Ronald Lee Ermey was born on the 24th March 1944, in Emporia, Kansas USA. He is an actor, who is probably still best recognized for starring in the role of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in “Full Metal Jacket” (1987), playing Mayor Tilman in “Mississippi Burning” (1988), and as Sheriff Hoyt in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remake. He is also a retired US Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, whose acting career subsequently began in 1978.
So, have you ever wondered how rich R. Lee Ermey is? It has been estimated by sources that Ermey’s net worth is over $12 million, as of mid-2016. The main source of this sum of money is his successful involvement into the entertainment industry as an actor. Additionally to that, he has also appeared in a number of commercials and TV shows, which also increased his net worth. Another source of his wealth is coming from his ownership of the Bravery Brewery in Lancaster, California.
R. Lee Ermey Net Worth $12 Million
R. Lee Ermey spent his childhood with five brothers on a farm nearby Kansas City. At the age of 14, he moved with his family to Toppenish, Washington. In his teens, Ermey was a troublemaker, who has often problems with the law, as he was arrested twice. After his second arrest, the judge offered him the choice between going to prison or becoming a member of military, so he chose the second option and in 1961 he joined the US Marine Corps. While serving, he worked as a drill instructor, but also saw combat in Vietnam where he was wounded, and was eventually medically discharged – he was honorarily promoted to gunnery sergeant (E-7) in 2002.
Ronald’s acting career began in the late 1970s, appearing in a film named “The Boys In Company C” (1978), and the following year he appeared in the film “Apocalypse Now”. He then focused more on his education, but returned to acting during the 1980s, earning roles in the film “Purple Hearts” (1984), and three years later he secured his breakout role as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in the Stanley Kubrick’s film “Full Metal Jacket”. Since then, his career has gone only upwards, and so has his net worth as well as popularity. So far he has appeared in more than 120 films, TV and video games titles, which increased his net worth by a large margin.
Furthermore, during his career he developed a typecast role of a sergeant, and some of his most famous roles include those in films such as “Mississippi Burning” (1988), “Toy Soldiers” (1991), “Body Snatchers” (1993), “Love Is A Gun” (1994), “Dead Man Walking” (1995), “Dead Men Can’t Dance” (1997), “Jericho” (2000), “Vilard” (2003), “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003), and its sequel “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning” (2006), among others. All of these appearances added to the overall size of his net worth.
Emery’s net worth also benefited from his voice-over talents, as he provided the voice to characters from several animated TV and film titles, but also video games, including “Toy Story” (1995), “Big Guy And Rusty The Boy Robot” (1999), “Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles” (1999-2000), “Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel” (2001), “Batman: The Brave And The Bold” (2009-2011), “Kung Fu Panda: Legends Of Awesomeness” (2012-2015), and “Call Of Duty: Ghosts” (2013), among others, all of which contributed a lot to his net worth.
Thanks to his career, Emery has received numerous prestigious nominations and awards, including the Golden Globe award nomination in category Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his work on the film “Full Metal Jacket”, and he won the BSFC Award in category Best Supporting Actor for the same film, among others.
Speaking about his personal life, R. Lee Ermey has been married to Nila Ermey since 1975; the couple has four children together.
Combat Action Ribbon, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Gallantry Cross, Combat Action Ribbon, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Gallantry Cross
Nominations
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Movies
Full Metal Jacket, The Boys in Company C, Seven, Saving Silverman, Dead Man Walking, The Frighteners, Willard, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Mississippi Burning, Toy Story 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Siege of Firebase Gloria, On Deadly Ground, Leaving La...
TV Shows
Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, Cracker, All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series, High Incident, Sweet Justice, Street Justice, Human Target, Mail Call, Toy Story Treats, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, All Dogs Go to He...
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Trademark
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Tough and often scary screen presence
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Commanding and dynamic delivery.
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Best known for playing military drill instructors
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Quote
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I got to write most of everything I said.
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Every character I've ever played, I always try to take him right to the edge and not allow him to fall over, but directors have a tendency to pull me back a little bit.
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When you try to find funding for a VVA function, it doesn't seem like it's any trouble at all. People come out of the woodwork with their money to help out because we went over and fought a war.
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I honestly do feel that I am a role model for young people.
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I got space from Travis Air Force Base, went back to the Philippine Islands and made it a point to meet the only American casting director in the Philippines. I was off and running.
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Everybody respects the Vietnam Veterans of America.
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I disagree with a lot of those changes, however at the end of the day - I go down to recruit graduation at least once or twice a year.
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It's been a pretty fun ride, to tell you the truth.
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I play well with everybody.
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We had times in '66 and '67 when we would pick up a platoon of privates out of the receiving barracks the week before we even graduated the platoon that we were on!
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There have been a lot of changes in recruit training in the past twenty years.
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I try to get over to Iraq and Afghanistan as much as I can.
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That's all I cared about too, was getting it right.
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In order to be a good actor, I'm a firm believer that you need to bring something to the table.
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Kubrick ate it up. He loved it. He just let me go crazy.
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I've never had to spend any time in the VA hospital, so I really can't speak for those guys.
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I spend a lot of time with my characters.
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Kubrick's films have life - they just never die.
