“Full Metal Jacket” actor Kevyn Major Howard created Fueled By The Fallen, a foundation that memorialized Marines killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Fueled By The Fallen)

Kevyn Major Howard, who played Rafterman, a Marine and a Stars and Stripes combat photographer in the 1987 film “Full Metal Jacket,” has died at age 69.

The Canadian-born actor had been suffering from respiratory issues and died Friday at a Las Vegas hospital, his family told entertainment site TMZ.

Howard, born in Montreal on Jan. 27, 1956, appeared in numerous films and television shows after moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s, but his role in Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War epic was his most memorable.

In the film, Rafterman and Joker, a combat correspondent played by Matthew Modine, head to the field in search of truth during the Battle of Hue.

The battle, from late January to early March 1968, was a major clash during the Tet Offensive that pitted North Vietnam’s army and its Viet Cong allies against the U.S. Army, Marines and their South Vietnamese allies. The Americans and South Vietnamese recaptured the historic city after bitter, house-to-house fighting.

In a scene midway through “Full Metal Jacket,” another Marine, Cowboy, introduces his squad to Joker and Rafterman with the words: “They’re from Stars and Stripes; they’ll make you famous.”

A Japanese poster for the film "Full Metal Jacket" hangs at Stars and Stripes Pacific's headquarters in Tokyo, Feb. 18, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

Stars and Stripes reviewed the film when it appeared in the Army and Air Force Exchange Service theater circuit in November 1987.

In the movie’s second stanza, the review noted: “Joker and his photographer, Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard) decide to get out on patrol for some ‘trigger time’ during the Tet offensive. Kubrick never intended to tell a structured story, but rather to evoke a time and place. He makes a unique statement in the film. But the viewers will have to decide for themselves what it is.”

Howard’s role in “Full Metal Jacket” gave him a unique introduction to the U.S. Marine Corps, Modine posted Sunday on X.

“This led him on a decades-long journey to be in service of our nation’s bravest,” he wrote. “Thank you for your dedication to others and to America. May all the gods bless you Kevyn. Rest in peace. #SemperFidelis”

Howard, after a visit to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., was moved to create Fueled By The Fallen, a foundation that memorialized Marines killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan, the foundation wrote Saturday on its Facebook page.

“He returned to the base with his vintage muscle car emblazoned with each of those names,” the post said. “After the moving reaction he received, he began his foundation, Fueled By The Fallen, and built cars for the Army, Navy and Air Force.”

The foundation also created police cars bearing the names of officers killed in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001, according to the post.

“During his career Kevyn starred opposite many of Hollywood’s best actors, including Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Frank Sinatra, James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Don Johnson, and Matthew Modine,” the foundation wrote.

In addition to acting, Howard became a leading photographer nicknamed “King of the Hollywood Headshot,” according to the post.

Howard is survived by his wife, Tiffanie; stepdaughter, Kayla; sister, Kim; and brother, Kelsey, according to the foundation.