Richard Kiel Interview
Richard Kiel, who is best known for his
roles as "Jaws" in the James Bond films but
has been an actor for nearly thirty-eight years, and is
happy to back Roger Moore / UNICEF charity web site.
Below is an exclusive interview
for Roger Moore's official web site, including
a few pictures from, The Spy Who Loved Me.
A wonderful catalogue of pictures can be purchased
of Richard Kiel in action on many films and programmes,
and is on display on his official web site by clicking his
banner at the top of this page.
Richard said "I would be happy to do something
in support of UNICEF so I will be very pleased to donate
one-third of the proceeds of photos sold from Roger-Moore.com".
So if you purchase a wonderful picture from the Richard
Kiel site after finding him on Roger Moore's site, could
you inform him so he can donate to UNICEF.
All pictures are superb
value with 8 x 10 color autographed photos just $15.00,
black and white autographed photos just $10.00, and
Richard says "I will personally autograph
them & add "Jaws"
Take a look at his extremely interesting gallery of pictures
by clicking his banner to the left.
This is an exclusive by Richard Kiel, and MUST
NOT be reproduced in any form without permission Alan Davidson
and Marie-France Vienne © copyright 12/07/00. Thank you Richard
and all the best to you! Marie-France and Alan.
Making it BIG in The Movies
by Richard Kiel - Foreword by Roger Moore
Useful links
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Could
you tell us about Roger both the actor and the man and what
his main human qualities are? |
"Suffice
it to say that his heart is bigger than his ego which is very
unusual among movie stars". |
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Were
you astonished to find out about his engagement to the UNICEF-cause
and what do you think of the things he has already achieved? |
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"Not at all surprised. It's just the kind of thing
that you'd expect a man with a big heart to do. I'm not familiar
with the actual details of his achievements so I cannot comment
on that. Perhaps you can bring us all up to speed on that
one as I am sure everyone would like to know".
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Could
you tell us some anecdotes of things that happened during the
shooting of the two James Bond-movies in which you both played? |
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 "Both
Roger and I have a sense of humor and he in particular didn't
take himself, or the role as seriously as some big ego movie
stars would have. This led to scenes such as the one in "The
Spy Who Loved Me" where I drop the big block in frustration
and it inadvertently lands on my foot or the scene where he
smiles at me and I smile back with my big steel teeth only
to find that I'm about to be yanked up by the teeth by a huge
electromagnet which Roger has cleverly turned on above me.
"How does that grab you?" says Roger. In Moonraker,
Drax is about to destroy the world by firing three missiles
at earth from his space station. Each missile contains something
designed to kill hundreds of millions of people. It was a
difficult scene to play without being melodramatic as he and
the lovely Lois Chiles had a scene where they discuss this
problem as the missiles fly by (I was looking on, having already
been turned into a good guy). Roger took the pressure off
and got everyone to lighten up by getting a very small prop
man to dress up like a little green Martian who suddenly pops
up in the middle of our scene with his antennae wiggling to
and fro. I'll never forget how we all laughed. Earlier in
the movie when I was still a bad guy, Roger and Lois see me
chasing them inside the tram at Sugar Loaf Man. in Rio. Lois
is terrified at seeing a giant man with huge steel choppers
chasing them and gasps out "who's that!" Roger replies
"his name is Jaws." "You know him" asks
Lois incredulously. Roger, playing Bond with his dry English
humor says "not socially, he kills people." It was
scenes like these that made Roger's James Bond portrayals
such a tremendous success. I remember sitting in the screening
room with my wife Diane watching the scene where the underwater
Lotus car comes out of the water on the beach at Sardinia.
Roger nonchalantly opens the window and drops a stray fish
out of the window. Cubby Broccoli turned to the journalist
between us and said "of course that won't be in the movie."
Later, when we were alone, my wife, Diane said to me. "That's
not going to be in the movie? Why not? That was funny!"
Of course, all of these scenes ended up in those films and
although some of the fans who looked at the Bond films too
seriously and wanted to believe every minute was real found
these moments too silly for their liking, the general public
ate them up and these two films in yesterdays dollars were
huge successes".
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It
is totally understandable that actors get categorized by there
looks, but taken over all has your height been an advantage
to promoting your career in the direction you would like, or
an obstacle you have utilized to make the best of? |
"When I got in the business, extra big people like me were expected
to play the Frankenstein monster or to be dumb like Lenny
in "Of mice and men." In the beginning it frustrated
me because I wasn't like either stereotype and I resented
such implications. I was blessed, however, to have had a splendid
seventeen-year career as a working actor prior to playing
Jaws where I experienced all kinds of roles. It was during
that time that I discovered that audiences enjoyed the parts
more that were bigger than life then they did the real me
so I just went with it and tried to have fun doing them. Some
people have criticized my portrayal as being like Wily Coyote
in the "Roadrunner" cartoons. This pleases me to
no end as that was exactly what I was trying to achieve. I
always felt sorry for the coyote as he was constantly being
blown up and having buildings fall on him, but he never gave
up did he? Sound familiar. I believe that most people view
the James Bond series as a delightful fantasy where you buy
a movie ticket and get to go all over the world with this
bigger than life character who goes through women like a box
of tissues, never taking them or himself seriously. That's
the charm of the series, it takes us away from the hum drum
every day life problems and catapults us into a world of luxury
and fantastic gadgets not to mention Holly Godhead or the
fabulous Anya. This is what Roger was so good at and I'm glad
to see them getting back on track with the newest Bonds".
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Obviously in your long career you have played
many roles, but what kind of impact on your life did landing
the role of Jaws have?
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"It took me from being a successful working actor
who people in America recognized but didn't know my name to
a world wide movie character who got so much publicity that
the name Richard Kiel became a household word in Finland.
I did two movies in Taiwan, another in Hong Kong and a milk
commercial and a Sharp products commercial in Japan just because
I was Jaws in James Bond. Now, when I go to an airport people
look at me amazed and ask "What are you doing here?"
I guess they expect me to live in a space capsule".
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| This is an exclusive
by Richard Kiel, and MUST NOT be reproduced in any form without
permission Alan Davidson and Marie-France Vienne © copyright
12/07/00. Thank you Richard and all the best to you! Marie-France
and Alan. |
Roger Moore
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