Sunday, December 2, 2007

How Big?

BACK ABOUT 1973 I went to hear heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali speak at the National Press Club. As I stood in an elevator waiting to go to the club, Ali and rival Ken Norton boarded. Norton was to make a short speech, too, kind of like a second feature at a movie.
What a revelation! I stood there, looking down on the world heavyweight boxing champion and his No. 1 challenger. Yes, I’m slightly taller than Ali. It gave me a feeling of unprecedented power.
Height is an important factor in life. Over the years, I’ve fed heights into my computer. If the resultant list seems top-heavy with boxers and other athletes, it’s only because their heights are well-publicized..(But that doesn’t apply to tennis players.) The heights of politicians, artists and novelists aren’t readily available. The real heights of movie stars are fuzzt. They exaggerate, just as they do about their youth and measurements.
The vanity of politicians knows no bounds. Fawning biographers and other lackeys exaggerate their hero's height. Among historical figures said to exceed 7 feet are Peter the Great, Charlemagne and a particularly scary British general named Ironsides. Sam Houston’s height also is often greatly inflated.
Women's shoes complicate the problem, of course, and some men wear elevator shoes. The Emperor Augustus did.
There are illogicalities in descriptions of historical figures, and Augustus figures in one of those. He was notably short. And Julius Caesar was considered “tall for a Roman.” Yet each is believed to have been about 5 feet 6.
If numbers are to be believed Emperor Napoleon III was even shorter than his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte.
We tend to think of President Eisenhower as tall and President Truman as short. But there wasn’t much difference between them.
Granted, it’s a bit of a stretch, but I’ve included heights given in film scripts.
But first, a few words about word usages. My dictionary gives two pronunciations for height. The second adds the “th” sound. I learned the word with the “th” sound. I’ve heard that that’s the way it’s always pronounced in the Midwest. But the dictionary recognizes only one spelling: height.
There’s another problem. It a person six feet tall or six foot tall? Americans seem not to agree on this one. We stumble about trying to decide if we want to foot or feet.

JAMES BOND
● Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan are 6-3. Roger Moore is 6-2 Daniel Craig is 5-11.

10 FEET 6 INCHES
● Goliath: Biblical giant. He was six cubits and a span high. “Morning and evening” for 40 days, he defied the armies of Israel. (I Samuel 17.) This was in B.C. 1063. Young David got him with a slingshot in the “valley of the terebinth.”

10 FEET 4½ INCHES
●:Cardiff Giant: hoax. On Oct. 16, 1869, workmen discovered what appeared to be a huge petrified man near Cardiff, N.Y. George Hull, a tobacco farmer and cigar maker in Binghamton, N.Y., had planted what came to be known as the “Cardiff Giant.” He and a partner, H.B. Martin, got a 5-ton block of gypsum and hired two sculptors to produce a “petrified” man. Hull was the model. After three months of preparation, the statue was buried on a farm, where it was arranged that workmen drilling a well would discover it. The giant proved a tremendous tourist attraction, even after it was disclosed as a hoax. The statue is still displayed in the Farmers’ Museum in New York State.


8 FEET 11
●Robert Wadlow of Walton, Ill., was “world’s tallest,” according to Guinness Book of Records.

8 FEET 4 INCHES
● Leonid Stadnik: Ukranian resident is said to be world’s tallest.

BETWEEN 8 FEET AND 7 FEET 5 INCHES
●Johann Svarfdaelingur: circus performer. P.T. Barnum exhibited this Icelandic giant, who weighed 359 pounds..
●7 feet 7 -- Gheorghe Muresan: basketball player.
●7 feet 7 -- Manute Bol: basketball player.
●7 feet 6 -- Shawn Bradley: basketball player. He’s considered the quintessential “big, white stiff.”
●7 feet5--Yao Ming: Chinese basketball player, who wears size 19 shoe. He was first choice in 2002 NBA draft, taken by Houston Rockets.

