Richard Kiel

Richard Kiel
Information
Born	September 13, 1939, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Died	September 10, 2014, Fresno, California, U.S.A.
Height	2.17 m
Relatives	Diane Rogers (spouse) 1974 - September 10, 2014 (his death, 4 children) Faye Daniels (spouse) 1960 - 1973 (divorced) Richard George Kiel, Christopher Kiel, Jennifer Kiel, Bennett Kiel (children)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor - Jaws
First project	The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
Last project	007 Legends

Richard Dawson Kiel (also known as Richard Kiel) was 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.

Bond Involvement

The Spy Who Loved Me

With the franchise in Broccoli's hands alone the producers of the next movie were thinking big. Then they spotted Kiel in the Barbary Coast series, the team had been inspired by Fleming's character Horror and they thought Kiel's sheer stature was perfect for the role of the henchman Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. The character would perdure in fan's memories for years to come.

Moonraker

When Jaws emerged from the ocean at the end of TSWLM the audiences were cheering in delight in the cinemas. Afterwards the filmmakers began to receive letters from the more younger fans asking them why Jaws could not be a good guy. Then the concept for make Jaws an anti-hero in Moonraker was born.

Inspector Gadget (1999)

A cameo of Kiel in his Jaws outfit, but not expressly stated as such, was seen in the 1999 film Inspector Gadget, where he is seen with a group of noted wrongdoers in a "Bad Guys' Anonymous" meeting. He was credited as "Famous Guy with Big Silver Teeth".

Everything or Nothing

In early 2004 Electronic Arts' video game Everything or Nothing presented an essemble of celebrities and had a script by the veteran screenwriter Bruce Feirstein. Returning along with John Cleese as "Q" were Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, Dame Judi Dench as "M", and Richard Kiel as legendary henchman Jaws (first seen in The Spy Who Loved Me), this was Kiel's third and last official role as Jaws. All cast members ended contributing generously with their likenesses provided thanks to EA's electronic "cyberscanning" process.

Trivia

• Kiel's distinctive height and features were a result of a hormonal condition known as acromegaly. In his prime, Kiel stood 7 feet 1.5 inches (217 cm) tall. He noted 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), simply because it was easier to remember and most registration forms asked for inches in whole numbers instead of fractions. He suffered 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 his later years he co-authored a biography of the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay called "Kentucky Lion". He was also a born-again Christian. He also admitted in his autobiography of his struggles with alcoholism, which had been a stark contrast to the suave, martini drinking image of Bond. Kiel said he had never been much of a drinker as he was mainly focused on getting all bills paid early in his career, which did not leave much left over to be spent on drink. With the royalties that came with the success of his flagship role as Jaws, his financial worries were over, which also afforded him the more expensive alcohol such as liquers and cognacs, and he had descended into alcoholism. Kiel's website stated that his belief in Christianity in his later years helped him overcome alcohol addiction.

External links

• Richard Kiel at IMDb