Sadly, I was unable to locate the 1976 article in question that features photographs of men with large feet. Needless to say, Mayhew, standing so tall, had trouble buying shoes that fit him. He wore a 17H shoe in UK sizes, which translates to about size 18 in the United States. That’s about 13 and 5/16 inches. Why not pose for a picture in the paper with such enormous stompers?

It seems that answering that ad attracted the attention of several casting agents. Mayhew recalls that he landed one “monster” role in a fantasy movie, and that would lead to his fateful meeting with George Lucas. Mayhew recalled: 

“[S]ome reporter wanted to do a story on people with big feet. […] A producer saw the article and cast me to play Minoton in ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger..’ One of the makeup men on ‘Sinbad’ was also creating the Wookiee costume, and he suggested me to the producers of ‘Star Wars.’ So four or five months after playing a Minoton, I was playing a Wookiee. I was the new boy, new costume, and everything was strange.”

The Minoton, as one can see in the photo above, is a large metallic robot Minotaur. “Sinbad and the Eyes of the Tiger” was co-written by effects wizard Ray Harryhausen and starred Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne, as Sinbad. “Tiger” was technically the first film Mayhew was hired for, although it didn’t reach theaters until August of 1977, three months after the release of “Star Wars.” It seemed that playing a space sasquatch took less time than a Minoton.