The world according to Dan.

‘Austin Powers’ Actor Verne Troyer Dies at 49

“It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today,” a statement on the actor’s official Facebook page reads.

Verne Troyer, an actor best known for playing Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series, has died at age 49, according to a statement on the actor’s official Facebook page.

“It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today,” the statement reads. “Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the platform he had and worked towards spreading that message everyday.”

The statement makes sweeping statements about depression and suicide. “Verne was also a fighter when it came to his own battles. Over the years he’s struggled and won, struggled and won, struggled and fought some more, but unfortunately this time was too much,” it says. “Depression and Suicide are very serious issues. You never know what kind of battle someone is going through inside. Be kind to one another. And always know, it’s never too late to reach out to someone for help.”

No cause of death was immediately given. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Troyer’s representatives.

In a statement given to THR, his Austin Powers co-star Mike Myers said, “Verne was the consummate professional and a beacon of positivity for those of us who had the honor of working with him. It is a sad day, but I hope he is in a better place. He will be greatly missed.”

Myers and Troyer’s director in Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Jay Roach, also honored the late star in a statement given to THR: “Verne was an amazing guy, a joyful collaborator, and a true master of comedic acting, a director’s dream. We found ourselves cutting to his silent performances constantly to levitate the scenes. An excellent dancer too! He elevated the character that Mike Meyers and Michael McCullers wrote and helped turn Mini-Me into an unforgettable, iconic character, known and referenced around the world. I feel lucky I got to know him and work with him. So sad for him and his family, but also celebrating the joy Verne brought us all.”

Troyer grew up in an Amish community in Michigan and rose to fame as a result of his role as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series. Following his Austin Powers debut in 1999’s The Spy Who Shagged Me, he played Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Coach Punch Cherkov in The Love Guru. He also had guest spots on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Scrubs, Two and a Half Men and Boston Public. He also memorably appeared as Mini-Me in the music video for Ludacris’ “Number One Spot” from the 2004 album The Red Light District.

In a 2016 story for THR, Troyer spoke about the difficulties of being an actor who was short in stature; at two foot eight, he held the record for being the shortest actor.

“I was once offered a superhero role — it’s almost too stupid to talk about — where when I came out to save lives, it was from under Abraham Lincoln’s hat. It was like, ‘I don’t care how desperate I am. I’m not doing that,’” he said.

Of his role playing a killer gnome in the 2015 horror movie Gnome Alone, he added, “I hadn’t seen a lot of parts come my way, so I decided just to do it.”

The actor vocally battled alcohol addiction, having nearly died in 2002 from alcohol poisoning following a breakup. Footage of drunken antics from a reality show The Surreal Life went viral. “That was a bad period in my life,” Troyer told THR in 2016 of his years spent drinking. “I’ve learned from it, and I move on.”

The actor had suffered some recent health setbacks. In 2017, Troyer announced that he was receiving treatment for alcohol addiction on his Facebook page. “I’ve been receiving treatment for the last week and I am voluntarily checking into a treatment center later this week to continue to get the help that I need,” he wrote. In 2015 the actor suffered a seizure but quickly bounced back, telling fans that he was fine; his manager said he had gone to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

On Saturday several stars penned tributes to the actor upon hearing the news of his death. Music video collaborator Ludacris wrote on Instagram, “R.I.P. Verne Troyer aka Mini Me. You made it to that #1 Spot Glad we got to make history together. #goontosoon #love.”

Actress Marley Matlin tweeted, “So sad to read of the passing of Verne Troyer. A lovely smile with a caring and big heart, he helped raise money on behalf of @starkeycares for free hearing aids for deaf and hard of hearing people. RIP.”

Musician Slash wrote on Instagram, “RIP #VernTroyer you will be missed.” Steve Aoki also shared an emotional post on his Twitter, writing, “Fucking devastated. My brother @vernetroyer I miss u and wish I could been there. I fucking miss u man. Fuck fuck I miss u.”

The statement announcing Troyer’s death asked that readers make a donation to Troyer’s favorite charities, The Starkey Hearing Foundation and Best Buddies, instead of sending flowers.

