American actor (1916-1959). Full name: Joseph Lockard Martin Jr. He had a twin brother, but his brother died in childbirth.
At 7' 7", he was one of the tallest actors ever. He worked a variety of odd jobs, including work as a cowboy, a dairyman, and a doorman; he also worked for Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
It was while working as a doorman at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood that he was discovered and cast as the huge robot Gort in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." He also appeared in "Invaders from Mars"; he may have been in a film called "The Snow Creature," but his scenes in "The Incredible Shrinking Man" got left on the cutting room floor.
He hosted a children's televison show in Los Angeles called "The Gentle Giant" in the 1950s. Despite his extremely large size, he was not a very strong man; he had great difficulty moving in his heavy Gort costume.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)