7 FEET 9 INCHES
● Angus McKaskell: Sideshow performer weighed 425 pounds, died in 1863 at age 34.


7 FEET 8 3/4 INCHES● Sun Ming Ming: basketball player weighs between 335 and 370, wears 19 shoe.

7 FEET 3 INCHES
● Peter Mayhew: Actor played Chewbatta in Star Wars.

7 FEET 4 INCHES
● Jim Cully: boxer. He weighs 275 pounds
● Andre the Giant: wrestler. He weighed 500 pounds.
● John Rankin: boxer. He weighs 269 pounds
● Tip: Bloodhound in Uncle Tom productions, as measured from tip to tip. He weighed 246 pounds.
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“OVER 7 FEET” AND OTHERS IN THAT RANGE
●Maximinus: Roman emperor in 235-238. The first peasant to become emperor was nicknamed “Thrax.” A fearsome warrior, he was described as “over 7 feet.” His troops killed him while he slept.

7 FEET 2 INCHES●Richard Kiel: actor. At 330 pounds, the played a heavy in two James Bond movies, The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977 and Moonraker in 1979. He’s most memorable as the villain with the metal teeth.
●Ewart Potgieter: boxer. He weighs 326 pounds.

7 FEET
●Nicolay Valulev: boxer.

6 FEET 10 INCHES
●Randy Johnson: baseball pitcher.
●George Mikan: basketball player. He inspired awe in the mid 1900s. He was considered a true giant. In today’s NBA, his height would be rather ordinary. He attended DePaul, then played professionally with the Minneapolis Lakers.

6 FEET 9 INCHES
●Johnny Gee: baseball pitcher. He was the tallest player of the 1940s.
●Bevo Francis: basketball player. Playing for tiny Rio Grande College of Ohio, he scored 116 points in a game in the early 1950s..
●Big Jim Folsom: governor of Arkansas. He also was described as 6-9. He weighed 270 pounds
●Michael Crichton: author

6 FEET 8 INCHES
●Brad Garrett: TV actor. He portrayed Jackie Gleason in a TV movie. All the other actors had to wear 7-inch lifts and the set’s furniture was built king sized.. Garrett weighs about 250 pounds.
●Mike Naymick: baseball pitcher. He was with the Indians briefly in 1939-40 and ‘43-44.
●Paul Voelker: political appointee.
6 FEET 7 INCHES
●Charles de Gaulle: The father of modern France, he was both a general and president.
●Ernst Kaltenbrunner: Hitler’s SS leader. He used the title “Gen. Dr.” He had lantern jaw, long arms that dangled, and a saber cut across one cheek..He was executed after World War II.
●Peter the Great: emperor of Russia, 1682-1725. He’s often described as 7 feet, 6-10 and more than 6 1/2 feet tall.
●Vicente Fox: president of Mexico. But this height is when he’s wearing cowboy boots.
6 FEET 6 1/2 INCHES
●Buddy Baer: Boxer-turned-actor. He weighed 245 pounds and played giant in Quo Vadis? and Jack and the Beanstock. He lived 1915-86. Brother Max was heavyweight champion.
●James Arness: TV actor. He’s best remembered as Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.. He’s sometimes described as 6-7, sometimes as 6-6, so I’ve compromised.
●Howie Schultz: baseball player. He was a first baseman with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943-47, then played briefly for the Phillies and Reds. He was called “Stretch” and “Steeple.”

6 FEET 6 1/4 INCHES
● Jess Willard: heavyweight champion, 1915-19. He was the Great White Hope who took the heavyweight title from Jack Johnson. He weighed 250 pounds.

6 FEET 6 INCHES
This was the maximum for the U.S. military. Men above this height were too big for equipment (including ships and planes) and made easy targets. This limit excluded such professional baseball players as Howie “Stretch” Schultz, Johnny Gee and Mike Naymick.
●Grand Duke Nicholas: Russian general. He led czar’s troops during World War I.
● Tommy Tune: British-born dancer.
● Chips Rafferty: Australian actor.
● Clint Walker: cowboy actor.
● Michael Jordan: basketball player. He weighs 216.
●Gorilla Monsoon: wrestler. He weighed about 300 pounds..
●The Grenadier Squaw: native American. She was a sister of Shawnee Chief Cornstalk (murdered in 1777) and was described as about six and a half feet tall.
●Bill Bradley: politician. He played college and pro basketball.
●Fred Thompson: politician.
●Alexander Doniphan: U.S. military leader. He led Doniphan's Thousand on momentus raid into Mexico during Mexican War. He weighed 240 pounds.

