24 Facts About Richard Kiel

Richard Kiel was born on September 13,1939, in Detroit, Michigan.

Richard Kiel's extraordinary height was a result of gigantism, a condition caused by an excess of human growth hormone.

When he was 9 years old, his family moved to Los Angeles County, California, where Richard Kiel graduated from Baldwin Park High School.

From 1963 to 1965, Kiel worked as a night-school mathematics instructor at the William B Ogden Radio Operational School in Burbank, California.

Richard Kiel's career included movies, television guest starring, and co-authoring books.

Richard Kiel appeared in many television shows throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, including the famous 1962 Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man", where he portrayed the 9-foot tall Kanamit aliens.

Richard Kiel appeared as Voltaire, the towering mute-but-lethal assistant to Dr Miguelito Loveless in three first-season episodes of The Wild Wild West.

Richard Kiel later appeared in an episode of The Wild Wild West, titled "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.

Richard Kiel later said he did not mind losing the part, because he could only see out of one eye.

Richard Kiel reacted badly to the contact lenses he had to wear for the role.

Richard Kiel found the green makeup unpleasant and difficult to remove.

Richard Kiel broke into films in the early 1960s with Eegah, which was later featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre and Mystery Science Theater 3000, as were The Phantom Planet and The Human Duplicators.

Richard Kiel produced, co-wrote, and starred in The Giant of Thunder Mountain.

Richard Kiel had a brief non-speaking appearance leaving a gym in the Jerry Lewis movie The Nutty Professor.

Richard Kiel was often shot with his mouth closed or briefly showing his dangerous smile as he admitted the mouthpiece to simulate the metal teeth was extremely painful to wear and could only be used for a few minutes on every take.

Richard Kiel reprised his role of Jaws in the video game called James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, supplying his voice and likeness.

Richard Kiel used his size for comedic effect, as the "best-dressed giant" Mr Eddie, in So Fine with Ryan O'Neal.

The Spy Who Loved Me was the first of three films that Richard Kiel appeared in alongside Barbara Bach in the late 1970s.

Richard Kiel took a quieter profile after Happy Gilmores release, but left semi-retirement to record a role for Tangled.

In 1992, Richard Kiel suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, which affected his balance.

Later in life, Richard Kiel utilized a scooter or wheelchair for mobility.

Richard Kiel co-authored a biography of the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay titled Kentucky Lion.

In 2002, Richard Kiel published his autobiography, Making It Big in the Movies.

On September 10,2014, three days before his 75th birthday, Richard Kiel died at St Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, California, from heart disease.