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Towering 7` 2` tall actor who has cornered the market on playing giants, intimidating henchman, bayou swamp monsters and steel toothed villains! Kiel worked in numerous jobs including as a night club bouncer and a cemetery plot salesman, before breaking into film & TV in several minor roles in the late 1950s / early 1960s. Noted amongst these was the alien `Kanamit` in the classic `The Twilight Zone` (1959) episode `To Serve Man`, and terrorizing Arch Hall Jr. while clad in a loincloth in the prehistoric caveman meets virile teenage drama Eegah (1962).
Kiel turned up in two episodes of the classic horror TV series `Kolchak: The Night Stalker` (1974). On one occasion playing a Native American evil spirit with the ability to transform into various animals. On his second appearance, Kiel was unrecognizable as a Spanish moss covered, Louisiana swamp monster bought to life by a patient involved in deep sleep therapy.
However, his biggest break came in 1977 when he was cast as the unstoppable, steel toothed henchman `Jaws` in the finest Roger Moore film of the Bond series The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Such was Kiel`s popularity with movie audiences, that his character was brought back for the next Bond outing Moonraker (1979). However, audiences were quite split on opinions when Kiel`s `Jaws` character changes sides near the film`s conclusion and assists 007, Roger Moore, in saving the Earth.
Over the next few years, Kiel appeared in relatively non-demanding comedy or fantasy type films taking advantage of his physical stature and presence. Kiel then decided to try his hand behind the camera and co-wrote and produced, plus took the lead role, in the well received family movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1991). Demand for Kiel`s unique attributes dropped very sharply in the 1990`s, leading to only a handful of roles including reprising his `Jaws` character in the Matthew Broderick film Inspector Gadget (1999). In 2002, Kiel penned his informative autobiography entitled `Making it BIG in the movies`.
Biography Credit: www.imdb.com/name/nm0001423/bio
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