R. Lee Ermey, Harsh Drill Instructor in ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ Dies at 74
By MATT STEVENS APRIL 15, 2018
R. Lee Ermey, a former Marine whose barking, foulmouthed drill instructor in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” highlighted a decades-long career in which he frequently portrayed authority figures, died on Sunday morning in a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 74.
His longtime manager, Bill Rogin, said the cause was complications of pneumonia.
Mr. Ermey, who was nicknamed the Gunny, earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor with his performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in “Full Metal Jacket,” released in 1987.
In a memorable opening monologue, Mr. Ermey’s character berates fear-stricken military recruits, hurling an avalanche of verbal insults that are both inventive and demeaning. His eyes bulging and his
jaw square, he renames one recruit “Private Snowball,” punches another in the gut and chokes a third to stop him from smiling.
Later in the film, Mr. Ermey’s character admonishes a recruit, asking rhetorically in a now famous line, “What is your major malfunction?”
Mr. Ermey, whose dozens of acting credits included film and television roles, was also well-known for playing Sheriff Hoyt in the 2003 horror film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” He notably portrayed a police captain in the 1995 crime drama “Se7en” and was the voice of a green plastic solder named Sarge in the “Toy Story” franchise.
Ronald Lee Ermey was born on March 24, 1944, in Emporia, Kan., and moved to Washington State at age 11. He enlisted in the Marines immediately after graduating from high school and intended to spend decades in the military.
Much of the torrent of vicious language he unleashed in “Full Metal Jacket” was recalled from his days in boot camp and his 30 months as a Marine Corps drill instructor during the Vietnam War.
The clever, if obscene, tirades were of his own invention, Mr. Ermey told The New York Times in 1987.
“It was terrifying to those actors,” he said of the invective he spewed. “My objective was intimidation.”
Mr. Ermey’s 11-year career as a Marine was ended “by a rocket” in 1969, he said, but he would not talk about the war for the Times article, saying, “If a person’s wife and children were killed in a terrible automobile accident, 20 years later it will bother him to talk about it.”
With shrapnel still lodged in his back and arm, Mr. Ermey spent four months in a hospital. He eventually moved to the Philippines, where he married, attended college briefly and acted in television commercials.
He is survived by his wife, Marianila Ermey; his brothers Jack Ermey and Terry Ermey; his children Kim Bolt, Rhonda Chilton, Anna Liza Cruz, Betty Ermey, Evonne Ermey and Clinton Ermey; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
By the late 1970s, Mr. Ermey had landed one of his first movie roles, as a helicopter pilot in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” He also served as a military adviser for the film.
He told The Times that he had given up “a good job and more money” — a supervisory role at a nuclear power plant that was under construction — for the part in “Full Metal Jacket” a few years later.
“I love being in front of the camera,” he said. “I get to play cowboy.”
Correction: April 16, 2018
An earlier version of this obituary described incorrectly an action by R. Lee Ermey’s character, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, in the film “Full Metal Jacket.” Sergeant Hartman punches a recruit in the gut; he does not knee him in the groin.
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