Lock Martin

Lock Martin (February 22, 1916 - January 19, 1959) was the stage name of American actor Joseph Lockard Martin Jr. He was from Pennsylvania and had a series of odd jobs before going into acting. He was reportedly 7 foot 7 inches (about 231 cm) tall. If true, this makes him one of the tallest actors in history. Martin is most remembered today for playing Gort in "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Although this was not his first acting job, he was working as a doorman at Grauman's Chinese Theater when he was hired for the role of Gort. He was also in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" as a giant, but his scenes were deleted. Martin was married to Ethel Babcock.

Trivia

Lock Martin's unusual height did not translate into strength and he had difficulty with managing his robot suit in "The Day the Earth Stood Still". For scenes where he was intended to physically lift Patricia Neal, she was either held by wires or replaced with a lightweight dummy.

Martin had a twin brother who died at birth. He was nicknamed "the Gentle Giant" as he liked reading stories to children and for a time had a local show devoted to that.

External links

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