6 FEET 5 3/4 INCHES
●Primo Carnera: heavyweight champion, 1933-34. He weighed 267 pounds.
6 FEET 5 INCHES
●Paul von Hindenburg: president of Germany 1925-34. World War I warrior was replaced by Hitler.
●Vince Vaughn: actor.
●Alan Napier: actor.
●Bowie Kuhn: baseball commissioner.
● Ned O’Baldwin: heavyweight champion in 1860s. He was born in Ireland in 1840, shot dead in a New York saloon in 1875.
●Thomas Wolfe: novelist. He’s best remembered for You Can’t Go Home Again.
●Chuck Connors: actor. He starred in TV series “The Rifleman.” Before that, he played pro baseball. He was Cubs’ first baseman in 1951.
●Richard the Lion Heart: king of England in 1189-99. He’s best remembered as a crusader and as the king during the days of the legendary Robin Hood. .
●Stringbean Akeman: Grand Ol' Opery star. Burglars murdered him.
●William Wallace: Scottish patriot. Mel Gibson portrayed him in the 1995 film “Braveheart.” This height smacks of an exaggeration.
●Sterling Hayden: actor. He’s best remembered as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove.
●Fred Gwynne: actor. He’s best remembered for TV series Car 54 Where Are You?.
●David Packard: businessman. He founded Hewlett-Packard..
●Lisa Leslie: basketball player. She weighs 170 pounds.
●Christopher Lee: actor. He’s best known for Dracula roles.
●Osuma bin Laden: Muslim fundamentalist.
●William "Bull" Nelson, Union general. He weighed over 300 pounds. Another Union general murdered him in Louisville, Ky.
● H. Rap Brown: civil rights activist of 1960s.
●Edward Herrman: actor.

6 FEET 4 INCHES
●Van Cliburn: pianist. He weighs 160 pounds.
●Conan O’Brien: TV host.
●Tim Robbins: actor.
●Jack Palance, actor.
●Lois DeFee: Minsky stripper
●Rock Hudson: actor.
●John Phillip Law: actor.
●Chevy Chase: actor.
●John Kerry: politician.
●Bill O’Reilly: newsman.
●Howard Hughes: tycoon weighed less than 100 pounds when he died.
●Casey Jones: railroad engineer.
●Robert Ryan: actor.
●Clint Eastwood: actor.
●Garrison Keillor: entertainer.
●Mark Philippoussis: tennis player weighs 202 pounds.
●George Kennedy: actor. A beefy 230 pounds, he played numerous heavies.
● John Cleese: British comedian.
●Ron Ely: actor. He was Hollywood’s 15th Tarzan.
●Sonny Tufts: actor. He was popular film star of 1940s.
●Vincent Price: actor. He’s best remembered for horror films.
●Rebecca Lobo: basketball player. She weighs 185 pounds.
●Jesse Ventura: politician. Known as “Jesse the Body” during his pro wrestling days, he became unlikely governor of Minnesota.
●Otto "Scarface" Skorzeny: Hitler's favorite commando. He weighed about 207 and is best remembered for rescuing Mussolini from hilltop imprisonment..
●Abraham Lincoln.16th U.S. president, 1861-65. He weighed 180 pounds..
●Christopher Reeve: actor. He’s best remembered for Superman role.
●John Wayne: actor. America’s most popular male star wore size 8½ shoe. He lived 1909-79...
●Donald Sutherland: actor. He’s best known for playing Hawkeye in M*A*S*H.
●Rod Cameron: actor. He graduated from being a stand-in for Fred MacMurray to leads in B Westerns. He’s notorious for divorcing his wife to marry her mother. .
●Liam Neeson: actor. Irish star first drove a truck, then tried boxing.
●Rock Hudson: actor. He was top male movie star of 1950s. His death in 1985 made public aware of AIDs.
●Tom Selleck: actor. He became famous in TV’s Magnum P.I. (1980-88).
●Sir Edmund Ironside: British field marshal. He was so big and bellicose that he’s often described as “over 7 feet.” But the U.S. ambassador to Russia said 6-4, which is likely closer to reality. The ambassador, who apparently wasn’t as terrified of Ironside as most people, added that Ironside weighed 270 pounds.
● Bob Livingston: congressman. The speaker-designate of House, he quickly withdrew in face of scandal in 1999.
●Pat Garrett: sheriff. He shot Billy the Kid.

