Richard Kiel, a giant of a man at 7'2, and known actor with notable roles, died three days ago at a hospital in Fresno, California.
Kiel was known for several movie roles, most famously as "Jaws" in the James Bond movies (the ones with Pierce Brosnan). The most memorable thing about that character was his famous steel teeth, although in real life, Kiel said that the silver teeth were very uncomfortable, and he could only wear them for a couple of minutes at a time.
He almost rejected the role, thinking it was just going to be another mindless role, where he was portrayed as a monster because of his size. But he rethought his doubts:
“It was almost like I don’t think I really want to do this, but there’s like a little voice in my head saying, ‘Richard, this is a James Bond movie. Just make the best of it.'”
Eventually, of course, Kiel played the role, and it is this that he is best remembered for now.
Richard Kiel also had a famous role in Happy Gilmore, and was perhaps famous for a role that he did not actually wind up taking - as the Incredible Hulk in the television series of the late 70's and early 80's. Apparently, he was actually a bit relieved that he did not get the role as the Hulk.
Kiel was 74.
I got the quote used in this blog entry, as well as much of the information used to complete it, from the following article:
Richard Kiel, best remembered as the James Bond villain Jaws, dies at 74 by Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post, September 11, 2014:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/richard-kiel-best-remembered-as-the-james-bond-villian-jaws-dies-at-74/2014/09/11/ce4ba294-39bc-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html?wprss=rss_local
Also, I thought that this was an interesting link, about the time when he was considered for the role of The Incredible Hulk for the television series, and how he felt about not getting it:
http://incrediblehulkdiscussionboard.yuku.com/reply/18711/t/Re-Richard-Kiel-The-First-Hulk.html#.VBKBo6PD8dU
No comments:
Post a Comment