Jaws (Richard Kiel)

Datastream Actor: Richard Kiel Character: Jaws Movie: The Spy Who Loved Me & Moonraker Date of Birth: 13 September 1939 Height: 7' 1.5" Appearance: Tall, muscularly built with a high forehead, rugged chin and dark brown hair and eyes. Distinguishing Feature: Lethal metallic teeth Status: Unknown Organisations & Alliances: Stromberg Laboratories, Karl Stromberg, Sandor, The Drax Corporation, Sir Hugo Drax, James Bond Profile Freelance assassin and strongman, standing at over seven foot and heavier than 300lbs, Jaws makes an incredible ally or an unconquerable foe. His height, weight and shear strength means that he is has survived being thrown from a train, driven from a cliff into the roof of a house, had the remains of a Egyptian temple fall around him and even fallen from a plane without a parachute.

Nevertheless, the giant perpetually keeps up with Bond over the course of two missions. His task on both occasions is to assassinate 007 by any means necessary, and despite the arsenal of his billionaire employers behind him, the heroic MI6 officer often outwits him.

Personality The ultimate brawn for hire, Jaws is arguably the most physically menacing man James Bond has faced off against. Far from the intellectual capacity of his mastermind employers, Jaws barely speaks a word unless completely necessary. He is trained to take orders and carry out his missions unquestionably and without thought for his own life. His metallic teeth come in useful for breaking locks, chains and piercing his victim's arteries.

Jaws has a change of heart when he meets Dolly in Rio. Her simple charm and a convincing word from his archenemy, James Bond, sees Jaws become substantially more placid.

Involvement
The Spy Who Loved Me - On the "Spy Who Loved Me" mission, Jaws and Sandor are tasked to retrieve Stromberg's lost microfilm at any cost. Anyone who came into contact with the highly prized secret was doomed. 007 and Agent XXX are assigned to retrieve the microfilm for England and Russia respectively and the pair face off against the manic killer at a lonely Egyptian temple. Later, they are chased by Jaws and his goons on the winding Sardinian roads but the killer's brute force is no match for the gadget laden Lotus Esprit. Jaws is the last man standing aboard Stromberg's underwater lair as 007 escapes, assuming he's seen the last of the deadly assassin.

Moonraker - On the "Moonraker" affair, Bond and Dr. Holly Goodhead are hounded by Jaws when they agree to work as allies in Rio. A seemingly placid cable car ride turns into a nightmare when Jaws takes over the controller, cuts the cable with his vicious teeth and even pursues them onto the teetering cable car. Amid the cable car wreckage, Jaws is able to save the ditsy blonde Dolly, whom he silently falls in love with. Dolly and Jaws join Drax's super race destined to be saved from annihilation, and confronts 007 once more.

James Bond convinces Jaws that he is not welcome aboard the space satellite with Drax's new race and the giant sides with 007 to topple Hugo Drax and his plan of genocide.

Biography
Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1939, Kiel became a full time actor in 1960 and throughout the decade carved a name for himself in television bit parts. He appeared in a TV pilot based on the comic, "The Phantom" in '61 and had guest roles in "Thriller", "The Rifleman" and "The Twilight Zone". Because of his build and stature Kiel often ended up in unflattering roles in low budget horror films, such as "Eegah" (1962) or "The Human Duplicators" (1965).

In 1964 he appeared in the pilot episode of the soon-to-be hit spy-fi, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", alongside regulars Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. He was uncredited for his bit part but was welcomed back in '65 for the role of Merry in the episode "The Hong Kong Shilling Affair". In 1965 he wrote his first screenplay and the same year landed a semi-regular role in CBS's Robert Conrad starrer "Wild, Wild West." Kiel played the menacing henchman Voltaire. In the early 1970s he earned a regular role on Western-set comedy, "Barbary Coast" where Kiel played in all 13 of the season's episodes alongside William Shatner and Doug McClure. Kiel's role was that of Moose Moran. He also landed a bit part in the successful 1974 comedy, "The Longest Yard" about the former pro American football quarterback, Paul Crewe, as played by Burt Reynolds. He was considered for the title role in a 1977 TV adaptation of comic "The Incredible Hulk". Also auditioning was a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was rejected for his height. Kiel worked on the production and filmed two episodes of the series before the producers decided although Kiel was tall, he was too slight for the role. Despite the loss of the TV title role, Kiel auditioned and won the role of Jaws in 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me". His unique stature and glimmering teeth making him a fan favourite goon from the moment the film hit the cinema. Jaws was so popular with audiences that producers brought him back in "Moonraker". On his second Bond outing the writers made the most of the comic elements to Kiel's silent character and paired him up with Blanche Ravalec who played his unlikely lover, Dolly.

The Bond films threw Kiel into international stardom and even casual viewers came to identify his character as an icon of the Bond franchise. He would work with Burt Reynolds again on the 1984 adventure comedy, "Cannonball Run II" which also had cameo appearances from rat packers Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The original film "Cannonball Run" had starred Roger Moore, but in the follow-up, Reynolds shares the screen with co-star Dom DeLuise.

In 1992 Kiel suffered serious injury in a car crash, effecting his balance. Since then he has limited his on-screen appearances and his last big role was as Mr Larson in 1996's "Happy Gilmore". He has since regularly appeared at fan and signing events across the world and fronted the launch of Swatch's Bond villain watches, along with Mads Mikkelsen. In 2002 he released an autobiography of his career: "Making It Big In Movies" and in 2004 returned to the 'role' of Jaws once more in EA Games' adventure "Everything or Nothing".