MARITAL STATUS
Profession Actor
Nationality American
Birth March 24, 1944 (Emporia, Kansas – United States)
Death April 15, 2018
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Emporia, Kansas, R. Lee Ermey enlisted in the Marines at the age of 17. During his military career, he served notably in Vietnam in 1968 and obtained the rank of sergeant. Traumatized by the battles he fought, he was discharged in 1972 for medical reasons.
This is when his second career began: in 1978, he made his film debut in The Boys of Company C in the role of sergeant. His military experience is indeed valuable in the eyes of Hollywood and serves as a springboard. This is how he found himself a technical consultant in Apocalypse Now the following year and even landed a small role as a helicopter pilot.
A few minor roles followed until 1987, when he played what is certainly his best-known role to date, that of Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket . Originally recruited as a consultant, his natural authority and strong character convinced Stanley Kubrick to give him the role of the marine instructor responsible for training the recruits in the first part of the film. His particularly flowery lines have become cult and his scenes are among the most memorable from this classic. Full Metal Jacket owes as much to R. Lee Ermey as it owes to Stanley Kubrick’s film: his career took off and he earned a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor.
In 1988, he starred under the direction of Alan Parker in Mississippi Burning and then took on roles both on television and in the cinema. We see him in an episode of Two Cops in Miami , in the parody comedy Gone Fletch (1989) or the TV film Blood Dress (1990) by Tobe Hooper . His military past sticks to him and he is regularly offered military roles, such as in Body Snatchers , where Abel Ferrara revisits The Invasion of the Tombs . Still in demand, he continues to play second fiddle alongside Steven Seagal ( Terrain Miné ), Gary Oldman and Kevin Bacon ( Murder at Alcatraz ) and Nicolas Cage ( Leaving Las Vegas ).
In 1995, he played the police captain and superior of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Seven , the cult thriller by David Fincher . The same year, he appeared in an episode of X-Files and in Tim Robbins ‘ The Last Walk opposite Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn . He is not idle since he also ventures into dubbing and lends his voice to the sergeant at the head of the green soldier figurines in Toy Story , a role that he will find in the two sequels as well as in the video games derived from the film Pixar animation. The following year, he enjoyed reprising the role that made him known, almost 10 years after Full Metal Jacket in Peter Jackson ‘s Ghosts Against Ghosts . He embodies the specter of a sergeant who has lost none of his anger, even in the afterlife. Although he would never find such a significant role again in the rest of his career, it nevertheless proved to be prolific. We see this at the end of the 90s and during the following decade in around forty projects. Among these, he stands out in particular in the television series Dr. House and Scrubs . Although he only appears in one episode each time, he lends his features to memorable characters since he plays the father of the famous misanthrope doctor in Dr. House as well as the father of another misanthrope, the janitor of the hospital, in Scrubs. In 2003, he starred in two horror films, Willard with Crispin Glover and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake . He reunites with Leatherface’s degenerate family three years later in the sequel titled The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – The Beginning . From 2010, with the exception of an appearance in New York – Special Unit and the SF comedy Neighbors of the Third Kind , R. Lee Ermey only devotes himself to dubbing. We could hear his voice in Batman: The Alliance of Heroes , The Griffins , Kung Fu Panda: The Incredible Legend and The Simpsons . He died on April 15, 2018 from complications of pneumonia. Author: Emilie Schneider
