Eddie Carmel

Eddie Carmel, born Oded Ha-Carmeili (Hebrew: עודד הכרמלי) (March 16, 1936 – August 14, 1972) was an Israeli-born American entertainer 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 feet (274 cm) tall, and billed at the heights of 8 ft 9 in (268 cm) and 9 ft 0.625 inches (276 cm) tall, though he may have more realistically been around 7 ft 3 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 ($525,000 in current dollar terms). At the time of his death at age 36, he had shrunk several inches, due to kyphoscoliosis.