Investigation says Prince was isolated, addicted and in pain

MINNEAPOLIS — After Prince had to be revived from a drug overdose a week before his death, one friend told the musical superstar that he needed to stop taking painkillers.

But Prince said he couldn’t — his hands hurt so much that if he quit, he’d have to stop performing.

“This piano tour I think was getting to his hands,” singer Judith Hill told investigators, according to a transcript of her interview.

Those words, found amid hundreds of pages of interviews between investigators and Prince’s closest confidants, provide insight into just how much the man known for his energetic performances and larger-than-life personality was suffering. The documents open parts of Prince’s life that the intensely-private celebrity tried to keep from even his closest confidants.

“How did he hide this so well?” Prince’s closest friend and bodyguard Kirk Johnson said in an interview with detectives. While Johnson said he didn’t realize that opioids were a problem until that overdose, he had noticed Prince was unwell before that and took him to a doctor.

In their zeal to protect Prince’s privacy, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said some of the singer’s friends might have enabled him.

Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park studio compound in suburban Minneapolis on April 21, 2016. An autopsy found he died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin.

Authorities say it is likely Prince didn’t know he was taking the dangerous drug, which was laced in counterfeit pills made to look like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin.

The source of those pills is unknown and no one has been charged in Prince’s death.

Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg admitted that he prescribed another drug, oxycodone, under Johnson’s to protect Prince’s privacy, and paid $30,000 to settle allegations the drug was prescribed illegally.

Privacy is a theme in interviews with investigators. Joshua Welton, who co-produced some of Prince’s work, and Hannah Welton, the drummer in the Prince-created band 3rdEyeGirl, said they were like Prince’s family.

Joshua Welton described Prince’s inner circle at the time of his death as “very, very, very, very, very tight” — including Johnson, assistant Meron Bekure and the Weltons. He said he had seen little of Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson, in recent years. “He’s made comments like you guys are more family to me than my blood relatives,” Welton said.

Johnson and Hill were on Prince’s plane when he overdosed on the way back from an April 14, 2016, concert in Atlanta. Hill said that Prince told her he was depressed, enjoyed sleeping more than usual and was incredibly bored. He told her after his show that he thought he was going to fall asleep on stage.

The plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, and after Johnson carried Prince from the plane “like you would carry a little kid or a baby,” paramedics had to use two doses of a medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. When Prince took a large gasp of air and woke up, he looked at Johnson without saying anything and Johnson told paramedics, “Prince feels fine.”

At the hospital, Prince refused medical tests. He told Hill that he had just mixed two pills — that he was a good judge of his body and wouldn’t do it again. But when she told him “no more pills right?” he wouldn’t agree.

“He said something like well then that means I can’t perform because my hands are hurting. My hands hurt,” according to a transcript of her interview with investigators.

Investigative materials released Thursday include several other interviews, documents, photos and videos. There are pictures of pills that were found in various bottles in several different rooms. Authorities have said many of those pills were not in their proper containers, and many were counterfeit.

The documents include interviews with Schulenberg and Prince’s inner circle, including Johnson, who told investigators he had noticed Prince “looking just a little frail,” but said he did not realize he had an opioid addiction until the overdose on the plane. After that, Johnson said he and others reached out to an addiction specialist.

But Johnson had initially contacted Schulenberg, his own doctor, to treat Prince in the fall of 2015. Schulenberg told investigators that Johnson texted him on April 7, 2016, saying Prince was complaining of numbness and tingling in one of his legs and in his hands and had vomited the night before. Schulenberg prescribed some medications under Johnson’s name and gave Prince an IV, according to documents.

Schulenberg asked Prince if he was taking anything for his hands and Prince said yes, but “did not know what it was,” documents show.

Johnson also called Schulenberg on the fateful day of the Atlanta concert before the flight on which Prince overdosed and asked the doctor to give Prince a painkiller. Authorities say Schulenberg did so — under Johnson’s name. Johnson contacted Schulenberg again on April 18, and expressed concern that Prince was struggling with opioids.

Schulenberg last treated Prince the night before he died, conducting a urinalysis that tested positive for opioids. Meanwhile, Johnson and others had reached out to addiction specialist Howard Kornfeld, who dispatched his son to Paisley Park to try to convince Prince to seek treatment.

