Stanley Kubrick didn’t need to write dialogue for R. Lee Ermey as the sadistic drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. Those perversely poetic insults — “you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit,” “you are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit” — were all Ermey’s, then an unknown actor who spent 11 years in the Marine Corps. The role remains Ermey’s most famous, but he now has more than 100 acting credits to his name, and he’s cultivated a merchandising empire based on his persona. You can buy mugs, T-shirts, and answering-machine messages bearing Ermey motivational sayings, not to mention a frightening alarm-clock recording of Ermey shouting, “Get out of the rack, maggot!”
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