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Eddie "Bozo" Miller, a competitive eater whose gastronomical feats earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records - twice - died Monday in his Oakland home. He was 89 - or 99, depending on which version of his story he liked to tell.Although Miller suffered from diabetes, a weakened heart and kidney failure, his family said he died of old age.
A son of vaudevillians, Miller liked to do everything in high style, whether it was betting on horses, managing boxing fights or competitive gorging. He once claimed he outdrank a lion in a martini contest.
The 1981 edition of Guinness Book of World Records dubbed Miller the "world's greatest trencherman," or heavy eater, and listed him as undefeated in eating contests since 1931. He ate 27 roast chickens, of 2 pounds each, in one sitting at Trader Vic's in Emeryville in 1963. He drank two quarts of liquor in an hour.
Photos of Eddie "Bozo" Miller enjoys a meal. He held records for eating 27 chickens at a sitting and drinking two quarts of liquor in an hour. UPI photo, 1973
Both feats vaulted him into the Guinness World Book, but the chicken escapade also won him a $10,000 bet.
At the time, he weighed 280 pounds and was consuming 25,000 calories a day - 11 times more than his doctor recommended. At the peak of his eating contest days he stood 5 feet 7 and tipped the scale at 330. He wore a 57-inch belt.
"Yes, he was larger than life," said his daughter, Candice Blackman of Pleasant Hill. "He was a born showoff."
Growing up with Miller, life could be a bit of circus. He drove his kids to school in lime green or bright yellow Cadillac convertibles. "He had the top down, music blaring, and honked these crazy horns he had installed," Blackman said. "It was always embarrassing."
There was a jukebox in the Miller breakfast room that he always kept stocked with 45s.
"He wasn't a normal dad, that's for sure," she added. "Every day he went to the racetrack, came back and cooked dinner. He loved blondes, he loved booze, he loved life. We all miss him."
Miller was proud of his epicurean prowess, and claimed he once ate 400 raviolis - single-handedly wiping the pasta offering off a restaurant's menu. He once consumed 30 pounds of elk meat loaf, and bragged he could down up to 12,000 raw oysters. For a beverage, Miller favored the martini - 10 to 12 of them before lunch.
His calling card read, "World Champion of Gourmand Gastronomics."
He told The Chronicle that he beat a lion in a martini-drinking contest.
"Some guy from the circus came into the restaurant - Reno Barsocchini's, I think - with a lion on a leash," he said. "I drank them out of a glass, and they put the martinis on a soup plate for the lion. I maybe had about a dozen. The lion, he kept lapping them up until he just fell asleep."
The sometime fight promoter, bookie and liquor salesman was born in San Francisco. As a boy, he traveled with his parents on their vaudeville circuit, discovering he could entertain the performers with his stomach capacity. As a young man, he impressed his friends at ballgames with his disappearing hot dog trick.
His antics became professional, then legendary, and he attracted many Hollywood celebrities. In newspaper interviews, he described sumptuous dinners and claimed table guests such as Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford and Dean Martin.
In 1946, he married Janice Bidwell, a former princess of the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Ten years later, she suffered a brain hemorrhage that left her an invalid until her death in 2001.
His family is planning a private funeral, but a public "Bozo Bash" will be held in a few weeks to celebrate his life.
Miller is survived by two daughters, Blackman and Virginia "Cooky" Logan of Napa; and four grandchildren. A third daughter, Honey, predeceased him.
At the time, he weighed 280 pounds and was consuming 25,000 calories a day - 11 times more than his doctor recommended. At the peak of his eating contest days he stood 5 feet 7 and tipped the scale at 330. He wore a 57-inch belt.
"Yes, he was larger than life," said his daughter, Candice Blackman of Pleasant Hill. "He was a born showoff."
Growing up with Miller, life could be a bit of circus. He drove his kids to school in lime green or bright yellow Cadillac convertibles. "He had the top down, music blaring, and honked these crazy horns he had installed," Blackman said. "It was always embarrassing."
There was a jukebox in the Miller breakfast room that he always kept stocked with 45s.
"He wasn't a normal dad, that's for sure," she added. "Every day he went to the racetrack, came back and cooked dinner. He loved blondes, he loved booze, he loved life. We all miss him."
Miller was proud of his epicurean prowess, and claimed he once ate 400 raviolis - single-handedly wiping the pasta offering off a restaurant's menu. He once consumed 30 pounds of elk meat loaf, and bragged he could down up to 12,000 raw oysters. For a beverage, Miller favored the martini - 10 to 12 of them before lunch.
His calling card read, "World Champion of Gourmand Gastronomics."
He told The Chronicle that he beat a lion in a martini-drinking contest.
"Some guy from the circus came into the restaurant - Reno Barsocchini's, I think - with a lion on a leash," he said. "I drank them out of a glass, and they put the martinis on a soup plate for the lion. I maybe had about a dozen. The lion, he kept lapping them up until he just fell asleep."
The sometime fight promoter, bookie and liquor salesman was born in San Francisco. As a boy, he traveled with his parents on their vaudeville circuit, discovering he could entertain the performers with his stomach capacity. As a young man, he impressed his friends at ballgames with his disappearing hot dog trick.
His antics became professional, then legendary, and he attracted many Hollywood celebrities. In newspaper interviews, he described sumptuous dinners and claimed table guests such as Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Joan Crawford and Dean Martin.
In 1946, he married Janice Bidwell, a former princess of the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Ten years later, she suffered a brain hemorrhage that left her an invalid until her death in 2001.
His family is planning a private funeral, but a public "Bozo Bash" will be held in a few weeks to celebrate his life.
Miller is survived by two daughters, Blackman and Virginia "Cooky" Logan of Napa; and four grandchildren. A third daughter, Honey, predeceased him.
Eddie "Bozo" Miller enjoys a meal. He held records for eating 27 chickens at a sitting and drinking two quarts of liquor in an hour.
