John Bloom

The big, beefy and extremely tall John Bloom was an imposingly massive 7 foot, 4 inch bulky hulk of a man who was born on February 19, 1944 and grew up in and around Los Angeles. He originally worked as an accountant who was coerced into acting in 1971 by legendary Grade Z schlock exploitation drive-in filmmaker Al Adamson. Bloom made his debut as Frankenstein's monster in the hilariously horrible Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971). He also appeared in supporting roles in both Brain of Blood (1971) and Angels' Wild Women (1972)_ for Adamson as well playing a hulking warrior and a motorcycle gang member respectively. Among Bloom's more memorable roles are a gentle, dim-witted behemoth handyman who has the head of a vicious criminal killer grafted onto his body in the deliciously cheesy The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971), a murderous extraterrestrial who terrorizes Los Angeles in the not-half-bad sci-fi/horror outing The Dark (1979), the intimidating bodyguard for an Indian pimp in the hilariously raunchy and raucous Bachelor Party (1984), the Reaper, a cannibal hillbilly in the terrible The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984), and an enormous antagonistic alien who fights with William Shatner in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Bloom continued working throughout the 1980s and early 1990s playing tall and hulking thugs or seedy criminals in minor to small roles in movies and TV shows until health problems led to his semi-retirement by the mid 1990s. Being a giant, he also suffered from acromegaly his entire life which took a toll on his health leading to an enlarged heart, among other physical problems. John Bloom died of heart failure on January 15, 1999 at age 54.