- Richard Kiel
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Richard Kiel 
Richard Kiel, February 2004Born Richard Dawson Kiel
September 13, 1939
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.Occupation Actor Years active 1960–present Height 7 ft 1.5 in (2.17 m) Spouse Diane Rogers (1974-present) Richard Dawson Kiel (born 1939)[1] is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore. He was 7 feet 1.5 inches (2.18 m) tall in his prime but now due to injury and age, he is slightly under 7 feet (2.13 m) tall.
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Life and career
Kiel was born in Detroit, Michigan. He made his acting debut in a 1960 Laramie episode called "Street of Hate." He also acted in an unaired TV-pilot featuring Lee Falk's superhero The Phantom, where Kiel played an assassin called "Big Mike", who was hired to kill the title hero. He also has a son named Bennett Kiel and a grandson that goes by Bennett Kiel as well.
Kiel broke into films in the early 1960s with the B-movie Eegah (1962), which was later featured on the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, as were The Phantom Planet and The Human Duplicators. He also co-wrote, produced, and starred in the family-friendly movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain. Kiel also appeared as the towering — and lethal — assistant Voltaire to Dr. Miguelito Loveless in first season episodes of The Wild, Wild West. He later appeared in another role, in the episode "The Night of the Simian Terror", as the outcast son of a wealthy family, banished because of birth defects that distorted his body and apparently affected his mind. This episode is significant because it allowed Kiel the opportunity to really act, rather than just look intimidating.
He and Arnold Schwarzenegger were the original choices to play the title character in the 1977 TV series The Incredible Hulk. Schwarzenegger was turned down due to his height. Kiel participated in the filming of the TV movie pilot. During the shoot, producers decided their Hulk needed to be muscular rather than just towering, and Kiel was dismissed because he possessed more body fat than the producers deemed necessary. According to a Den of Geek interview,[2] Kiel, who sees properly out of only one eye, also reacted badly to the contact lenses used for the role, and found the green makeup difficult to remove, so he did not mind losing the part. All recognizable footage of Kiel was cut; the scenes were then reshot with Lou Ferrigno.
He is well known in the UK for his appearance in a commercial for Shredded Wheat (1980), which can be seen on YouTube.[3]
He reprised his role of Jaws in the 2004 game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, supplying his voice and likeness.
Other
Before breaking into film & TV Kiel worked in numerous jobs including a night club bouncer and a cemetery plot salesman.[4]
Kiel's distinctive height and features are a result of a hormonal condition known as acromegaly. In his prime, Kiel stood 7 feet 1.5 inches (217 cm) tall. He notes in his 2002 autobiography, Making It Big in the Movies (ISBN 1-903111-31-5), that he used to state that he was 7 feet 2 inches (218.44 cm) because it was easier to remember. He suffers from acrophobia, and during the cable car stunt scenes in Moonraker, a stunt double was used because Kiel refused to be filmed on the top of a cable car at over 2000 feet high.
In 1992, Kiel suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, which has affected his balance. He has since been forced to walk with a cane to support himself (as shown in his appearance in the movie Happy Gilmore, where he is seen leaning on a person or a cane). He has also been seen using a scooter or wheelchair in Welcome to Sweden. He is largely retired from the movie business.
He recently co-authored a biography of the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay called Kentucky Lion.
He is also a born-again Christian. His website states that his religious conversion helped him overcome alcoholism.[5]
Kiel now lives in Coarsegold, California.
