R. Lee Ermey
Highest Rated: 100% Toy Story 2 (1999)
Lowest Rated: 9% Man of the House (2005)
Birthday: Mar 24, 1944
Birthplace: Emporia, Kansas, USA
A few character actors make such an indelible impression with one role that they find it consistently impossible to outgrow that image. Anthony Perkins had it with Norman Bates, M. Emmet Walsh has it with Visser (from Blood Simple), and R. Lee Ermey will forever be associated with the sadomasochistic verbal rapist of a drill instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Hartman, from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam opus, Full Metal Jacket (1987). Though Ermey never again quite matched the intensity of this role (or the gutter-bucket poetic invention of its obscene dialogue), it was enough to give him permanent recognition as a character actor among filmgoers, and to typecast him in a series of variants on that role, again and again, throughout his life.Born on March 24, 1944, in Emporia, KS, Ermey enlisted in the armed forces as a young man and hightailed it to Vietnam on a non-commissioned basis, but injuries forced him to retire from active duty. He received full disability pay and moved to Manila in the early '70s, where he managed to ably support himself on his USAF allotment (thanks to the lower cost of living) while studying for a degree in criminology. Each morning, Ermey visited the coffee shop at the Manila Hilton -- well-reputed as the haunt of American filmmakers shooting on-location in the Philippines -- until one of the directors happened to notice Ermey and asked him to pose for a series of blue jeans ads. This experience led to his film debut, a role as a retired soldier in a local production. By 1976, Ermey had appeared in several Filipino films. He broke into Hollywood films that year, when he slipped onto the set for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and convinced Coppola to hire him as a helicopter pilot. Indeed, the ex-officer's Vietnam experience came in handy and Coppola utilized him as a technical advisor. Ermey made his American cinematic debut -- and held to the military-man typecasting -- in Sidney J. Furie's comedy drama The Boys in Company C (1978), and the director's follow-up, Purple Hearts (1984). But his biggest break came shortly thereafter, when Stanley Kubrick -- a notorious tyrant himself -- tapped him to portray Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket (1987). Ermey's evocation of the satanically profane, vile, and sadistic Hartman, laden with the thankless, brutal job of toughening up raw recruits before sending them to Vietnam (who eventually gets blown away by one of his trainees) dominates the film's first 45 minutes and provides an unforgettably realistic, disturbing portrait of military training. Thanks to his unique countenance and authoritative voice, Ermey maintained his image as a rough-hewn, tough-as-nails SOB onscreen.Neither Company C or Purple Hearts received substantial critical and public recognition (or a very wide release); in contrast, the broader exposure of Full Metal Jacket (it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and a National Board of Review nomination for Best Picture) boosted Ermey's prominence -- immeasurably so. He followed it up with spots in such well-received pictures as Alan Parker's racial drama Mississippi Burning (1988) and Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993). In 1995, Ermey spoofed himself to great effect as the voice of the leader of the little green soldiers in Toy Story, and doubled it up with a turn as the vengeful father of a homicide victim in Tim Robbins' capital punishment drama Dead Man Walking. A third role in that same year -- as the boss of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in David Fincher's seminal work Seven -- elicited a positive (if limited) critical and public response for Ermey's portrayal.During the early 2000s, Ermey once again drew on his military expertise and background, albeit in a much different fashion, as host of the small-screen program Mail Call. Episodes featured him answering a series of viewer questions about various aspects of military life and history. In 2003, he returned to his dramatic roots (and managed to top the

