Detroit native Richard Dawson Kiel, the 7-foot-2 steel-toothed cable-chomping villain in two Roger Moore James Bond movies, died at age 74 in Fresno, California.

Kiel broke his leg a week ago.

Kiel's height and features were a result of a hormonal condition known as acromegaly.

He suffered from acrophobia (fear of heights) and, during the cable car stunt scenes in
“Moonraker,” a double was used because Kiel refused to be filmed on the top of a cable car at more than 2,000 feet high.

In 1992, Kiel suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, which affected his balance. He had to walk with a cane.

Current PD and former BJ TV/movie critic Mark Dawidziak wrote:

“Met him when we were both guests at a horror convention about 12 years ago. He actually played two monsters on ‘Kolchak,’ but was unrecognizable as the swamp creature in the better of the two, ‘The Spanish Moss Murders.’ “

Kiel was Jaws in 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me" and 1979's "Moonraker." The producers spotted Kiel in the William Shatner western TV series “Barbary Coast.”

Kiel also was the bullying golf spectator Mr. Larson in "Happy Gilmore," lethal Dr. Loveless's assistant Voltaire in "The Wild, Wild West" and extraterrestrial Kanamit in "The Twilight Zone." 

He also reprised the character of Jaws for several James Bond video games.

He was born September 13, 1939. His wives were Faye Daniels (1960-1973) and Diane Rogers (1974-2014). Besides Diane he is survived by four children and nine grandchildren. 

He made his acting début in a 1960 “Laramie” TV series episode. His first movie was “The Phantom Pilot (1961). From 1963 to 1965 Kiel worked as a night school math instructor in Burbank, California.

He co-authored "Kentucky Lion," a biography of abolotionist Cassius Marcellus Clay.