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R. Lee Ermey, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ Actor, Dies at 74

Marine was a film technical adviser before director Stanley Kubrick gave him his iconic role.

R. Lee Ermey, who played Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, died Sunday morning, according to his manager. He was 74. “It is with great sadness that I regret to inform you all that R. Lee Ermey (‘The Gunny’) passed away this morning from complications of pneumonia,” a statement read on Ermey’s official Twitter account. “He will be greatly missed by all of us.” Ermey also appearted in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Se7en, and voiced the character Sarge in Toy Story. Ermey served in the Marines as a staff sergeant and drill instructor. According to Variety, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and Vietnam in the late 1960s. He was a technical adviser to Francis Ford Coppola and had a small role in Apocalypse Now. He was also supposed to serve as an adviser to Stanley Kubrick in the making of Full Metal Jacket, but was then cast in the movie itself. Ermey was allowed to improvise, write, and edit his own dialogue for the film, and only took “two or three takes to finish a scene.” He was nominated for a supporting actor Golden Globe for the role.