Ronald Lee Ermey is a former U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor and later Golden Globe-nominated actor, often playing the roles of authority figures, such as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning and Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He currently hosts Mail Call, a military history program on The History Channel, where Ermey answers military-related viewer questions. Ermey is also an official spokesman for Glock firearms, Tupperware, Hoover vacuum cleaners, and the Young Marines.
Born in Emporia, Kansas, Ermey enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1961, after being arrested several times as a teenager. A court judge gave him the choice of the military or jail. He later joked that the Marine Corps "put a screeching halt to my unconventional manner." He spent two years as a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California from 1965 to 1967. In 1968, Ermey arrived in Vietnam where he served for 14 months with the Marine Wing Support Group 17.
Ermey was cast in his first movie while attending the University of Manila in the Philippines, using his G.I. Bill benefits. He first played a Marine drill instructor (SSgt. Loyce) in the 1978 Vietnam-era film The Boys in Company "C", which brought Ermey to the attention of Stanley Kubrick in later years. Ermey then played a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now, doubling as a technical advisor to director Francis Ford Coppola on that film. For the next few years, Ermey played a series of minor film roles until 1987, when he was cast as tough drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket; Ermey also served as the technical advisor on the film. Initially, he was only intended to be the technical advisor, but Kubrick changed his mind after putting together an instructional tape with Ermey, in which Ermey went on an extended hair-raising DI tirade while being pelted by oranges and tennis balls, all without repeating himself, stopping, or even flinching. Kubrick allowed him to write his own dialogue and improvise on set, a noted rarity in a Kubrick film. Kubrick later indicated that Ermey was an excellent performer, needing just two or three takes per scene, also a noted rarity for a Kubrick film. Ermey's performance won critical raves and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He would subsequently play tough drill instructors in the pilot episode of Space: Above and Beyond and in the film The Frighteners, both similar to his character in Full Metal Jacket.
On Mail Call, Ermey discusses weaponry, tactical matters, and military history. 'Mail Call's subject matter is dictated by viewer emails; one episode may focus on an M1A1 Battle Tank, while another may involve World War II secrets, while a third might focus on elements of Medieval warfare. The set consists of a military tent, other military gear and weapons, and Ermey's personal jeep armed with his own 30 cal. M1919 Browning machine gun. Commercial breaks are signaled with typical DI type language.
