History Creator / RLeeErmey

Having appeared in the film ''The Boys in Company C'' (playing -- what else? -- a Marine drill instructor) and served as a technical advisor to Creator/FrancisFordCoppola for ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Ermey became a pop culture icon with his role in Creator/StanleyKubrick's ''FullMetalJacket'', which had him play a foul-mouthed drill instructor whose sadistic training methods end up driving one recruit insane and lead to his death. Incidentally, his scenes are one of the few times Kubrick ever allowed improvisation in any of his films.

* AscendedExtra: Originally brought on to ''FullMetalJacket'' for accuracy advice, his demonstrations of how to do a DrillSergeantNasty were so good that he was cast in his famed role.

* ThrowItIn: A good bit of the lines from Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, in ''FullMetalJacket'', were adlibbed by Ermey, who was one of the few actors that Kubrick allowed to go off-script when shooting scenes.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: He was only 42 when he filmed ''FullMetalJacket''. He looks almost the same from then as in his Geico commercial...over 20 years later.

The role made him the poster child for the trope DrillSergeantNasty and landed him work in other films (most notably ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', where he ironically plays against type as a rather mellowed out police captain), as well as a slew of voice-over work due to his distinct gruff voice (such as Sarge, the leader of the Army Men in ''ToyStory''), and ultimately a hosting job for several [[TheHistoryChannel History Channel]] military-themed shows (''Mail Call'' and ''Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey''). He's also guest-starred as the abusive ex-Drill Sergeant Nasty father of the title character of ''Series/{{House}}''.

* BigOlEyebrows

* LargeHam

* NoIndoorVoice
* SemperFi
* ShoutOut: The anime series ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', in addition to being named for ''Full Metal Jacket'', has an episode where the protagonist plays DrillSergeantNasty to a rugby team; the English dub takes this up a notch by having him quote Ermey's character verbatim. The swearing was intentionally censored, which only makes the scene even funnier.
** The series ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'' did the same, but made the dialog even ''more'' surreal by having it be about MagicalGirl training.
-->''"If you are able to overcome my intensive training, your entire demeanor will become that of a MagicalGirl. You will become a [[FriendToAllLivingThings friend to all]], [[ThePowerOfLove sprinkling love]] [[ForHappiness and smiles]] with a [[MagicWand magical stick]] in your hand. But until that day you are a [[FacelessMasses mob character]]. You are the [[UnknownCharacter least important character]] [[NoFourthWall in the cast]]."''\\
[...]\\
''"Do not speak unless spoken to! You will say '[[Manga/CardCaptorSakura hanyaan]]' at the beginnings and ends of the nonsense spewed from that bloody tongue!"''
** There's also [[http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4929/eigoforanimes.png this Japanese English phrase(?) book]], which features a cute Army girl whose dialogue consists of nothing but uncensored ''Full Metal Jacket'' character quotes.
-->''[[JapaneseRanguage I rike you.]] Come ova to my house and fuck my shista.''
** Another anime example: ''PaniPoniDash'' has a few scene cut-away pictures of Ermey depicted in his ''Full Metal Jacket'' role. It's worth noting the animators spared no detail to his likeness.
** The writers of ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' have created a Green Lantern Drill Instructor character who is a slightly more mellowed out version of Hartman.
*** And in ''BlackestNight'' it is revealed that that character was trained by an alien called Ermey, who is basically an alien PaletteSwap of of the man himself.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'', the driver of the [[TankGoodness Siege Tank]] asks [[StopPokingMe "What is your major malfunction?"]]
*** Likewise, [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Scout]] asks "What is your major malfunction, brother?!" when dominating the Soldier.
** In the English dub of Manga/AttackOnTitan, Patrick Seitz's Keith Shadis quotes Sgt. Hartman verbatim.
--> ''"WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, JAEGER?!"''

* FountainOfMemes: Even people who haven't seen ''Full Metal Jacket'' can likely quote at least half of his lines due to PopCulturalOsmosis.

* HandCannon: In a ''Lock and Load'' episode, when the host fires a .44 Magnum and gets knocked down in the process, he promptly [[NotSoStoic does not want to fire it again.]]

