R.I.P. Richard Kiel 1939-2014

Actor Richard Kiel has died at the age of 74. The 7'2 tall, Detroit-born actor had been admitted to a hospital in Fresno after breaking his leg last week.
Kiel starred in numerous films and TV shows over the years including "Happy Gilmore," "Tangled," "Force 10 from Navarone," "The Longest Yard," "Palerider," "The Cannonball Run 2," "The Twilight Zone," "I Dream of Jeanie," "I Spy," "Daniel Boone," "Simon and Simon" and many more.

I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Kiel at the Alamo Drafthouse for a screening last year and was part of a Q&A session that last over an hour.  He told some great stores that I will get into more below and yours truly got to ask him about working with Clint Eastwood on “Palerider”.  He said Clint was the best business man in Hollywood.
 He then told a story of how Clint rented Condos for the cast and crew on location and that Kiel had family coming up to visit so he asked Clint if there were extra rooms available.  Clint said sure there was rooms and asked when they were coming.  Filming went on and Kiel said his family arrived and they all were all hanging out in the condo one night when someone knocked on the door.  He answered the door and it was Clint coming by to visit his family.  Clint walked in and went up to each one of his family members and introduced himself, Kiel was laughing and said “Yeah, like nobody knows who he was.”

At one point he and Arnold Schwarzenegger were the original choices to play the title character in the 1977 TV series "The Incredible Hulk". Kiel was cast and shot the pilot, but was ultimately replaced by Lou Ferrigno. 
When Kiel retold this story at the Alamo last year he went into great detail about how filming was miserable for him.  He is blind in one eye and had to wear contacts so seeing anything was difficult and when shooting was done for the day an assistant helped him remove the contacts and that was it.  He was left standing with all the green paint on and had to drive home looking like the Hulk minus the wig.  Man that would be a great picture.  He said his car interior turned green, his shower turned green, everything was green.  He was really torn as filming went on because he hated it but cast and crew were really excited and hard working because they wanted the pilot to be picked up as a series.  Luckily he was eventually called into the producer’s office and was told they wanted to go in another direction and get a body builder.  He said was elated especially when he found out he was still getting paid the full amount.  The producer told him he owed him one but was free to go look for other jobs right now.  The next job tuned out to be a pretty good one.   

It is one role in two films that Kiel will always be remembered for - the iconic steel-toothed henchman Jaws in the Roger Moore-era of the James Bond film series.
Kiel first played the role in 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me," still considered one of the best films in the long-running franchise. Originally he was to be killed off, but proved so popular in test screenings he survived and reprised the role two years later in the far less well-regarded "Moonraker".  Plans to have him return in the next film, "For Your Eyes Only," as he and his girlfriend from the previous movie were to be married at the beginning of the movie were dropped because “For Your Eyes Only” was getting a more serious tone to it.
Kiel suffered a bad head injury in 1992 in a car accident, which affected his balance. He was subsequently forced to walk with a cane to support himself and was riding a motorized cart when I saw him.  Here’s to you Richard Kiel.