6 FEET 3 1/2 INCHES
●Charlemagne: king, emperor: Some old-time biographers said he was 7 feet tall. His body was exhumed in 1861 and measured.
●Timothy McVeigh: terrorist.
●King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
● George Sanders: actor.
● Edward IV: king of England, 1461-83.
●Charles Lindbergh: aviator. But he was also described as 6-2.
●Blackbeard: pirate. He was described as nearly 6-4 and over 200 pounds.
●William Wolfram: concert pianist. He's said to be 6-3 or 6-4.
●Harvey: white rabbit. He was Jimmy Stewart’s imaginary drinking pal in the film Harvey.

6 FEET 3 INCHES
●Johnny Weismueller: wimmer, actor: Olympic athlete became Hollywood’s most famous Tarzan.
●Jimmy Smits: actor.
●Howard Hughes: aircraft pioneer. Reclusive multimillionaire owned much of Las Vegas.
●Stewart Granger: actor. Suave Brit played Beau Brummel.
●Luis Angel Firpo: Argentine boxer known as “The Wild Bull of the Pampas.” He was considered a giant in 1923 when he knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring. He weighed 216 pounds..
●Lyndon Johnson: U.S. president, 1963-69. He weighed 210.
●Pancho Gonzalez: tennis player.
●Troy Donahue: actor.
●Walter Matthau, actor. This was his height at age 16. Did he grow?.
●Muhammad Ali: heavyweight champion in 1960s, ‘70s. He weighed 212..
●George Foreman: heavyweight champion in 1973-74. He weighed 220 then..
●Laird Cregar: actor. He weighed well over 200
●Tom Ridge, Homeland Security czar
●James Cobjurn: actor.
●Joel McCrea: actor
●Lee Marvin: actor.
●Ted Danson: actor. Some references say 6-2.
●Jimmy Stewart: actor.
●Gary Cooper, actor.
●James Garner: actor.
●Paul Robeson: actor, singer; he weighed 240 pounds.
●Boris Becker: tennis player weighed 187 pounds.
●Victor McLaglen: actor.

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6 FEET 2 1/2 INCHES
●Thomas Jefferson: 3rd U.S. president, 1801-09.
●Max Baer: heavyweight champion in 1934-35. He weighed 210.
●Lindsay Davenport: tennis player.
●Gregory Peck: actor. His many famous movies included To Kill a Mockingbird. Some references say he was 6-2, some 6-3.
●Victor Mature: actor.
●Lon Chaney Jr.: actor.

