R. Lee Ermey, who created indelible ‘Full Metal Jacket’ drill sergeant, dies at 74
R. Lee Ermey, the real-life military veteran who turned maggots into Marines in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” died Sunday morning from complications of pneumonia, according to a statement from his longtime manager posted to the actor’s official Twitter account. He was 74.
Ermey carved his place into cinema history with his memorable portrayal of foul-mouthed Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Kubrick’s 1987 Vietnam War drama, and he would go on to play tough-as-nails authority figures, from coaches to colonels to sheriffs and generals, over a nearly four-decade career in film and television.
But his most recognizable turn by far remained the drill instructor hammering new U.S.