Eddie Carmel (born Oded Ha-Carmeili ; March 16, 1936 – August 14, 1972) was an Israeli-born American entertainer with gigantism and subsequent acromegaly resulting from a pituitary adenoma. He was popularly known as "The Jewish Giant", "The Happy Giant," and "The World's Biggest Cowboy." Carmel was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as tall, and billed at the heights of and tall, though he may have more realistically been around tall. He was variously a mutual funds salesman, carnival sideshow act, film actor, rock and roll band singer, and stand-up comedian. He was made famous by photographer Diane Arbus' picture Jewish Giant, taken at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, N.Y. in 1970, a print of which sold at auction for $421,000 in 2007 ($ in current dollar terms). At the time of his death at age 36, he had shrunk several inches, due to kyphoscoliosis. Early life Carmel was born Oded Ha-Carmeili in Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine, to Orthodox Jewish immigrants, weighing 16 pounds, and was Jewish. An only child, he was raised in the Bronx, New York, after his parents Isaac (Itzhak; an insurance salesman born in Poland) and Miriam (née Pines) Ha-Carmeili (born in the United States, and later a secretary at the Jewish Theological Seminary) relocated back to the United States when he was two years old so his mother could care for an ailing relative. His parents were 5 feet 6 inches tall, but his maternal grandfather in Poland was known as the tallest rabbi in the world, at 7 feet 5 inches (226 cm). He lived with his parents on Elgar Place in Co-op City in the Bronx. At 10 years of age Carmel was 6 feet 1 inch tall. At 15 years of age he was 6 feet 6 inches tall, and was diagnosed with gigantism and acromegaly. When he graduated Taft High School in 1954 he was 7 feet tall. He studied at City College of New York for two years where he was elected vice president of his class, majoring in business and joining the Dramatic Club, and Baruch College. Carmel was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as 9 feet (274 cm) tall, and billed at the heights of 8 ft 9 in (268 cm) and 9 ft 0.625 inches (276 cm) tall, though he may have more realistically been around 7 ft 3 tall. He