Richard Kiel

Richard Kiel
Kiel with Jon Provost in Lassie's Great Adventure, 1965
Born	Richard Dawson Kiel[1] (1939-09-13)September 13, 1939[2] Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	September 10, 2014(2014-09-10) (aged 74) Fresno, California, U.S.
Resting place	Belmont Memorial Park, Fresno, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, voice artist
Years active	1960–2014
Notable credit(s)	Jaws in the James Bond films
Height	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Spouse(s)	Faye Daniels (m. 1960; div. 1973) Diane Rogers (m. 1974)
Children	4

Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor and voice artist, best known for his role as Jaws in the James Bond franchise, portraying the character in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979); he lampooned the role with a tongue-in-cheek cameo in Inspector Gadget (1999). His next-most recognized role is the tough, but eloquent Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore (1996). Other notable films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Pale Rider (1985) and Tangled (2010).

In television, Kiel portrayed the Kanamit alien in the now-classic The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" (1962) and Dr. Miguelito Loveless' assistant, Voltaire, in first-season episodes of The Wild Wild West (1965-1966).

Personal life

Kiel at the 2004 Collectormania

Kiel was born in Detroit, Michigan. His height and features were a result of the hormonal condition of acromegaly.^[3] In his prime, Kiel was 7 ft 1 ¹⁄₂ in (217 cm) tall. He noted in his 2002 autobiography Making It Big in the Movies that he used to state that he was 7 ft 2 in (218 cm), because it was easier to remember. He suffered from acrophobia (fear of heights), 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 over 2,000 feet (610 m) above the ground.

In 1992, Kiel suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, which affected his balance. He was subsequently forced to walk with a cane to support himself (as shown in his appearance in Happy Gilmore, where he is seen leaning on a person or a cane). Later, Kiel used a scooter or wheelchair.

After his first marriage ended in divorce, Kiel was married to Diane Rogers for 40 years,^[2] and at the time of his death, had four children, and nine grandchildren. He co-authored a biography of the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay called Kentucky Lion. Kiel was also a born-again Christian. His website states that his religious conversion helped him to overcome alcoholism.^[4]

Career

Kiel with professional wrestler Tenille Dashwood in June 2014

Kiel made his acting debut in the Laramie episode "Street of Hate". He also acted in an unaired TV pilot featuring Lee Falk's superhero The Phantom, where Kiel portrayed an assassin called Big Mike.

Before film and television, Kiel worked in numerous jobs, including a nightclub bouncer and a cemetery plot salesman.^[5]

Kiel broke into films in the early 1960s with Eegah (1962), which was later featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre and Mystery Science Theater 3000, as were The Phantom Planet and The Human Duplicators. He also produced, co-wrote, and starred in The Giant of Thunder Mountain. Kiel 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 the episode "The Night of the Simian Terror" as Dimas, 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. In 1961, Kiel had a cameo role in an episode of The Rifleman and also portrayed a towering space alien in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled "To Serve Man."

From 1963 to 1965, Kiel worked as a night school math instructor in Burbank, California.^[6]

In the Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Vulcan Affair", Kiel appeared as a guard in Vulcan's plant, and he portrayed Merry in "The Hong Kong Shilling Affair". In 1967 he played a monster in an episode of The Monkees ("I was a Teenage Monster").

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kiel were the original choices to portray the title character in The Incredible Hulk. Schwarzenegger was turned down due to his height. Kiel participated in the filming of the 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,^[5] Kiel, who saw 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, except one scene where the Hulk saves the little girl from drowning; the scenes were then reshot with Lou Ferrigno.

He appeared on many other television episodes, such as Laramie, I Dream of Jeannie, Honey West, Gilligan's Island, The Monkees, Daniel Boone, Emergency!, Starsky & Hutch, Land of the Lost, The Fall Guy, and Simon & Simon, and "Kolchak: The Night Stalker".

The James Bond-film producers spotted Kiel in Barbary Coast, and thought he was ideal for the role of Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). He was one of the few Bond-villains to appear in two Bond-films, later appearing in Moonraker (1979). He reprised his role of Jaws in the video game called James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, supplying his voice and likeness. Prior to becoming Jaws, Kiel gave a similarly menacing performance as another metal-toothed villain, Reace, in Silver Streak (1976).

While Kiel's roles as Jaws and Reace offered him little dialogue, his role in Happy Gilmore (1996) was quite the opposite. As Mr. Larson, Happy Gilmore's former employer, Kiel exchanges several one-liners with both Adam Sandler's Happy and Christopher McDonald's Shooter. Kiel took a quieter profile after Happy Gilmore's release, but left semi-retirement to record a role for Tangled (2010). In the acclaimed animated Disney film, he portrayed Vlad, a surprisingly soft-hearted thug who collects ceramic unicorns.

Kiel's IMDb page indicates that he filmed a role for Gary T. Smith's indie film The Engagement Ring, although no production update has occurred since Kiel's passing.

Death

On September 10, 2014, three days short of his 75th birthday, Kiel died at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, California, of a heart attack, possibly caused by coronary artery disease.^[1][7]

Filmography

Kiel as Eegah (1962)

Television

Kiel as Ali with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman in I Dream of Jeannie, 1965

Kiel as Voltaire with Michael Dunn in The Wild Wild West, 1966

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Klondike	Duff Brannigan	Episode: "Bare Knuckles"
1961	Laramie	Rake - Tolan's helper (uncredited)	Episode: "Run of the Hunted"
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 Death"
1966	Gilligan's Island	Ghost	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	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	Episode: "The Spanish Moss Murders"
1975	Switch	Unknown role	Episode: "Death Heist"
1976	Starsky & Hutch	Iggy	Episode: "Omaha Tiger"
1975 – 1976	Barbary Coast	Moose Moran	14 episodes, 1975–1976
1977	Land of the Lost	Malak	Episodes: "Survival Kit" "Flying Dutchman"
1977	The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries	Manager	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	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: "Fangs for the Memories"

See also

• John Aasen
• Ted Cassidy
• William Engesser
• Neil Fingleton
• André the Giant
• The Great Khali
• Rondo Hatton
• Henry Hite
• Lock Martin
• Carel Struycken

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Kiel.

• Richard Kiel on IMDb
• Richard Kiel at Find a Grave