Richard Kiel
American actor (1939–2014)
Why this is trending
Interest in “Richard Kiel” spiked on Wikipedia on 2026-02-27.
Categorised under Entertainment, this article fits a familiar pattern. Articles in the entertainment category often trend when tied to award ceremonies, film releases, celebrity news, or viral social media moments.
At GlyphSignal we surface these trending signals every day—transforming Wikipedia’s vast pageview data into actionable insights about global curiosity.
Key Takeaways
- Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor.
- 17 m) tall, he was notable for portraying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), and Mr.
- Other notable films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Cannonball Run II (1984), Pale Rider (1985) and Tangled (2010).
- Early life, family and education Kiel was born on September 13, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan.
- When he was nine years old, his family moved to the Greater Los Angeles area, where Kiel graduated from Baldwin Park High School.
Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing 7 feet 1.5 inches (2.17 m) tall, he was notable for portraying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979), and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore (1996). Other notable films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Cannonball Run II (1984), Pale Rider (1985) and Tangled (2010). On television, he portrayed the giant alien in the highly regarded 1962 Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man".
Early life, family and education
Kiel was born on September 13, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan. His extraordinary height was the result of a condition caused by an excess of human growth hormone. When he was nine years old, his family moved to the Greater Los Angeles area, where Kiel graduated from Baldwin Park High School.
Career
Kiel's career included films, television and co-authoring books. However, before this, Kiel worked in several jobs, including as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, a nightclub bouncer, and a cemetery plot salesman. From 1963 to 1965, Kiel worked as a night school mathematics instructor at the William B. Ogden Radio Operational School in Burbank, California.
Content sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0
