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Richard Kiel, who played Jaws to memorable effect opposite Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, has died, three days before his 75th birthday. The 7ft 2in actor died in hospital in Fresno on September 10, following an accident the previous week.

Kiel was born in Michigan in 1939, and started his acting career in 1960 on the Western Laramie. His size meant that he was often cast as henchmen – in the first season of The Wild Wild West, and in the pilot episode of The Man From UNCLE – and he was one of the original choices for the role of The Incredible Hulk, a part that went to Lou Ferrigno, after Kiel had problems with the contact lenses, and didn’t have the physicality the producers were after.

He was cast as Jaws, Stromberg’s henchman in The Spy Who Loved Me, but, as he told Radio 4’s The Reunion the week before he died, “I was very put off by the description of the character and I thought, well, they don’t really need an actor, he’s more a monster part. So I tried to change that view of it… I said if I were to play the part, I want to give the character some human characteristics, like perseverance, frustration.”

The character was so successful that he was brought back in Moonraker, and also appeared in the videogame Everything or Nothing. Kiel’s career post-Bond included the Superboy TV series and the movie Happy Gilmore.

Announcing the news on Twitter, Sir Roger Moore posted, “I am totally distraught to learn of my dear friend Richard Kiel’s passing. We were on a radio programme together just a week ago. Distraught.”

The Reunion can be heard on iPlayer and is repeated on September 12 at 9 am on Radio 4.