Actor Kiel takes new role as author

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Richard Kiel, best known for playing the steel-toothed villain Jaws in two James Bond movies, has taken on a new role -- author.

Kiel, 68, has spent 25 years researching the life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, a white plantation owner and politician who fought for the abolition of slavery and after whom the boxer Muhammad Ali and his father were named.

It has culminated in the release of a book, "The True Story of Cassius Clay: Kentucky Lion," out this month, which Kiel co-authored with Pamela Wallace, the Oscar-winning co-writer of the movie "Witness."

Kiel said he became fascinated with Clay when he visited Kentucky 25 years ago and realized that this forgotten American hero, who freed the slaves on his plantation, challenged stereotypes about the South and racism there.

"I hope to bring a fresh breeze of truth and positive feeling so people feel differently about the south and its people, not just because my wife comes from there but we need the truth to be free of this prejudice," he told Reuters.

"Here is a guy who put his life on the line and could not be stopped. It's a positive side of history that should told."

Kiel said Clay's story clashed with Muhammad Ali's contention that he changed his name to get rid of a name that symbolized his ancestors' enslavement.

Clay campaigned against slavery and the mistreatment of slaves from an early age and as Kentucky state representative.