Andrew Kornfeld showed up the following morning. He was among those who found Prince dead.

Avicii, EDM producer and DJ, dead at 28

Avicii, the Grammy-nominated electronic dance DJ who performed sold-out concerts for feverish fans around the world and also had massive success on U.S. pop radio, died Friday. He was 28.

Publicist Diana Baron said in a statement that the Swedish performer, born Tim Bergling, was found dead in Muscat, Oman.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii,” the statement read.

“The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given.”

No more details about the death were provided. Oman police and state media had no immediate report late Friday night on the artist’s death.

Avicii was an international pop star, performing his well-known electronic dance songs around the world for feverish fans, sometimes hundreds of thousands at the music festivals, where he was the headline act.

His popular sound even sent him to the top of the charts and was heard on U.S. radio: His most recognized song, Wake Me Up, was a multi-platinum success and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. On the dance charts, he had seven Top 10 hits.

In 2016, the performer announced he was retiring from the road, but continued to produce songs and albums.

He was part of the wave of DJ-producers, like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia, who broke out on the scene as lead performers in their own right, earning international hits, fame, awards and more like typical pop stars.

He earned his first Grammy nomination at the 2012 show, for a collaboration with Guetta. It was around that time he gained more fans for the Etta James-sampled dance jam, “Le7els,” which reached No. 1 in Sweden.

Avicii continued to collaborate with more high-profile acts, producing Madonna’s Devil Pray and the Coldplay hits A Sky Full of Stars and Hymn for the Weekend.

All told, he was nominated for two Grammy Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards and one Billboard Music Award.

His death comes just days after he was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for top dance/electronic album for his EP Avicii (01). He was nominated alongside his peers, who have taken EDM mainstream of late — The Chainsmokers, Harris and Kygo.

He is the subject of the 2017 Levan Tsikurishvil documentary Avicii: True Stories.

Avicii built a strong musical and personal friendship with Nile Rodgers, who called Avicii his “little brother” in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

“I’m shocked because I don’t know medically what happened, but I can just say as a person, as a friend, and more importantly, as a musician, Tim was one of the greatest, natural melody writers I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve worked with some of the most brilliant musicians on this planet,” Rodgers said.

Avicii had in the past suffered from acute pancreatitis, in part due to excessive drinking. After having his gallbladder and appendix removed in 2014, he cancelled a series of shows in attempt to recover. He quit touring in 2016, but continued making music in the studio.

“It’s been a very crazy journey,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “I started producing when I was 16. I started touring when I was 18. From that point on, I just jumped into 100 per cent.

“When I look back on my life, I think: ‘Whoa, did I do that?’ It was the best time of my life in a sense. It came with a price — a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety for me — but it was the best journey of my life.”

Rodgers said his last performance with Avicii — about three years ago — upset him because of Avicii’s drinking.

“It was a little bit sad to me because he had promised me he would stop drinking, and when I saw him he was drunk that night. And I was like, ‘Whoa. Dude. C’mon. What are you doing? What’s going on? You said that that was done,”‘ Rodgers recalled. “We did a show and I was a little upset. I didn’t even stick around for his performance because it was breaking my heart. But we still had a great time. It was wonderful — we were that close.”

Last year, Avicii posted this message on his website, promising to keep creating: “The next stage will be all about my love of making music to you guys. It is the beginning of something new.”

Muscat, where Avicii died, is the capital of the sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula and is a popular vacation destination on the Arabian Sea.

Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, who knew Avicii from playing at their wedding, said they were saddened by his death.

“We are grateful that we got to know him and admired him as an artist and the great person he was. He made our wedding unforgettable with his amazing music. Our warmest thoughts go to his family,” they said in a joint statement.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called the lost star “one of Sweden’s biggest musicians.”

Fans, friends and colleagues were shocked at his sudden passing on Friday and quickly began posting tributes online.

“Something really horrible happened. We lost a friend with such a beautiful heart and the world lost an incredibly talented musician,” Guetta wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for your beautiful melodies, the time we shared in the studio, playing together as djs or just enjoying life as friends. RIP Avicii.”

