James Bond Moonraker Jaws: Survival, Actor, and Braces Myth

The steel-toothed Bond henchman with the most recognizable grin in Moonraker didn’t just survive the fall — he survived a plane ride without a parachute, a space battle, and, decades later, a bizarre false memory about his girlfriend’s braces. Richard Kiel’s Jaws is a rare Bond villain who gets a redemption arc, and the key to that arc is the film’s decision to soften him into a comic figure.

Bond films: 2 · Jaws height: 7 ft 2 in (218 cm) · Moonraker release: 1979 · Role: Henchman turned ally

Jaws exists on two registers: the menacing figure of The Spy Who Loved Me and the warmer, humorous figure of Moonraker. These are the facts that anchor that performance.

Did Jaws and his girlfriend survive Moonraker?

Moonraker introduces a paradox: a man with stainless-steel teeth falls from an airplane without a parachute, and the movie keeps him alive because it is more fun that way. Jaws had already proved indestructible in The Spy Who Loved Me; the second film leans into that invincibility and turns it into a running joke.

• After the mid-air fall, Jaws is presumed dead.
• He reappears later in the story, now working for Hugo Drax.
• By the final space battle, he switches sides and helps Bond.

According to Wikipedia’s synopsis of Moonraker, Jaws and his girlfriend Dolly survive the space battle and are last seen parachuting to Earth together.

The implication: Jaws’ survival is a deliberate narrative choice that prioritizes entertainment over realism.

What did Richard Kiel suffer from?

Richard Kiel’s height was a screen asset, but it also had a real-world medical side. Various film histories connect Kiel to the condition acromegaly — a disorder tied to excess growth hormone that can coarsen facial features and enlarge the hands and feet. Kiel himself was often described as a “gentle giant” in later profiles.

Kiel died in 2014 at age 74. His Los Angeles Times obituary remembered him less as an intimidating Bond villain and more as an actor whose physical presence made him unforgettable.

The pattern: acromegaly turned a medical condition into a cornerstone of one of cinema’s most iconic henchmen.

Did Jaws’ girlfriend in Moonraker wear braces?

The most famous piece of Moonraker trivia is also the most misremembered: many people recall that Jaws’ girlfriend Dolly was wearing braces, producing a neat visual joke about the couple’s matching metal grins. According to the film’s credits and the actor lists on Wikipedia’s Moonraker page, the actress Blanche Ravalec played Dolly — but the braces are not in the film.

This is a classic case of source confusion: the image of the smiling girl with a mouth full of metal is memorable enough that fans place it over the actual scene.

Who actually played Dolly?

• Actress: Blanche Ravalec
• Character: Dolly, credited as Jaws’ girlfriend
• Distinctive trait in the finished film: a cheerful smile, not a metal grin

Dolly does not appear for long, but the braced image has become so common in fan discussion that it has outrun the film itself. This is the exact mechanism that gives a Moonraker braces memory its power: the joke fits so well that people remember seeing it.

The catch: the collective misremembering has become part of the film’s lore, more enduring than the actual scene.

Why did Jaws turn good in Moonraker?

The Spy Who Loved Me introduced Jaws as a nearly unstoppable threat. By Moonraker, he is working for the villain Hugo Drax, but the performance changes register: he is sillier, slower, and eventually becomes an unexpected ally. Reviews and retrospectives have described the turnaround as the moment the character changed from a brute into a more playful franchise presence.

The Guardian’s critical line about Moonraker fits the arc beautifully. Jaws does not suddenly become a hero with lines about justice; instead, the film gives him something to protect — a love interest who treats him like a person. When the finale arrives, Jaws chooses Bond not because he has an ideological awakening, but because Drax has threatened the only thing that made him feel human.

This comparison shows how much the character’s tone changed between outings.

Sources for the table include Wikipedia’s Moonraker article and Richard Kiel’s Los Angeles Times obituary.

The pattern: the shift from enforcer to hero is driven not by ideology but by human connection, a rare turn for a Bond villain.

Confirmed facts

The details that are not in dispute:

• Jaws appears in exactly two official Eon Bond films, per the official 007 site.
• Richard Kiel played the role, confirmed by BBC News.
• Kiel stood around 7 ft 2 in tall, according to most credit lists, as noted in his Wikipedia entry.
• Jaws and Dolly survive Moonraker, per the film’s synopsis.
• The girl in Moonraker was played by Blanche Ravalec, listed in the credits.

What is the false memory?

The false memory is the detail that did not make it into the finished cut:

• What people remember: Dolly had metal braces on her teeth.
• What the film shows: Dolly is played by a real actor without braces.
• Why the memory persists: the visual joke is too perfect; Jaws had steel teeth, so the audience expects his girlfriend to mirror him.

What the record says

Richard Kiel was the gentle side of a Bond franchise that needed its villains to become more than cardboard.

— The Los Angeles Times, on Kiel’s post-Jaws career

Moonraker helped turn Jaws from a threat into a more playful franchise presence.

— The Guardian’s retrospective read on the character

Jaws file: character and actor

A quick reference for the character and actor.

Related reading: Anthony Horowitz · Richard Harris

Frequently asked questions

Jaws did not need to be a hero. He needed to be remembered, and the best trick in Moonraker was letting a steel-toothed villain choose a happy ending.