Richard Dawson Kiel (born September 13, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan) 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 stands at a towering height of 7 feet 1.5 inches (2.18 m).
Kiel 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.
Kiel broke into films in the early 1960s with the B-movie Eegah (1962). Eegah was later featured on the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. He also portrayed:
Kiel also co-wrote, produced, and starred in the family friendly movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain.
He was the original choice to play the title character in the 1977 TV series The Incredible Hulk. He 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. 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.
He reprised his role of Jaws with voice and likeness in the 2004 game Everything or Nothing.
Kiel's distinctive height and features are a result of a hormonal condition known as acromegaly. Kiel stands 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 and 2 inches (218.44 cm) because it was easier to remember.
In 1992, Kiel suffered a severe head injury in a car accident which has affected his balance. He was, from then on, 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's also been seen using a scooter or wheelchair, e.g. in Welcome to Sweden. He is largely retired from the movie business.
He recently co-authored a biography on the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay called Kentucky Lion.