6 FEET 2 INCHES
●Sean Connery: actor (James Bond)
●George Lazenby: actor (James Bond)
●Joseph Cotten: actor
●Steve Allen: entertainer weighed 195
●Pierce Brosnan: actor (James Bond)
●Timothy Dalton: actor (James Bond)
●Babe Ruth: baseball star.
●Gene Debs: labor leader
●Brian Aherne: actor.
●Dennis Morgan: actor.
●Micha Auer: actor.
●Anthony Quinn: actor.
●Field Marshal Gustav Mannerheim of Finland.
●Jack Carson: actor.
●Red Skelton: comedian weighed up to 230 pounds.
●Saddam Hussein: dictator weighed 210 in better days.
●Errol Flynn: actor.
●Billy Graham: preacher.
●George Reaves: Superman actor.
●Tony Perkins: actor.
●Eamon DeValera: preisdent of Ireland.
●Preston Foster: actor weighed 200 pounds..
●Walter Pidgeon: actor.
●Burt Lancaster: actor.
●Simon Templer: fictional crime solver known as “The Saint.”
●Rodolfo Graziani: Italian marshal during World War II.
●Jack Elam: actor. He was the wild-eyed villain in many westerns.
●Stanley Goldblum: CEO. He presided over Equity Funding’s billion-dollar bubble. He’s burly, weighing over 200 pounds.
●John Bell Hood: Confederate general. He failed to stop Sherman in Georgia.
●Preston Foster: actor. He weighed 200 pounds.
●Hope Emerson: actress. She weighed 230 pounds when she appeared in postwar films.
●George Washington: 1st president, 1789-1797. He weighed over 200 in later years.
●Sam Houston: president of Texas. Some biographers say he was 6-6. But U.S. Army records say 6-2.
●Oscar Wilde: British playwright.
●Bill Clinton: U.S. president, 1993-2001. He weighs 215. His height was sometimes given at 6-2 1/2, apparently to one-up rival George Bush.
●Edward I: king of of England, 1272-1307. Called “Longshanks,” he was tall for his day.
●Charles II: king of England. 1660-85. Merry Monarch was described as “at least 6-2.” His father, Charles I, was 5-4..
●Chester Arthur: 21st U.S. president, 1881-85. He weighed 225...
●William Howard Taft: 27th U.S. president, 1909-13. He weighed 332 pounds.
●Maria Sharapova: tennis player.
●Alan Alda: actor.
●Lee Van Cleef: actor.
●Johnny Cash: singer.
●George Bush: 41st U.S. president, 1989-93. He weighs 195..
●Charlton Heston: actor. He weighed 220 pounds during prime, is best remembered as Moses. And Ben-Hur..
●Julia Childs: Famed chef is no shriking violet..
●Venus Williams: tennis player. She’s 6-1½, according to some descriptions..
●James J. Braddock: heavyweight champion in 1935-37. The “Cinderella Man” lost his title to Joe Louis. He weighed 195.
●Mark Clark: U.S. general. He was a World War II hero..
●Frank Thornton: actor. He played Capt. Peacock in the beloved British TV series Are You Being Served? He claimed to be 6-2 in the series and this seems a likely height.
●Glenn "Fireball" Roberts: race-car driver.
●Randolph Scott: actor. Legendary cowboy star reportedly was 6-2, which is what it was said to be in film Roberta. The Nevadan describes his character as 6-3. But Scott’s son insists father was 6-4.
6 FEET 1 1/2 INCHES
●George Patton: U.S. general. World War II tank commander weighed 180 pounds.
●Janet Reno: attorney general under President Clinton..
●James J. Jeffries: heavyweight champion, 1899-1904. He weighed 225 pounds.
●Gene Tunney: heavyweight champion, 1926-28. He weighed 190 pounds.
●Henry Fonda: actor.
●Orson Welles: actor/director
6 FEET 1 INCH
●Wild Bill Hickock: U.S. frontiersman and lawman.
● James J. Corbett: heavyweight champion, 1892-97. “Gentleman Jim” weighed 184.
● Roger Moore: James Bond actor.
●Tom Conway: actor
● Rex Harrison: actor.
● Jack Dempsey: heavyweight champion, 1919-26. He weighed 190 pounds.
● Jim Thorpe, athlete; He weighed 185 pounds.
● Max Schmeling: heavyweight champion, 1930-32. German-born Max weighed 188..
● Clark Gable: actor.
●Trevor Howard: actor.
●Duke Ellington: jazz musician. He weighed 185 pounds.
● Sonny Liston: heavyweight champion, 1952-64. He weighed 212.
●Renee Richards: tennis player. A transsexual, she spawned controversy by competing as woman.
●Geena Davis: actress. Some say she’s only 6-0; she wears 11 1/2 shoes..
●Andrew Jackson: 7th U.S. president, 1929-33. In poor health, he weighed only 140 pounds..
●Joey Maxim: light heavyweight boxing champion in the early 1950s.
●Franklin D. Roosevelt: U.S. president, 1932-45. He weighed in the 180s..
●Ronald Reagan: U.S. president, 1981-89. He weighed 185 pounds.
●Robert Mitchum: tough-guy actor.
●Randy Poffo: wrestler. He weighed 191 pounds while playing minor league baseball. Later, as wrestler Macho Man Savage, he undoubtedly weighed more.
●Budge Patty: tennis star of 1950s weighed 172 pounds.
●Clark Gable: actor.
●Bela Lugosi: Dracula actor.
●Van Johnson: actor..
●Bill Murray: actor.
●Vic Seixas: tennis star of 1950s.
●Kelsey Grammer: actor.
●Dan Duryea: actor
●Douglas Fairbanks Jr. actor

“ SLIGHTLY OVER 6 FEET”
●Davy Crockett: frontiersman, congressman.
●James Monroe: 4th U.S. president, 1809-17
●L Frank Baum: wrote Wizard of Oz.
●John Tyler: 10th U.S. president, 1841-45.
●James Buchanan: 15th U.S. president, 1957-61.
●Eamonn de Valera: president, Republic of Ireland, 1959-73.
●James Cook: British sea captain who explored South Seas.
●George Crook: U.S. general. Famed Indian fighter was described as “a little over 6 feet.”