Filmography
Games
- James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (video game, 2004) – Jaws (voice)
Television
Year Title Role Notes 1960 Laramie unknown role episode Street of Hate 1960 Klondike Duff Brannigan episode Bare Knuckles 1961 The Phantom Big Mike 1961 Thriller Master Styx episode Well of Doom 1961 The Rifleman Carl Hazlitt episode The Decision 1962 The Twilight Zone Kanamit episode To Serve Man 1964 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. henchman for Mr. Vulcan episode The Vulcan Affair, uncredited 1965 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Merry episode The Hong Kong Shilling Affair 1965 I Dream of Jeannie Ali episode My Hero 1966 Honey West Groalgo episode King of the Mountain 1966 My Mother the Car Cracks episode A Riddler on the Roof 1966 The Wild Wild West Voltaire episodes The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth,
1965; The Night That Terror Stalked the Town,
1965; The Night of the Whirring Death1966 Gilligan's Island Spook episode Ghost-a-Go-Go 1967 The Monkees Monster episode I Was a Teenage Monster 1967 The Monroes Casmir episode Ghosts of Paradox 1968 I Spy Tiny episode A Few Miles West of Nowhere 1968 The Wild Wild West Dimas episode The Night of the Simian Terror 1968 Skidoo Beany 1968 It Takes a Thief Willie Trion episode The Galloping Skin Game 1969 Daniel Boone Le Mouche episode Benvenuto...Who? 1970 Disneyland Luke Brown episode The Boy Who Stole the Elephant: Part 1 & 2 1974 Kolchak: The Night Stalker The Diablero episode Bad Medicine 1974 Emergency! Carlo episode I'll Fix It 1974 Kolchak: The Night Stalker Peremalfait, the swamp monster episode The Spanish Moss Murders 1975 Switch unknown role episode Death Heist 1976 Starsky and Hutch Iggy episode Omaha Tiger 1975 –
1976Barbary Coast Moose Moran unknown episode, 1975–1976 1977 Land of the Lost Malak Third Season – "Survival Kit", "Flying Dutchman" 1977 The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Manager – 'Haunted House' episode The Mystery of the Haunted House 1977 Young Dan'l Boone unknown role episode The Game 1981 The Fall Guy Animal episode That's Right, We're Bad 1983 The Greatest American Hero mutant episode Heaven Is In Your Genes 1983 Simon & Simon Mark Horton episode The Skeleton Who Came Out of the Closet 1988 Out of This World Norman episode Go West, Young Mayor 1989 Superboy Vlkabok episode Mr. and Mrs. Superboy 2000 Bloodhounds Inc. Mortimer episode #5: Fangs for the Memories Films
Year Title Role Notes 1961 The Phantom Planet The Solarite 1962 The Magic Sword Pinhead uncredited 1962 Eegah! Eegah 1963 30 Minutes at Gunsight uncredited 1963 House of the Damned The giant 1963 The Nutty Professor Bodybuilder #1 uncredited 1964 Roustabout Strong man uncredited 1964 The Nasty Rabbit ranch foreman uncredited 1965 Two on a Guillotine Tall man at funeral 1965 The Human Duplicators Dr. Kolos 1965 Brainstorm Psychiatric hospital patient uncredited 1965 Lassie's Great Adventure Chinook Pete 1966 The Las Vegas Hillbillies unknown role 1967 A Man Called Dagger Otto 1968 Now You See It, Now You Don't Nori 1970 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever Blacksmith uncredited 1972 Deadhead Miles unknown role 1974 The Longest Yard Samson 1975 Barbary Coast Moose Moran 1976 Flash and the Firecat Tracker 1976 Gus Large man 1976 Silver Streak Reace 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me Jaws 1977 The Incredible Hulk (TV series) The Hulk one scene 1978 Force 10 from Navarone Capt. Drazak 1978 They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way Duke 1979 L'Umanoide (The Humanoid) Golob 1979 Moonraker Jaws 1981 So Fine Eddie 1983 Hysterical Captain Howdy 1983 Phoenix Steel Hand 1984 Cannonball Run II Arnold, Mitsubishi driver 1984 Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street Big G 1985 Qing bao long hu men Laszlo 1985 Pale Rider Club 1989 The Princess and the Dwarf unknown role 1990 Think Big Irving 1991 The Giant of Thunder Mountain Eli Weaver 1996 Happy Gilmore Mr. Larson 1999 Inspector Gadget Jaws, Famous Guy with Metal Teeth 2009 The Awakened Jasper 2010 The Corpse of Albert Cradette Albert Cradette 2010 Tangled Vladamir Voice work See also
References
- ^ Peary, Danny (1991). Cult movie stars. Simon & Schuster. p. 291. ISBN 0671749242. http://books.google.ca/books?id=KHhZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Richard+Kiel%22+1939&dq=%22Richard+Kiel%22+1939.
- ^ "The Den of Geek interview: Richard Kiel". Den of Geek. 2009-01-06. http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/181447/the_den_of_geek_interview_richard_kiel.html. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
- ^ Shredded Wheat with James Bond Jaws on YouTube accessed 2010-08-16
- ^ "The Den of Geek interview: Richard Kiel". Den of Geek. 2009-01-06. http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/181447/the_den_of_geek_interview_richard_kiel.html. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- ^ callus.com. "Richard Kiel Fan Club". Richardkiel.com. http://www.richardkiel.com/testimony.html. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
External links
- Richard Kiel at the Internet Movie Database
- The Official Richard Kiel Fan Club
- Den of Geek interview, January 2009
Categories:- Living people
- Actors from Michigan
- American film actors
- American voice actors
- People from Detroit, Michigan
- People with acromegaly
- People self-identifying as alcoholics
- 1939 births
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