Hater Hall of Fame: R. Lee Ermey Edition

Ronald Lee Ermey, Born March 24, 1944

Sometimes one performance can earn somebody a nod into the HHOF, and this is one of those times.  Ronald Ermey was born in Emporia, Kansas and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17.  By 1965, Ermey was working as a drill instructor at the USMC Recruit Depots in both San Diego, California and Parris Island, South Carolina.  Three years later he was called to Vietnam, where he served 14 months with the Marine Wing Support Group 17.  After carrying out two more tours of duty in Okinawa, Japan as a Staff Seargent, R. Lee was medically retired in 1972 due to injuries he sustained during his time in combat.  After his retirement, Ermey moved to the Philippines and studied Criminology and Drama at the University of Manilla with the aid of his G.I. benefits.  While attending the university, he played a bit part in several small Filipino films; this lead to a role in the 1978 film The Boys in Company “C”, which caught the eye of a couple of very famous directors.

In 1979, Francis Ford Coppola chose Ermey to play the role of an unnamed Air Cavalry Officer in the critically-acclaimed film Apocalypse Now, and he also worked as the film’s technical advisor.  He would then lend his technical expertise to Louis Gossett Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman, but acted in a limited capacity until 1987.  Notoriously eccentric director Stanley Kubrick hired Ermey as a technical advisor for his upcoming war film, but the former drill instructor was determined to play a bigger part.  So, he made an instructional video for Kubrick to show the director why he deserved a shot at one of the film’s major roles.  In the unusual audition tape, “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.”  Not only did he get the part of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann in the war epic Full Metal Jacket, but Kubrick granted him the freedom to improvise and edit the dialogues as Ermey saw fit to maintain absolute authenticity.  The final product was a performance that earned R. Lee several nominations, and memorable quotes that are probably mimicked by military drill instructors to this day.  The achievement is even more impressive when you take into account the fact that he was injured in a car accident during filming, and continued to work despite having broken every rib on his right side.

Since that time, the drill instructor turned actor has appeared in more than sixty films – even though he is often typecast as an authority figure of some sort.  But he has also shown off his intentional comedic side in movies such as Fletch Lives and Saving Silverman. Ermey continues to be a big supporter of the armed forces, traveling to various war zones for USO shows and other morale boosting events.  He also has two military-themed shows on the History Channel, Mail Call and Lock N’ Load with R. Lee Ermey, which illustrate both his knowledge and love of all things that blow shit up.  In 2002, he received an honorary post-service promotion to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) – the same as his character in Full Metal Jacket – for his service and continued support to Americans in the military.  Today, he is being honored for something altogether different.

The first Geico commercial in a long time that doesn’t make me want to smash my TV screen – I’m looking at you cavemen:

I can say without a doubt that Ermey is the best actor to ever take part in a Sy-Fy original program (Sorry Corin Nemec):

In my opinion, this is the best speech, tirade, or whatever else you want to call it in the history of the motion picture industry (Of course, language is NSFW):