![]() ![]() military now or in the past, as well as by other armed forces in history. Most episodes were 30 minutes, but from 2007 through the show's end in 2009 some episodes were 60 minutes.ĭuring each episode, Ermey read and answered questions submitted by viewers regarding weapons and equipment used by all branches of the U.S. The show debuted on Augas part of the 'Fighting Fridays' lineup. Lee Ermey, a retired United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant. Mail Call was a television program that appeared on the History Channel and hosted by R. ![]() We're all winners for having the Sarge in our viewing life.Freebase Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votes While many scream over Hollywood's liberal slant or other preconceived notions, Ermey's presence on screen was an example talent always wins out. He became an actor by playing himself, a rare breed of man who was familiar as himself-an American, a Marine and later, an actor. The film was released in 2001, fourteen years before the Supreme Court decision declaring same-sex marriage legal.Įrmey was fun to watch. In " Saving Silverman," Ermey's character Coach in "Saving Silverman" has an onstage marriage during a Neil Diamond concert with former student and now grown up J.D., played memorably by Jack Black. Bush and then Barack Obama for president, lashed out at military critics of Obama early in his first term in 2009, then told the audience at a 2010 USO and Toys for Tots event that Obama's administration was " driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us." He apologized for those remarks afterward, but subsequently blamed them for GEICO Insurance's decision to fire him as their spokesperson. It was my first office job, and it gave me a chance to stick out from my colleagues who weren't familiar with firearms, which I had been raised with given my Midwestern and Appalachian background.Įrmey was conservative but a self-declared independent with unpredictable opinions. When I started my first newspaper job in 2003, I had a small poster of Ermey from Glock adorning my wall next to my desk. Ermey was also a spokesperson and enthusiastic owner of Glock handguns. "Locked and Loaded" covered the history of firearms and weapons, mixing Ermey with slow-motion and high-def weapons footage in a package that even a pacifist might want to watch. Lee Ermey's Locked and Loaded." The former answered viewers' questions about the military. He hosted two shows on History Channel, "Mail Call" and "R. Ermey was a real Marine, a real Drill Sergeant, and Kubrick's film is most notable for its early scenes in the movie where Ermey is berating his recruits in comic and tragic fashion.Įrmey's familiar voice was also found among mainstream products, including a famous pairing with a CGI John Wayne in a commercial for Coors Beer that debuted during the Super Bowl. Starting his movie career as a technical consultant for " Apocalypse Now," Ermey played a diverse group of authority figures along the way, the most famous earning him a Golden Globe nomination as Sergeant Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket." He was the only actor that director Stanley Kubrick allowed to ad lib. On television, Ermey was the father of Hugh Laurie's title character on "House," a former military fighter pilot that Laurie's pilled-out character could never quite live up to. ![]() He was the vengeful father of a murder victim in " Dead Man Walking," making a convincing case for the death penalty in a movie that otherwise advocated against it. He was the lead plastic Army soldier 'Sarge' in Pixar's " Toy Story" franchise, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman's exasperated superior in "Se7en," and a sadistic sheriff in the 2006 "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. He was one of the few representatives from the military in Hollywood, a trend that's changing with the success of Adam Driver and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," which used British soldiers in many scenes to give authenticity. Lee Ermey had presence, and he could play it in different ways, in dramatically different figures of authority, even though it was a variation of that same Marine Drill Sergeant's yell that made him an instant star in " Full Metal Jacket."Įrmey's death on April 15, 2018, due to pneumonia complications, came as a sudden tragedy for his many fans. Acting is easy, as James Spader once said, but presence is not. ![]()
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