Eddie Carmel's abnormal growth started when he was a teenager. He
suffered from acromegaly because of a pituitary gland tumor that was
incurable at the time. As an adult, the only work he could find
involved exploiting his freakishness. With his best friend, Irwin
Sherman, they worked together as stand-up comedians in New York.
Carmel starred in a B-grade monster movie (
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)) and made two 45-rpm
records ("The Happy Giant" and "The Good Monster"). He joined the
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baliey Circus from 1961 to 1968. They
presented him as "The World's Greatest Giant" and "The Tallest Man on
Earth." His height was billed at 8' 9" (a 14-inch exaggeration). He
very much wanted to be respected for his talent and said, "I'd like
someday to reach the point when I'm known as the reverse
Mickey Rooney."
He developed severe kyphoscoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine) at
the time of his death that shortened his height to about 7 feet (213
cm). Eddie died at the age of 37 in Montefiore Hospital.