People
R. Lee Ermey
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was a United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor. Ermey often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in Prefontaine, Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, and plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films. He hosted two programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers' questions about various militaria both modern and historic; and Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which focused on the development of different types of weapons. He was a candidate for the National Rifle Association board of directors.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
Death as Choreography: Eight Films of Inventive Demise
From cosmic indifference to moral punishment, these eight horror films treat death as a precise, theatrical art form. Each kill is a set piece, a statement, and...
8 films
When the Children's Host Turns Predator
Casper Kelly's Buddy lets a singing orange unicorn hold his own cast hostage inside a deranged 1990s kids' show. This chain traces the lineage of the lethal ent...
5 films
The Mind's Eye: Crime Films of Obsession and Interiority
From a detective's haunted pursuit to a killer's fractured psyche, this chain traces cinema's most intimate crime stories, where the real action happens inside...
8 films
Growing Pains: Sequels That Leap Through Time
From a Parisian afternoon to a boxing ring, these sequels skip years ahead and find their characters changed, challenged, and achingly familiar. A journey throu...
6 films
When the Sequel Outshines the Original
From gritty crime epics to mind-bending sci-fi, these sequels didn't just continue stories, they redefined them. Here's a chain of films that prove the second (...
8 films
20 Home Video Releases Every Film Obsessive Should Own
There was a brief, glorious period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when buying a film on home video felt less like acquiring a product and more like being han...
20 films
The DVDs That Changed Everything
In the late 1990s, home video underwent a seismic shift driven by a double revolution: an unprecedented jump in technical quality, and an unprecedented access t...
10 films
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Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
The Watch
2012 · Manfred
Taking Sides
2002 · General Wallace
The Salton Sea
2002 · Verne Plummer
Toy Story 2
1999 · Sarge (voice)
Life
1999 · Older Sheriff Pike
The Frighteners
1996 · Hiles
Toy Story
1995 · Sergeant (voice)
Leaving Las Vegas
1995 · Conventioneer
Se7en
1995 · Police Captain
Murder in the First
1995 · Judge Clawson
Sommersby
1993 · Dick Mead
The Siege of Firebase Gloria
1989 · Sgt. Maj. Bill Hafner / Narrator
Full Metal Jacket
1987 · Gny. Sgt. Hartman