Richard Kiel, the hulking 7-foot-2 actor best known for playing the Bond villain 'Jaws' in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, has died in a Fresno, California, hospital aged 74. Kiel had been treated for a broken leg, though it's unclear if his death is related to the injury.

Richard KielRichard Kiel - best known for playing Jaws in the Bond movies - has died in California

Though he became an overnight star for playing the terrifying 'Jaws' in the Bond movies, Kiel enjoyed a successful career that spanned five decades in Hollywood.  He played an alien invader in 'The Twilight Zone', a ghost in 'Gilligan's Island' and the famous Mr Larson in Adam Sandler's 1966 golf comedy Happy Gilmore.

"I was working actor for 17 years before playing Jaws in my first James Bond film. I suddenly became an overnight success," Kiel wrote on his official fan page.

More: check out at Richard Kiel pictures

More: check out more Richard Kiel movies

Jaws - one of the most popular Bond villains - was able to bite through cables and metal with his steel-capped teeth. Describing having to wear the giant chompers, Kiel said: "Every night the teeth would go into a safe for safe-keeping. They were miserable. Instead of being made out of rubber they were made out of cobalt steel, like chromium steel. So it was kind of like swallowing a bumper of a car."

The Discovery channel's Mythbusters once tested the plausibility of Jaws biting through the steel cable car wire, though found that, based on the teeth used in the movie, Jaws would not have made any impact on the metal. In the movie, the wire was actually liquorice.  

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