"When you do a really fantastic film with a great role that you're able to customize for yourself, the doors fly open. From there, Ermey's career catapulted following the iconic 1987 film by film director Stanly Kubrick "Full Metal Jacket." Film Director Francis Ford Coppola was filming "Apocalypse Now" in the Philippines and cast Ermey in a featured role. It would get my foot inside the door to impress the appropriate people," he recalled. Here's the big door that's going to come open for me. Lee Ermey (center on right) with his 1966 Marine recruits at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. Bill benefits and enrolled at the University of Manila in the Philippines, where he studied drama.Īctor and Retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. There's no big call for grunts or drill instructors or people running up a hill to kill the bad guys in civilian life," he said.Īt the same time, Vietnam War theme shows started production and Ermey took notice. "Whether I liked it or not I was retired but that didn't mean that I had to leave the Corps. But Ermey had to reinvent and find a way to support himself. The toughest part of the transition was leaving my friends behind because every friend that I had in the world was back there," he said.Įrmey was awarded an honorary promotion to Gunny in 2002. "The hardest part about being retired out of the Marine Corps was to find myself standing outside the gate in San Diego with nothing but a green sea bag. "I would rather have been out fighting in the war rather than training people to fight the war but that's the way it works," he said.Įrmey was deployed once to Vietnam and retired in 1971. He went on to become a staff noncommissioned officer and served two years as a drill instructor. "I thought well, 'What do I want to do? Do I want to go back to the farm or do I want to stay in the Marine Corps?'" he said. As a result, he ended up serving honorably for 11 years. When it came time to re-enlist after four years, he wasn't too enthusiastic about going back to the farm.
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