R. LEE ERMEY

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(24 March 1944 - 15 April 2018)

R. Lee Ermey

The American actor Ronald Lee Ermey, who has died from pneumonia at the age of 74, was a former military man whose film career matched his own life. A former member of the US Marine Corps who served in Vietnam and Japan, he retired from the Corps and studied criminology and drama. His first US film was The Boys in Company C (1978) before Coppola used him as helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now. He was outstanding as the Sergeant in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket and continued playing military roles and heavies in Mississippi Burning, Fletch Lives, Deathstone, Toy Soldiers, Hexed, Sommersby, Body Snatchers and other films and TV series. He was in On Deadly Ground, Naked Gun 33 1/3, Murder in the First, Leaving Las Vegas, Dead Man Walking, Taking Sides, Willard, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Watch. He also did voice work on Toy Story (as Sarge) and its sequels, Starship Troopers, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Reef, and the Family Guy and The Simpsons TV series.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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