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Because he was hard, I did not like him. But the more I hated him, the more I learned. He was hard but he was fair.

It is amazing what one iconic role can do for a career, R. Lee Ermey seemed entirely stereotyped into abusive but fair(?) feeling authority figure roles after his Full Metal Jacket performance, but within that there are some other fun films. He turns up in Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers, as well as one of the helpful trio of ghosts to Michael J. Fox's paranormal investigator in the fantastic Peter Jackson film, The Frighteners! Though I suppose younger generations know him best as the voice of Sarge in the Toy Story films, another echo of Full Metal Jacket!

I cannot help but wonder what he would have been like in the JK Simmons role in Whiplash!

I didn't even remember him Seven. Does he say the line "what is your major malfunction John Doe?"

He plays Freeman and Pitt's boss with the memorable line about this not being his desk.

colinr0380 wrote:the helpful trio of ghosts to Michael J. Fox's paranormal investigator in the fantastic Peter Jackson film, The Frighteners!

He's not part of the trio actually, but instead cameos as his Full Metal Jacket character.

I really liked his somewhat-against-type performance as a grieving father in DEAD MAN WALKING. In fact, I liked it enough that I really came to resent the endless recycling of his drill Sargent character. The man had some range as an actor, I think, that for whatever reason probably wasn’t explored like it might have been.

I first saw him in Saving Silverman of all things where he and Jack Black elope at the end. For years that was my only exposure to him. His gruff persona actually worked just as well seriously as it did in parody.

knives wrote:He plays Freeman and Pitt's boss with the memorable line about this not being his desk.

colinr0380 wrote:the helpful trio of ghosts to Michael J. Fox's paranormal investigator in the fantastic Peter Jackson film, The Frighteners!

He's not part of the trio actually, but instead cameos as his Full Metal Jacket character.

My mistake! But it was very Full Metal Jacket-y!

I also love his performance in The Siege of Firebase Gloria, which if I recall he had a creative hand in. Definitely within his pigeonhole, but not without purpose: the film seems to be using it's 80s Cannon/New World genre premise as a launchpad to poke around at the film iconography of the Vietnam genre. Wings Hauser's scenery chewing is definitely at odds with film's more serious aims (including a more nuanced and considerate portrayal of the Viet Cong than I can recall from any prestige film of the era) but definitely a cut above the b-movie shoot em up it appears to be.

RIP Harry The Hat Anderson

Huge Night Court fan... By far it’s the most I ever paid for a TV series, but I had to have it.

Grew up with Night Court and Dave's World, RIP

Choi Eun-hee, the South Korean actress allegedly kidnapped by North Korea and forced to make films there.

thirtyframesasecond wrote:I didn't even remember him Seven. Does he say the line "what is your major malfunction John Doe?"

He auditioned as John Doe, and was quite chilling according to David Fincher.

Murdoch wrote:His gruff persona actually worked just as well seriously as it did in parody.

The best use of it was in his Simpsons episode as Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap.

Barbara Bush
Carl Kasell

I got used to hearing Carl Kasell all the time because my father is an NPR fanatic. I'll certainly miss his voice as he was the part of many a car trip for me growing up.

Love Wait, Wait... such a smooth voice.

Genuinely shocked at that, which I don't usually say for every 82-year old. In recent years, he appeared more lucid and healthy than some men half his age.

Apparently he had been ill for the past 2 months. I'm shocked too as he was lucid, healthy and still doing thing with WWE for the network. Sad day for the business indeed.

UK gameshow host (of Supermarket Sweep) Dale Winton at 62. A Criterion connection here is that his mother, Sheree Winton, appeared as a nurse and first victim of the monstrous mutated spaceman in First Man Into Space.

colinr0380 wrote:UK gameshow host (of Supermarket Sweep) Dale Winton at 62. A Criterion connection here is that his mother, Sheree Winton, appeared as a nurse and first victim of the monstrous mutated spaceman in First Man Into Space.

Let's not forget that he actually appears in Trainspotting (which Criterion originally issued on LaserDisc) as himself (asking game-show-like questions regarding HIV infection!) during Renton's cold-turkey-induced nightmare sequence!

I had forgotten about that Mr Deltoid! That reminds me that Ewan McGregor's character in one scene of Shallow Grave is also shown watching the Lose a Million gameshow (presented by Chris Tarrant with Honor Blackman voiceover). It seems that Danny Boyle had a thing for rather cheesy gameshows and their hosts even before Slumdog Millionaire fully expressed that interest!

CSM126 wrote:Another classic wrestling star: “Number One” Paul Jones.

Lots of fun when he teamed with Wahoo McDaniel. His subsequent betrayal of tag team partner Rickey Steamboat after a battle royal was my introduction to the venerable concept of a heel turn.

Avicii, at just 28