Eddie Carmel

From Tel Aviv, Israel • 1936 - 1972

Eddie Carmel (born Oded Ha-Carmeili, Hebrew: עודד הכרמלי; March 16, 1936 – August 14, 1972) was an American entertainer, born in Mandatory Palestine with gigantism and subsequent acromegaly resulting from a pituitary adenoma. He was popularly known as "The Jewish Giant", "The Happy Giant," and "The World's Biggest Cowboy." Carmel was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) tall, and billed at the heights of 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m) and 9 ft 0.625 in (2.76 m) tall, though he may have more realistically been around 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) tall. He was variously a mutual funds salesman, carnival sideshow act, film actor, rock and roll band singer, and stand-up comedian. He was made famous by photographer Diane Arbus' picture Jewish Giant, taken at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y. in 1970, a print of which sold at auction for $421,000 in 2007 ($654,000 in current dollar terms). At the time of his death at age 36, he had shrunk several inches, due to kyphoscoliosis. (Via Wikipedia)