R. Lee Ermey (1944-2018)
Hello everyone; I guess it's been a while since I've done a news update on my blog. I've got sad news to tell you about the former U.S. Marine and actor R. Lee Emery, best known for his iconic performance of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket", and his distinctive, commanding voice as the leader of the plastic army men Sarge in the "Toy Story" series, died from complications of pneumonia at age 74 on April 15th, 2018.
He was born Ronald Lee Ermey in Kansas and served eleven years in the Marine Corps before spending fourteen months in Vietnam and then in Okinawa, Japan, where he got promoted to staff sergeant. Ermey's first appearance in a film was in "The Boys in Company C", and in the following year, he was in an uncredited role of a helicopter pilot in Francis Ford Coppola's war epic "Apocalypse Now" while working as a technical advisor on set. Ermey was originally a technical consultant on "Full Metal Jacket", where he convinced Stanley Kubrick through an instructional tape to cast him as the profane, sadistic drill instructor, even allowing him to ad-lib 50% per cent of his dialogue in the film. It resulted in his performance being worthy and acclaimed in the film, earning Ermey a Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
Ermey got usually typecast in roles of authority figures in such films as "Mississippi Burning", "Se7en", "On Deadly Ground", "Toy Soldiers", "Prefontainez", "Fletch Lives" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Emery even lent his voice talents as Sarge in the animated feature "Toy Story" as well as two sequels and his television appearances in "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "SpongeBob Squarepants", "Miami Vice", "Kim Possible", "Scrubs", "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", etc. In addition to that, he also hosted two documentary series on the History Channel and a reality show on the Outdoor Channel in America.
Thank you for your service, R. Lee Emery and may you rest in peace, sir!
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