R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) R.I.P.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I haven't seen "Full Metal Jacket" in years but weirdly enough, I heard a lot of R. Lee Ermey's voice when my kids were small because he frequently turned up in cartoons. I know I heard him voicing characters on Spongebob, Fairly OddParents and quite a few others. I imagine that he was the "go-to" guy if you needed a voice for a tough guy/military cartoon character .

He also did the Army soldier voice in Toy Story.

The guy was an amazing actor, his role in 'Mississippi Burning' which was just as intense as 'Full Metal Jacket' but for entirely different reason.

If you can impress Kubrick ( who worked with same pretty damn good actors) that speaks volumes.

Was very sad to hear this yesterday. RIP Gunny

Ermey was actually very good in the TC movies too.

His character was sort of a hybrid of his FMJ character and a southern redneck.  He was very menacing but still had some of that crass humor.

Any guy who was involved in Toy Story, Spongebob and Kung Fu Panda is okay by me.

tohostudios wrote:

I've always wondered how much of the stuff he says in FMJ was improvised.

Quite a bit from what I've read. He wasn't even supposed to be in the movie, and was there as a consultant. Kubrick saw a video of him being a drill sergeant or some sort if instructional film, and cast him for the part. He basically let him say his own stuff for the most part, and most of his scenes were done in one or two takes. Which, if you know anything about Stanley Kubrick, you know that's almost unheard of.

Definitely gonna miss seeing him pop up here and there. I was so bummed when they took his tv show off the air, that Mail Call. That was such a cool show.

R.I.P.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Gunny a few years ago and he was a very nice guy.

Great, great actor. Stole every scene. He was great in Switchback, as well.

He's probably responsible for the funniest 30 minutes in movie history. To me, Full Metal Jacket is R. Lee Ermey.

R.I.P.

tohostudios wrote:

He was also in the remakes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre

I think it might be in the extras on DVD/Blu-Ray or I remember reading something about it, but the cast for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre would be in stitches, because they would have R. Lee Ermey do dialogue from his character in Full Metal Jacket, just to get some comic relief in between shooting scenes.

I agree with Scottmitchell that Ermey is responsible for 30 of the funniest minutes in cinematic history with his FMJ performance.   It's a vulgar, raunchy and profane 30 minutes but it sure is funny as hell, especially the first time you see it.

My favourite line has always been, "You climb obstacles like old people F*ck!"