“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Passing of Jaws…
Manny P. here…
Richard Kiel was a tall thespian, best remembered for his roles in Wild Wild West, and as Jaws (below) in the James Bond series of motion pictures, including The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker. He was also well known as Mr. Larson in the 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore.
The 7+ foot actor made his acting debut in television Westerns, such as Laramie and The Rifleman. His first familiar performance was as the extraterrestrial Kanamit (right) in the To Serve Man episode of The Twilight Zone. Other small screen appearances included Honey West, My Mother the Car, The Monkees, I Dream of Jeannie, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Gilligan’s Island, Daniel Boone, Starsky and Hutch, The Greatest American Hero, Simon & Simon, and The Incredible Hulk.
He was comfortable in motion pictures — in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, House of the Damned, The Nutty Professor, The Longest Yard, Silver Streak, Force 10 From Navarone, Cannonball Run II, and Pale Rider. But, Richard was so popular as a villain in James Bond flicks, he reprised his role in Inspector Gadget two decade later. His voice and likeness were also captured for the 007-related video games. His last assignment was in the animated Disney feature, Tangled.
Kiel co-authored a biography of the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay called Kentucky Lion. He was also a born-again Christian. His religious conversion helped him to overcome alcoholism.
Richard Kiel was 74.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2014 at 12:03 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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