* {{Badass}}: A U.S. Marine.
** Was an established drill instructor at age 21.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: He can be downright mellow and soft-spoken when he's not in DrillSergeantNasty mode. Stanley Kubrick initially thought Ermey was too nice to play Hartman in ''Full Metal Jacket'', prior to his aforementioned audition. For that matter, in the bloopers that showed after ''Mail Call'', he often came across as a [[BumblingDad bumbling old dad type]] when he flubbed his lines.

The role made him the poster child for the trope DrillSergeantNasty and landed him work in other films (most notably ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', where he ironically plays against type as a rather mellowed out police captain), as well as a slew of voice-over work due to his distinct gruff voice, and ultimately a hosting job for several [[TheHistoryChannel History Channel]] military-themed shows (''Mail Call'' and ''Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey''). He's also guest-starred as the abusive ex-Drill Sergeant Nasty father of the title character of ''Series/{{House}}''.

Gunnery Sergeant '''Ronald Lee Ermey''' (born 1944) is a former United States Marine Corps drill instructor and VietnamWar veteran turned actor/media personality.

The role made him the poster child for the trope DrillSergeantNasty and landed him work in other films (most notably ''{{Se7en}}'', where he ironically plays against type as a rather mellowed out police captain), as well as a slew of voice-over work due to his distinct gruff voice, and ultimately a hosting job for several [[TheHistoryChannel History Channel]] military-themed shows (''Mail Call'' and ''Lock n' Load with R. Lee Ermey''). He's also guest-starred as the abusive ex-Drill Sergeant Nasty father of the title character of ''Series/{{House}}''.

--> "WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, JAEGER?!"

** In the English dub of Manga/AttackOnTitan, Patrick Seitz' Keith Shadis quotes Sgt. Hartman verbatim.

Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey (born 1944) is a former United States Marine Corps drill instructor turned actor/media personality.

Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey (born 1944) is a former United States Marine Corps drill instructor turned actor/media personality. Ermey became a pop culture icon off of his role in the Stanley Kubrick film ''FullMetalJacket'', which had him play a foul-mouthed drill instructor whose sadistic training methods end up driving one recruit insane and leading to his death. Incidentally, his scenes are one of the few times Kubrick ever allowed improvisation in any of his films.

* {{Badass}}: A U.S. Marine. 'Nuff said.

** What really sealed the deal, however, was when he spoke to Stanley Kubrick on the set and said "YOU STAND UP WHEN I TALK TO YOU!!!" and Kubrick found himself doing so automatically.

** Actually, he just doesn't want to fire it from the awkward crouched position he was in, as it put him off balance and knocked him over. In another episode, he uses a .44 Magnum in a test, despite that caliber not being around when the feature he was testing was invented. [[RuleOfCool He used it just because he likes it better.]]

*** And in '''Blackest Night''' it is revealed that that character was trained by an alien called Ermey, who is basically an alien PaletteSwap of of the man himself.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: He can be downright mellow and soft-spoken when he's not in DrillSergeantNasty mode. For that matter, in the bloopers that showed after Mail Call, he often came across as a [[BumblingDad bumbling old dad type]] when he flubbed his lines.
** Indeed, the main reason for the aforementioned ''Full Metal Jacket'' audition is that Stanley Kubrick thought Ermey was too nice a guy to play such a nasty character.

Gunnery Sergeant Ronald Lee Ermey (born 1944) is a former United States Marine Corps drill instructor turned actor/media personality. Ermey became a pop culture icon off of his role in the Stanley Kubrick film ''FullMetalJacket'', which had him play a foul-mouthed drill instructor whose sadistic training methods [[spoiler: end up driving one recruit insane and leading to his death]]. Incidentally, his scenes are one of the few times Kubrick ever allowed improvisation in any of his films.

-->''"If you are able to overcome my intensive training, your entire demeanor will become that of a MagicalGirl. You will become a [[FriendToAllLivingThings friend to all]], [[ThePowerOfLove sprinkling love]] [[ForHappiness and smiles]] with a [[MagicWand magical stick]] in your hand. But until that day you are a [[FacelessMasses mob character]]. You are the [[UnknownCharacter least important character in the cast]]."''\\

''"Do not speak unless spoken to! You will say '[[Manga/CardCaptorSakura hanyaan]]' at the beginnings and ends of the nonsense spewed from that bloody tongue!""''
** There's also [[http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4929/eigoforanimes.png this Japanese English phrase(?) book]], which features an Army {{moe}}-girl whose dialogue consists of nothing but uncensored ''Full Metal Jacket'' character quotes.