6 FEET AND 1/2 INCH
●John F. Kennedy: U.S. president, 1961-63. Some say he was 6-1. He weighed 170.
● Ingemar Johansson: heavyweight champion, 1959-60. Swede weighed 196.
● Cary Grant: actor.

6 FEET AND 1/4 INCH
● Jack Johnson: heavyweight champion, 1908-15. First black champ weighed 220 pounds.

6 FEET
● Henry VIII: king of England 1509-47.
● John Travolta, actor.
● Leslie Nielsen: actor.
● Lana Clarkson: actress found dead at Phil Spector’s house.
● Mary Stuart: Queen of Scots. She was beheaded in 1587.
● Henry Figg: first recognized heavyweight champion (1720s). He weighed 185 pounds. He was born in England in 1695.
● William Bainbridge: US naval officer.
● Princess Michael: Member of British royalty. Detractors say she looks like a Valkyrie.
● William T. Sherman. Union general. He was described as “about 6 feet.”
● Ludwig II: king of Bavaria, 1864-86. Mad king’s fantastic castles are tourist attractions.
● Ivan the Terrible: Russian czar, 1533-84. ("about")
● Millard Fillmore: 13th U.S. president, 1950-53.
● Elle Macpherson: model.
●Elvis Presley: entertainer. This height is from his army record; his weight, not part of that, ranged between 165 and 225.
●Dashiell Hammett: author. He created fictional detective Sam Spade.
●James Garfield: 20th U.S. president, 1991. He weighed 185.
●Warren Harding: 29th U.S. president, 1921-23.
●Jerry Ford: 38th U.S. president, 1974-76. He weighed 195..
●Maud Gonne MacBride: founder, Daughters of Erin. She was the poet Yeats' great love.
●Brooke Shields: actress.
●Mr. (Fred) Rogers: TV personality. He weighs 143 pounds.
●Mario Cuomo: politician. He weighed 190 as minor league ballplayer.
●Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: wife of John Kennedy Jr...
●Brad Pitt: actor. He weighs 203.
●Uma Thurman, actress..
●Jack Sharkey: heavyweight champion 1932-33. He weighed 205.
●Bully Hayes: South Sea adventurer/pirate. He weighed 210 pounds..
●Ezzard Charles: heavyweight champion 1949-51. His best weight was 184.
●”Jersey Joe” Walcott: heavyweight champion 1951-52. He weighed 195.
●Joe Walker: explorer. A 200-pounder, he was first white man to see Yosemite.
●Twiggy: famous skinny model of 1960s.
●Paul Kelly: actor. (“about”) He weighed 175.
●Leopold Stokowski: symphony conductor. (“about.)
●Robert Walker: actor..
●Sidney Toler: Charlie Chan actor.
●Nelson Eddy: actor, singer.
●Herbert Marshall: actor.
●Judge Joseph Crater: still missing.
●John Payne: actor.
●Carry Nation: anti-saloon crusader weighed 175 pounds.
●William Powell: actor.
●Dick Powell: But preppy singer-turned movie tough guy was 5-9, according to a 1933 movie he starred in.
●Lionel Barrymore: actor weighed about 190 pounds.
●Dick Powell: actor.
●Ernest Hemingway: novelist weighed 200 pounds.
●Oliver Hardy: comedian weighed 300 pounds.
●Ernest Hemingway: novelist weighed 200 pounds.