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There's a lot of whiners in every crowd.
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I was stationed at a marine recruit depot in San Diego from 1965 to 1967.
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I'm never, like I say, I'm never happy, I'm never satisfied, it's never good enough.
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Playing the good guy is tough because you know as well as I do, in real life, you have to watch your P's and Q's and conduct yourself in a respectable manner if you expect to have friends.
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Without discipline, there is no Marine Corps.
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I go the VA Hospital when I have a problem and the doctor jumps on me.
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Back in the old Corp, we weren't training those privates to infiltrate into the peacetime Marine Corp. We were training those privates to go to Vietnam.
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I don't have to be concerned about everybody else's character.
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I always love to come to Austin.
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The drill instructor must have total and complete control. Mindless obedience is what he's after.
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America's trying to do the best for its veterans.
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Back in those days intimidation was the greatest tool the drill instructor had. Without that tool, he would not have had control.
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The biggest problem was the politicians knew nothing about fighting a war.
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Drill instructors worked seven days a week, fifteen to seventeen hours a day in many cases, with no time off in between platoons.
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I don't have any respect at all for the scum-bags who went to Canada to avoid the draft or to avoid doing their fair share.
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Communications are better now than in my Vietnam days.
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For me, it's an honor for the military to ask me to go to Iraq, Afghanistan, or GITMO. I'm happy to go.
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You'd be surprised how many kids and young people come to the website and send me email that they are actually going into the Marine Corp because of something that I said or did.
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There was a huge, tremendous amount of disabled veterans and the Veteran's Administration just wasn't geared up for it. I know for a fact that it's getting better and better.
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The bad news motivated the drill instructors that much more.
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The best part about the movie, and everybody seems to rave about it, is the boot camp part.
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I firmly believe that you live and learn, and if you don't learn from past mistakes, then you need to be drug out and shot.
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Even though I disagree with many of the changes, when I see the privates graduate at the end of the day, when they walk off that drill field at the end of the ceremony, they are still fine privates; outstanding, well motivated privates.
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It's my firm conviction that when Uncle Sam calls, by God we go, and we do the best that we can.
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Fact
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As of 2016, has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Apocalypse Now (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988) and Toy Story 3 (2010)_.
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When he was 17, he would always get in trouble so much with the police. During a court hearing, the judge gave him the choice of either facing jail or join the military. He chose the military.
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In January, 2014 he outraged animal rights activists by posting photos of himself on Facebook posing with dead lions he had shot in Africa. He also boasted of killing "Cape Buffalo, lion, lioness and wildebeest" on previous trips to Africa.
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Starting his third year as host on "Mail Call" on the History Channel. [July 2005]
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Hosting "Lock N Load" a new show about military hardware on the History Channel. [August 2009]
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Currently doing a series of radio and television commercials for Geico. [July 2010]
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Hosting "Mail Call" on the History Channel. [August 2002]
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Was seriously considered for the role of J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man (2002), before J.K. Simmons was cast.
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Was one of the few people ever allowed to improvise for notorious perfectionist Stanley Kubrick. A lot of his dialogue lines in Full Metal Jacket (1987) were improvised.
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In 2010, he was chosen as new spokesman for SOG Specialty Knives & Tool. SOG's new "Gunny Approved" advertising campaign includes a special edition line of knives and tools developed in conjunction with Ermey.
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In 1987, he was involved in a jeep accident during the making of Full Metal Jacket (1987). At 1:00 am one morning, he skidded off the road, breaking all the ribs on his left side. He refused to pass out and kept flashing his car lights until a motorist stopped. In some scenes in the movie, he does not move his left arm at all.
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Has four children with wife Nila and two daughters from a previous marriage. Has nine grandchildren.
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Aside from his early military roles, he often plays authority figures, such as sheriffs, police chiefs and other types of law-enforcement officers.
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Parodied his famous role from Full Metal Jacket (1987) (Gunnery Sergeant Hartman) as a Ghost in the comedy film The Frighteners (1996).
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Chosen as first celebrity spokesperson for Glock firearms and products in 2004.
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Used the same line ("You're not afraid of a little blood, are you?") in two consecutive movies -- Willard (2003) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003). Both films were released in 2003 and both films just happened to be remakes as well.
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After injuries forced him to retire from military service, he moved to the Phillipines and enrolled in the University of Manila, where he studied Criminology and Drama.
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United States Marine Corps awards and decorations include: Meritorious Unit Commendation, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal (w/bronze service star), Vietnam Campaign Medal (w/60 Device), Vietnam Gallantry Cross (w/Palm), Good Conduct Medal (w/two bronze service stars), Marksman Badge (w/Rifle Bar) and Sharpshooter Badge (w/Pistol Bar).
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Although he retired from the United States Marine Corps in 1971, Ermey was later awarded the Honorary rank of Gunnery Sergeant.
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Served in the United States Marine Corps from April 1961 to October 1971 under the service number 195-60-39. Was retired as a Staff Sergeant on a medical disability.
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Was not intended to be in Full Metal Jacket (1987). He was hired as a technical advisor for the actor who was to play the drill instructor, but he did such a good job at it that Ermey himself was hired for the part.
$12 Million
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