https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j3_iPskjxk
R. Lee Ermey, a military veteran and actor best known for his role in Stanley Kubrick’s classic ‘Full Metal Jacket’, passed away on Sunday in a hospital in Santa Monica due to complications from pneumonia.
Movieweb reports that the news of Ermey’s death was first announced on Twitter by his longtime manager Bill Rogin.
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“It is with great sadness that I must inform you that our Gunny (Ermey’s longtime nickname, ed.) passed away this morning. ‘Semper fi’, Gunny, you will be greatly missed,” Rogin’s message reads.
In addition to the aforementioned war drama, he also had roles in other well-known films such as Coppola’s masterpiece ‘Apocalypse Now’ and the popular comedies ‘Fletch Lives’ and ‘Naked Gun’.
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Ermey’s acting career began completely by chance when he learned from a friend that Francis Ford Coppola was looking for a technical advisor for filming combat scenes. After they met, the famous director decided to hire him as an actor.
Despite this, his fame was secured by his performance in Kubrick’s ‘Full Metal Jacket’, for which he received numerous critical accolades and a Golden Globe nomination for his role as a sadistic sergeant.
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He found himself in active military service thanks to a judge who, after a series of arrests, gave him an ultimatum: ‘jail or the army’. He then spent 11 years in the Marines, including 14 months in the Vietnam War.
He was 74 years old.