Calvin Harris called Avicii “a beautiful soul, passionate and extremely talented with so much more to do.”

Ellie Goulding wrote that Avicii “inspired so many of us. Wish I could have said that to you in person.”

One Direction’s Liam Payne and Dua Lipa also tweeted about the performer, as did many others in the music industry.

Harry Anderson, ‘Night Court’ Actor, Dead at 65

Harry Anderson, the actor, comedian and magician best known for playing Judge Harry Stone on the sitcom Night Court, died Monday at his home in Asheville, North Carolina. He was 65.

“This morning at 6:41 a.m. the Asheville Police Department responded to the home of actor Harry Anderson where he was found deceased,” the Asheville Police Department confirmed told the Hollywood Reporter. “No foul play is suspected.”

Anderson started his career as a magician before turning to comedy and, eventually, acting. “I started in magic and then I got out on the street and realized I can make more money on the street hustling with the shell game,” Anderson told Johnny Carson in 1988. “So I hustled until I got my jaw broken and then I sat around with my mouth wired shut for six weeks and figured out maybe linking rings were safer. And went back to the magic, and on the street, comedy was a great tool.”

Known for incorporating magic and con artistry into his comedy routines and acting roles – including his numerous appearances on Cheers as “flimflam man” Harry “The Hat” Gittes – Anderson was first introduced to mainstream audiences thanks to his reoccurring guest role on Saturday Night Live in the first half of the Eighties.

Following the success of his Cheers appearances, the actor remained in NBC’s heralded Must See TV block when he was cast as the lead in Night Court, where he played a judge tasked with overhearing the bizarre cases that entered a Manhattan circuit court on the night shift. The series aired for nine seasons, with Anderson earning three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series over Night Court’s run. Rolling Stone readers also named Night Court one of the 10 Best TV Shows of the 1980s.

Actress Markie Post, who played opposite of Anderson for seven seasons, tweeted “I am devastated. I’ll talk about you later, Harry, but for now, I’m devastated.” Fellow Night Court actress Marsha Warfield posted a video remembrance to Anderson on Facebook.

In addition to Night Court, Anderson appeared in the TV miniseries version of Stephen King’s It and starred as columnist Dave Barry in the sitcom Dave’s World, which ran for four seasons. Anderson also made guest appearances on Tales From the Crypt, Comedy Bang! Bang! and The John Larroquette Show, where he reunited with that former Night Court actor. Larroquette tweeted following news of Anderson’s death, “Heartbroken.”

Anderson’s last television appearance was a quasi-Night Court reunion on 30 Rock in 2008.

Judd Apatow tweeted, “I interviewed Harry Anderson when I was 15 years old and he was so kind, and frank and hilarious. The interview is in my book Sick In The Head. He was a one of a kind talent who made millions so happy.”

‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ director Milos Forman dead at 86

Czech filmmaker Milos Forman, whose American movies One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus won a deluge of Academy Awards, including best director Oscars, died Saturday. He was 86.

Forman died about 2 a.m. Saturday at Danbury Hospital, near his home in Warren, Conn., according to a statement released by the former director’s agent, Dennis Aspland. Aspland said Forman’s wife, Martina, notified him of the death.

When Forman arrived in Hollywood in the late 1960s, he was lacking in both money and English skills, but carried a portfolio of Czechoslovakian films much admired internationally for their quirky, lighthearted spirit. Among them were Black Peter, Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman’s Ball.

The orphan of Nazi Holocaust victims, Forman had abandoned his homeland after communist troops invaded in 1968 and crushed a brief period of political and artistic freedom known as the Prague Spring.

In America, his record as a Czech filmmaker was enough to gain him entree to Hollywood’s studios, but his early suggestions for film projects were quickly rejected. Among them were an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel Amerika and a comedy starring entertainer Jimmy Durante as a wealthy bear hunter in Czechoslovakia.

After his first U.S. film, 1971’s Taking Off, flopped, Forman didn’t get a chance to direct a major feature again for five years. He occupied himself during part of that time by covering the decathlon at the 1972 Olympics for the documentary Visions of Eight.

