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Bond villain Jaws dead at 74

Written by . Published: September 11 2014

Iconic James Bond villain Richard Kiel has died.

The menacing star, who portrayed Jaws opposite Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker passed away on Wednesday (10Sep14), aged 74.



The actor, who also appeared in Adam Sandler's comedy Happy Gilmore, Cannonball Run II and Tangled, was admitted to a hospital in Fresno, California last week (ends05Sep14) with a broken leg, according to TMZ.com. It is not known if the injury is connected to his death.


Kiel worked as a club bouncer and a cemetery plot salesman before breaking into TV in the early 1960s, appearing in classic Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man, Klondike and Laramie.


He landed his first movie role in 1961's The Phantom Planet and went on to play the titular caveman in Eegah a year later and The Giant in House of the Damned. Kiel also portrayed Chinook Pete in episodes of Lassie and the 1963 movie Lassie's Great Adventure.


Throughout the late 1960s he also appeared in episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Jeannie, I Spy and The Monkees, before landing a string of movie roles in the 1970s. These included Flash and the Firecat, The Longest Yard, Deadhead Miles and A Man Called Dagger.


But he really made his mark when he terrified 007 fans in 1977 as steel-toothed killer Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me. He was such a hit with Bond devotees that he reprised the villain in 1979's Moonraker. He revisited the character in the 1999 film Inspector Gadget and again for the 2003 video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing.


Kiel also wrote, produced and starred in acclaimed 1991 film The Giant of Thunder Mountain and became a cult comedy figure when he portrayed mean Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore.


His autobiography is titled Making it BIG in the movies.

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