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

RATING TITLE CREDIT BOX OFFICE YEAR
96% Filmworker
  • Actor
— 2018
17% The Watch
  • Manfred
$34.2M 2012
98% Toy Story 3
  • Sarge
$415M 2010
No Score Yet Lock N Load With R. Lee Ermey
  • Actor
— 2009
No Score Yet Y.M.I.
  • Actor
— 2008
No Score Yet Solstice
  • Leonard
— 2007
12% The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
  • Sheriff Hoyt
$39.5M 2006
No Score Yet Shark Bait
  • Jack
— 2006
58% X-Men: The Last Stand
  • Seargant
$234.4M 2006
9% Man of the House
  • Capt. Nichols
$19.2M 2005
37% The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • Sheriff Hoyt
$80.2M 2003
50% Scenes of the Crime
  • Mr. Parker
— 2003
64% Willard
  • Mr. Martin
$6.8M 2003
62% The Salton Sea
  • Verne Plummer
$0.7M 2002
No Score Yet Avalanche
  • Gary
— 2002
No Score Yet Frank McKlusky, C.I.
  • Jockey Master
— 2002
71% Run Ronnie Run!
  • Lead Kidnapper
— 2002
10% Megiddo: The Omega Code 2
  • Pres. Richard Benson
$5.7M 2001
No Score Yet Jericho
  • Marshall
— 2001
61% Recess: School's Out
  • Colonel O'Malley
$34.9M 2001
No Score Yet On the Borderline
  • Capt. Elias
— 2001
18% Saving Silverman
  • Football Coach
$19M 2001
No Score Yet The Chaos Factor
  • Col. Ben Wilder
— 2000
No Score Yet Skipped Parts
  • Caspar Callahan
— 2000
No Score Yet Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
  • Actor
— 2000
100% Toy Story 2
  • Sergeant
— 1999
50% Life
  • Older Sherriff Pike
— 1999
No Score Yet You Know My Name
  • Nix
— 1999
No Score Yet The Apartment Complex
  • Frank Stanton
— 1999
20% Gunshy
  • Jerry
— 1998
32% Switchback
  • Sheriff Buck Olmstead
— 1997
No Score Yet Dead Men Can't Dance
  • Sen. Pullman Fowler
— 1997
59% Prefontaine
  • Bill Bowerman
— 1997
No Score Yet The Sender
  • Col. Rosewater
— 1997
No Score Yet Weapons of Mass Distraction
  • Titans' Owner
— 1997
63% The Frighteners
  • Sgt. Hiles
— 1996
67% Soul of the Game
  • Wilkie Wilkinson
— 1996
No Score Yet Chain of Command
  • Benjamin Brewster
— 1996
95% Dead Man Walking
  • Clyde Percy
— 1995
100% Toy Story
  • Sergeant
— 1995
90% Leaving Las Vegas
  • Conventioneer
— 1995
81% Seven (Se7en)
  • Police Captain
— 1995
No Score Yet The Rift (La Grieta)
  • Actor
— 1995
No Score Yet Savate
  • Benedict
— 1995
No Score Yet Under the Hula Moon
  • Colonel McIntire
— 1995
50% Murder in the First
  • Judge Clawson
— 1994
No Score Yet Love Is A Gun
  • Frank Deacon
— 1994
10% On Deadly Ground
  • Stone
— 1994
No Score Yet French Silk
  • Chief Crowder
— 1994
62% Sommersby
  • Dick Mead
— 1993
71% Body Snatchers
  • General Platt
— 1993
9% Hexed
  • Ferguson
— 1993
43% True Identity
  • Houston's Boss (uncredited)
— 1991
36% Toy Soldiers
  • General Kramer
— 1991
No Score Yet 83 Hours 'til Dawn
  • Glen Fairling
— 1990
No Score Yet I'm Dangerous Tonight
  • Actor
— 1990
No Score Yet Kid
  • Luke
— 1990
No Score Yet Endless Descent
  • Randall Phillips
— 1990
No Score Yet The Terror Within II
  • Actor
— 1990
No Score Yet The Take
  • Weller
— 1990
37% Fletch Lives
  • Jimmy Lee Farnsworth
— 1989
No Score Yet The Siege of Firebase Gloria
  • Hafner
— 1989
No Score Yet Demonstone
  • Col. Joe Haines
— 1989
86% Mississippi Burning
  • Mayor Tilman
— 1988
93% Full Metal Jacket
  • Hartman
— 1987
No Score Yet Purple Hearts
  • Gunny
— 1984
96% Apocalypse Now
  • Heliocopter Pilot
— 1979
No Score Yet The Boys in Company C
  • Sgt. Loyce
— 1978

TV

RATING TITLE CREDIT YEAR
No Score Yet Family Guy
1999
  • Voice
  • 2011
  • 2001
No Score Yet Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
  • Walter Burlock
  • 2010
No Score Yet Eleventh Hour
2008-2009
  • Bob Henson
  • 2008
88% House
2004-2012
  • John House
  • 2008
  • 2005
84% Scrubs
2001-2010
  • Janitor's Father
  • 2002
84% The Simpsons
1989
  • Voice
  • 1995
74% The X-Files
1993-2018
  • Rev. Finley
  • 1995
82% Tales from the Crypt
1989-1996
  • 1994
No Score Yet Miami Vice
1984-1990
  • Haskell
  • 1987

QUOTES FROM R. Lee Ermey CHARACTERS