Taking Off, an amusing look at generational differences in a changing America, had won praise from critics who compared it favourably to Forman’s Czech films. But without any big-name stars it quickly tanked at the box office.

Actor Michael Douglas gave Forman a second chance, hiring him to direct One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which Douglas was co-producing.

The 1975 film, based on Ken Kesey’s novel about a misfit who leads mental institution inmates in a revolt against authority, captured every major Oscar at that year’s Academy Awards, the first film to do so since 1934’s It Happened One Night.

The winners included Jack Nicholson as lead actor, Louise Fletcher as lead actress, screenwriters Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben, Forman as director and the film itself for best picture.

The director, who worked meticulously, spending months with screenwriters and overseeing every aspect of production, didn’t release another film until 1979’s Hair.

The musical, about rebellious 1960s-era American youth, appealed to a director who had witnessed his own share of youthful rebellion against communist repression in Czechoslovakia. But by the time it came out, America’s brief period of student revolt had long since faded, and the public wasn’t interested.

Ragtime followed in 1981. The adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel, notable for Forman’s ability to persuade his aging Connecticut neighbour Jimmy Cagney to end 20 years of retirement and play the corrupt police commissioner, also was a disappointment.

Forman returned to top form three years later, however, when he released Amadeus.

Based on Peter Shaffer’s play, it portrayed 18th century musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a foul-mouthed man-child, with lesser composer Salieri as his shadowy nemesis. It captured seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best actor (for F. Murray Abraham as Salieri).

Hunting for locations, Forman realized Prague was the only European capital that had changed little since Mozart’s time, but returning there initially filled him with dread.

His parents had died in a Nazi concentration camp when he was nine. He had been in Paris when the communists crushed the Prague Spring movement in 1968, and he hadn’t bothered to return home, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1975.

The Czech government, realizing the money to be made by letting Amadeus be filmed in Prague, allowed Forman to come home, and the public hailed his return.

“There was an enormous affection for us doing the film,” he remarked in 2002. “The people considered it a victory for me that the authorities had to bow to the almighty dollar and let the traitor back.”

Never prolific, Forman’s output slowed even more after Amadeus, and his three subsequent films were disappointments.

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) was an ill-advised attempt to paint the Hustler magazine publisher as a free-speech advocate.

Man on the Moon, based on the life of cult hero Andy Kaufman, did win its star, Jim Carrey, a Golden Globe. But it also failed to fully convey Kaufman’s pioneering style of offbeat comedy or the reasons for his disdaining success at every turn.

“Another great one passes through the doorway,” tweeted Carrey. “I’m glad we got to play together. It was a monumental experience.”

Larry Karaszewski, who co-wrote Man on the Moon and The People vs Larry Flynt with Scott Alexander, called Forman “our friend and our teacher” on Twitter. “He was a master filmmaker – no one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behaviour.”

Jan Tomas Forman, born in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, was raised by relatives after his parents’ deaths and attended arts school in Prague.

The director’s first marriage, to actress Jana Brejchova ended in divorce. He left his second wife, singer Vera Kresadlova, behind with the couple’s twin sons when he left Czechoslovakia. He married Martina Zborilova in 1999. They also had twin sons.

Huey Lewis ‘can’t hear music well enough to sing,’ cancels 2018 dates

Veteran rocker Huey Lewis has been forced to scrap all remaining dates on his 2018 calendar so he can focus on hearing loss issues.

The Huey Lewis & the News leader has been diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, a chronic condition with symptoms including vertigo and tinnitus, and doctors have urged him to take a break from touring or risk losing his hearing for good.

“Two and a half months ago, just before a show in Dallas, I lost most of my hearing,” he posted on Facebook. “Although I can still hear a little, one on one, and on the phone, I can’t hear music well enough to sing.

“The lower frequencies distort violently making it impossible to find pitch. I’ve been to the House Ear Institute, the Stanford Ear Institute, and the Mayo Clinic, hoping to find an answer. The doctors believe I have Meniere’s disease and have agreed that I can’t perform until I improve.

