w/ one  3⁄16" silver star
Marine Corps Drill Instructor Ribbon		Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm		Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960- Device
Rifle Marksman Badge			Pistol Sharpshooter Badge

Selected TV and filmography

Other media

• He provided the voice for a speaking "motivational action figure" depicting him in USMC drill instructor uniform with 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. 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, he 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 the Green Lantern series of comics published by DC, it is revealed that Green Lantern Kilowog, who trains all new Green Lantern recruits, was himself trained by a Green Lantern named Ermey.
• He had a notable appearance on The Howard Stern Show in October 2002 appearing on the show as Sgt. Hartman
• He played as voice of the DLC Drill Instructor, in Call of Duty: Ghosts.

See also

• Biography portal
• United States Marine Corps portal

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to R. Lee Ermey.

• Official website for R. Lee Ermey
• Official website for Gunny Ermey's Mail Call Forum
• R. Lee Ermey at the Internet Movie Database
• R. Lee Ermey at the TCM Movie Database
  
• R. Lee Ermey at AllMovie