Advertisement

James Bond Villain Richard Kiel Dies at 74

image

Richard Kiel, the 7-foot-2 actor who most famously played the villainous Jaws in two James Bond films starring Roger Moore, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, and also appeared in Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore, died Wednesday afternoon in a hospital in Fresno, Calif., three days shy of his 75th birthday.

TMZ first reported the news.

The actor had broken his leg earlier in the week, but it is not clear if that event is tied to his death.

Kiel had lent his voice to a James Bond videogame in 2003 but more recently had voiced Vlad for the animated film Tangled in 2010.

Before his appearances in the Bond film in the mid to late ’70s, Kiel was perhaps best known for his roles in Burt Reynolds prison football film The Longest Yard and for appearing in several episodes of The Wild Wild West as an assistant to supervilllain Miguelito Loveless (played by dwarf Michael Dunn).