Giants have captured our imaginations since childhood. We read the Brothers Grimm story of Jack and the Beanstalk to our children. We learn about the tale of Goliath and David in the Bible in Sunday school. We enjoy the popular children’s movie Shrek about a giant ogre.
We also encounter the giants of pop culture when we view a James Bond movie and meet the villain named Jaws or watch the television show or movie The Addams Family and Lurch enters the scene. The actor Richard Kiel who played Jaws and Ted Cassidy who was Lurch in the TV show both had pituitary tumors.
While these giants are fictional, there are also legendary giants who are quite real and are known to have had pituitary tumors. Sports legends include basketball player Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan and wrestler Andre the Giant. They both had gigantism. Named the world’s tallest man by Guinness World Record, 8’3” Sultan Kosen continued to grow until his successful surgery to remove the tumor.
Other well-known modern-day giants include Eddie Carmel who was made famous by Diane Arbus and her photograph Jewish Giant and actor Rondo Hatton who performed in more than 25 movies, many in the role of The Creeper.