R. Lee Ermey dead

[Monsieur Verdoux]

One of the iconic presences in cinema. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is certainly a contender for the most terrifying villain in film

[itsfredtitmus]

rip sarge from toy story

[Monsieur Verdoux]

[itsfredtitmus]

:(

[Pinckle Wicker]

Sad news alright. He was one of those guys that always looked quite old or perhaps that he didn't seem to age, I dunno. Loved him in FMJ an absolute cracking performance, well one of many. RIP Gunney!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What was his malfunction?

He was good playing against type as the non-shouting police captain in Seven. I saw a photo of him with a lion he'd shot, so he was probably a bit of a twat in real life.

[AsparagusTrevor]

He was good playing against type as the non-shouting police captain in Seven. I saw a photo of him with a lion he'd shot, so he was probably a bit of a twat in real life.

Probably, he was an NRA board-member too.

[Dr Syntax Head]

He actually was a drill sergeant at one point wasn't he? Could be wrong.

Sad though. He was cool as hell but got him mixed up with Robert Forster a lot.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

He was indeed a drill sergeant. I believe he was originally hired solely as an advisor on Full Metal Jacket, but Kubrick was impressed enough with him to cast him as Sgt. Hartman.

Fun fact: Before he became the beloved, wafro sporting, soft spoken painter off the telly, Bob Ross was also a drill sergeant.

[phantom_power]

He was great in The Frighteners as well, playing much the same role

[Paaaaul]

Wrong forum.
This should be in Oscillations.

He was a #2 pop star.
https://youtu.be/W47Vxd1O4lU

[buzby]

He was indeed a drill sergeant. I believe he was originally hired solely as an advisor on Full Metal Jacket, but Kubrick was impressed enough with him to cast him as Sgt. Hartman.

He spent 30 months as a Drill Sergeant during the Vietnam War era, his 11 year stint in the Marines was ended when he was injured by a rocket attack at Da Nang in 1969 that left him with shrapnel in his shoulder and back.

He was a technical consultant on Apocalypse Now, The Boys in Company C and Purple Hearts (also appearing onscreen in the latter two as a Drill Instructor) before Kubrick hired him as consultant for Full Metal Jacket. He was tasked with turning Bassingbourn Barracks into a functioning replica of Parris Island, right down to the dog clippers used to shave the recruits' hair.

Tim Colceri was originally cast to play Sgt. Hartman, Ermey asked if he could audition but based on performances in his previous films Kubrick told him he wasn't vicious enough. One of his jobs was interviewing Royal Marines to be extras on the film, which were videotaped to be sent to Kubrick. Ermey decided to' get vicious', improvising insults to harangue the interviewees. When he saw the tapes Kubrick was so impressed he had the interviews typed up, and some of Ermey's dialogue ended up being used in the film. Ermey said it was a massive exaggeration of how a real Marine DI would treat his recruits though.

Ermey was given the part of Sgt. Hartman as a result, and all of his scenes chewing up the recruits were improvised - he never rehearsed with the actors, or fraternise with them off-set, as Kubrick wanted them to the intimidated by him. The reactions they show are real (the first scene he shot with Vincent D'Onofrio had to be reshot 4 times as he was so shocked at the verbal tirade he couldn't say the line 'Sir, Yes Sir!').

He was pretty good as the racist mayor in Mississippi Burning too. As mentioned above, he was a gun nut though, somewhat predictably being an ex-Marine from Kansas. He presented a few series over the years on Discovery/History Channel on weapons and 20th century military history (Mail Call, Lock & Load and most recently Gunny Time).

[itsfredtitmus]

He even knows everything about the renowned character actor Lee Ermey

[Panbaams]

There was a story that he was in a car crash during the filming of Full Metal Jacket and broke his arm. This is why one of his arms is stiff and doesn't move much in the film. Obviously this was before mobile phones, so he couldn't call anyone for help, and had to flash his headlights to attract someone's attention. I enjoy the idea of him shouting at himself in character, ordering himself not to slip out of consciousness.

[buzby]

There was a story that he was in a car crash during the filming of Full Metal Jacket and broke his arm. This is why one of his arms is stiff and doesn't move much in the film. Obviously this was before mobile phones, so he couldn't call anyone for help, and had to flash his headlights to attract someone's attention. I enjoy the idea of him shouting at himself in character, ordering himself not to slip out of consciousness.

It was all the ribs on his left side. He skidded off the road at 1am while driving back to his hotel in a jeep during filming in Epping Forest. It resulted in the production being shut down for over 3 months while he recovered (it was filmed back to front - all the Huế city stuff in Beckton first, followed by the Parris Island scenes in Bassingbourn), which meant that Platoon beat it to cinema release by 6 months, despite starting production after Full Metal Jacket.

[Dr Syntax Head]

Gunny Time HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[buzby]

Gunny Time HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ironically he had only reached the rank of Staff Sergeant by the time he was medically discharged from the Marines. He was given an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant in 2002.

[Rocket Surgery]

Knew I recognised that name from somewhere!

Interestingly, some his most entertaining contributions were to productions he wasn't actually involved with:

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e08_1341805151

RIP

[Jerzy Bondov]

I call him Arley Ermey. Rest in peace.

[Serge]

"This is not even my desk."

[An tSaoi]

He was a technical consultant on Apocalypse Now, The Boys in Company C and Purple Hearts (also appearing onscreen in the latter two as a Drill Instructor)

He's in Apocalypse Now too. He's piloting one of the helicopters in the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene.