The Giant Lumberjack Who Dwarfed Lou Ferrigno
The Iron Gospel
115,061 views
Before Lou Ferrigno became television’s Incredible Hulk, another giant had already worn the green paint. Richard Kiel stood roughly 7'2" and weighed well over 300 pounds, a naturally enormous frame caused by the same kind of hormonal disorder associated with André the Giant. Kiel was actually used as the Hulk in early footage for the 1977 television production, but the filmmakers ultimately wanted more muscular bulk and replaced him with Ferrigno. It left behind one of the stranger “what ifs” in physique history: the future Jaws towering over a man who would soon become famous for looking impossibly large himself.
Kiel was never a bodybuilder in the traditional sense, and that is precisely what makes his physique so fascinating. Long before his steel teeth made him one of James Bond’s most recognizable villains, his sheer dimensions were enough to earn work as everything from a nightclub bouncer to an oversized screen heavy. Ferrigno represented the deliberate construction of size through bodybuilding; Kiel represented something altogether rarer — a human frame so extreme that Hollywood spent decades trying to find characters big enough for him to play. For a brief moment, those two different definitions of “giant” crossed paths around the making of The Incredible Hulk.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001423/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014...
https://www.latimes.com/local/obituar...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
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Richard Kiel
Richard became a Christian at a young age but struggled with alcoholism when he became famous – even putting vodka into beer to make it stronger. One night he watched a Christian TV programme about addiction and prayed at the end. He discovered ‘no more overwhelming desire’ for booze.
The 7ft 2in giant was then offered a chance to do a beer commercial but turned it down – despite being offered a big sum of money. Richard did not want to encourage others to drink alcohol. Later he did a non-alcoholic root beer commercial instead and earned more money.
He said: “Not only did God deliver me from the bondage of alcoholism, he also blessed my family financially because of my commitment to honour what he had done for me and for not doing what I believed could possibly be destructive to others.”
Richard Kiel’s Christian testimony can be read online.
The Giant Lumberjack Who Dwarfed Lou Ferrigno
The Iron Gospel
115,061 views
Before Lou Ferrigno became television’s Incredible Hulk, another giant had already worn the green paint. Richard Kiel stood roughly 7'2" and weighed well over 300 pounds, a naturally enormous frame caused by the same kind of hormonal disorder associated with André the Giant. Kiel was actually used as the Hulk in early footage for the 1977 television production, but the filmmakers ultimately wanted more muscular bulk and replaced him with Ferrigno. It left behind one of the stranger “what ifs” in physique history: the future Jaws towering over a man who would soon become famous for looking impossibly large himself.
Kiel was never a bodybuilder in the traditional sense, and that is precisely what makes his physique so fascinating. Long before his steel teeth made him one of James Bond’s most recognizable villains, his sheer dimensions were enough to earn work as everything from a nightclub bouncer to an oversized screen heavy. Ferrigno represented the deliberate construction of size through bodybuilding; Kiel represented something altogether rarer — a human frame so extreme that Hollywood spent decades trying to find characters big enough for him to play. For a brief moment, those two different definitions of “giant” crossed paths around the making of The Incredible Hulk.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001423/
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014...
https://www.latimes.com/local/obituar...
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...