“Therefore the only prudent thing to do is to cancel all future shows. Needless to say, I feel horrible about this, and wish to sincerely apologize to all the fans who’ve already bought tickets and were planning to come see us. I’m going to concentrate on getting better, and hope that one day soon I’ll be able to perform again.”

Upon hearing the news, Ryan Adams — a fellow Meniere’s sufferer — reached out to Lewis to wish him well in his recovery.

“Good sir, you hang in there,” he tweets. “Menieres is a tough ride at first. It’s confusing & hard to explain to others, as they cannot see it. BUT you will rise above it and be better than ever.”

R. Lee Ermey, Golden Globe Nominee for ‘Full Metal Jacket,’ Dies at 74

The news was announced via his official Twitter account by his longtime manager.
R. Lee Ermey, a Golden Globe-nominated actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, has died.

Ermey, whose nickname was “The Gunny,” died Sunday morning from complications of pneumonia. He was 74.

The news was announced via his official twitter account by his longtime manager, Bill Rogin, who wrote: “It is with deep sadness that I regret to inform you all that R. Lee Ermey (“The Gunny”) passed away this morning from complications of pneumonia. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Semper Fi, Gunny. Godspeed.”

Ermey not only played a member of the military in the movies, but he also was one in real life, having been a U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant. He also served as a drill instructor for the Marines. Ermey also served 14 months in Vietnam and completed two tours in Okinawa, Japan.

Both March 24, 1944, in Emporia, Kan., Ermey’s family moved to Toppenish, Wash., when he was 14. There, he became a “troublemaker and a bit of a hell-raiser,” he told the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s online magazine in September 2010, and he found himself in court multiple times.

“Basically, a silver-haired judge, a kindly old judge, looked down at me and said, ‘This is the second time I’ve seen you up here and it looks like we’re going to have to do something about this,” he told CMP. “He gave me a choice. He said I could either go into the military — any branch I wanted to go to — or he was going to send me where the sun never shines. And I love sunshine, I don’t know about you.”

After retiring from the military with 11 years of service under his belt, Ermey took some acting classes and was cast in one of his first roles, playing a helicopter pilot in 1979’s Apocalypse Now, and also serving as a technical adviser to director Francis Ford Coppola on the film. Another role he landed around that same time also hit close to home, playing a Marine drill instructor in Sidney Furie’s The Boys in Company C.

But it was his role role in Kubrick’s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket that brought him household recognition and critical acclaim; in addition to his Golden Globe nom, he also earned a best supporting actor award from the Boston Society of Film Critics. He’s probably best remembered for the numerous memorable lines he delivered as the no-nonsense sergeant: including: “What is your major malfunction, numbnuts? Didn’t mommy and daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?” and “I want that head so sanitary and squared away that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to go in there and take a dump.”

The story goes that Ermey was originally hired to advise and train the actor who would play the role, but Kubrick was so impressed by what he saw, he offered Ermey the role.

He played a similar character in The Frighteners, which was directed by Peter Jackson and starred Michael J. Fox.

But he has said he’s not really like those characters. “I’m basically a nice person,” he told the Spokesman Review in 2010.

Other films credits include Mississippi Burning, Prefontaine, the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Fletch Lives and Se7en. He also had a healthy voice-over career, playing the lead of the green plastic Army solders in the Toy Story films along with a role in SpongeBob SquarePants, among others, along with voice roles in multiple video games.

Ermy got a chance to showcase his comedy chops in 2001’s Saving Silverman, which he starred in alongside Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black and Amanda Peet.

Ermey also was one of the rare conservatives in more liberal Hollywood. In 2010, he did a commercial for Geico but later said he was fired from that gig after bashing then-President Obama at a Toys 4 Tots benefit. At the time, he said that Obama’s administration was “destroying the country” and “driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us.” He apologized, but two years later, he told TMZ he was fired by Geico over those remarks: “If you’re a conservative in this town, you better watch out.”

As he told the Spokesman Review in his 2010 interview: “I don’t have anything in common with Hollyweird.”

More recently, Ermey hosted Outdoor Channel’s GunnyTime With R. Lee Ermey.