ALMOST 6 FEET
●Douglas MacArthur: U.S. general. (“almost”)
●Elizabeth of York: wife of King Henry VII of England, mother of Henry VIII. Her picture is in every deck of playing cards; she’s the queen of hearts. Her body was measured at 5-11½ in recent years. Her father, King William IV, was 6-31/2.
●Ruby Bob Fitzsimmons: heavyweight champion 1897-99. He was described as 5-11 3/4. He was lightest of the heavyweight champs, weighing as little as 167 pounds.
●Floyd Patterson: heavyweight champion 1956-59. “60-62. He was variously described as “almost 6-0,” 5-11 ½ and 6-0. His fighting weight was 182.
●Richard Nixon: U.S. president, 1969-74. He was 5-11½ and weighed 175.
●Joe Frazier: heavyweight champion 1970-72. He was 5-11½ and weighed 210.
●Marvin Hart: heavyweight champion 1905-06. (“just over 5-11”) He weighed 180 to 190.
●Robert Taylor: actor was said to be 5-11 1/2.
●Maurice Chevalier: entertainer was 5-11 1/2.

5 FEET 11 1/4 INCHES
●Daniela Hantuchova: tennis player. A Slovakian, she was 19 in 2002. She was ranked 12 and, some say, rivals Anna Kournikova as the prettiest woman on the tour. Press notices says her legs are 44 inches long, whatever that means.

5 FEET 11 INCHES
●This was minimum for Emperor Napoleon III’s Palace Guard.
●Daniel Craig: James Bond actor
●Glenn Ford: actor.
●Bloody Bill Anderson: Civil War guerrilla
●Anna Nicole Smith: celebrity weighed 178 pounds at death.
● Jack Hawkins: actor.
●Andre Agassi: tennis player weighs 165 pounts.
●William Holden: actor.
●Danny Kaye: actor.
●Allison Janney: actress.
●Althea Gibson: tennis player.
●Robert E. Lee: Confederate general: He weighed a little under 170. His huge head, neck and shoulders made him look taller. From the waist down to his feet he was tiny.
● Susan Anton: actress.
●Paddy Ryan: heavyweight champion 1880-82. He weighed 200 pounds and lost title to John L. Sullivan.
● Archie Moore: light heavyweight champion 1952-60.
● Maxie Rosenbloom: light heavyweight champion 1932-34, Hollywood actor.
● Charles B. Gatewood: U.S. Army lieutenant. He talked Geronimo into surrendering.
● John McEnroe: tennis player.
● Sugar Ray Robinson: legendary boxing champion of the 1940s and ‘50s.
● Hughie Long: governor of Louisiana known as “The Kingfish.”
● Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: Mexican president and general. He was victor at the Alamo..
● Boss Tweed: politician. Corrupt Tammany Hall leader was described as “not quite 6-0" and he weighed 300 pounds.
●Boris Karloff: actor.
●Mariel Hemingway: model.
●Warner Oland: Charlie Chan actor.
●Maurice Barrymore: actor weighed 170 pounds.
●Grover Cleveland: U.S. president, 1885-89, ‘93-97. He weighed 250 pounds.
●Woodrow Wilson: 28th U.S. president, 1913-21. He weighed 175 to 185.
●Herbert Hoover: 31st U.S. president, 1929-33.
●Michael Collins: Irish patriot and martyr.
●Kurt Russell: actor. He also played minor league baseball.
●Kate Shindle: Miss America of 1997: She was tallest yet.
● Sigourney Weaver: actress.
● Courtney Love: entertainer.
●Rocky Marciano: heavyweight champion 1952-56. He was at his best at 185 pounds.
●Richard II of England, "easily 6 feet" when body exhumed in 1871. He ruled in ---
● Julie Newmar actress. She was the Catwoman on TV’s Batman in the 1960s.

5 FEET 10½ INCHES
●Al Capone: gangster. He weighed 175 pounds in his younger days.
●Leslie Howard: actor.
●Andrew Johnson: 17th U.S. president, 1865-69.
●Monica Seles, tennis player weighs 145 pounds.
●Antonin Dvorak: composer was between 5-10 and 5-11.
●Jackie Gleason: comedian claimed 5-11 1/2, but some sources say 5-10, so this is a compromise. He weighed as much as 260 pounds..

5 FEET 10 INCHES
Female dancers at Moulin Rouge in Paris must be at least 5-10. This also was the average height of U.S. officers during WWII. They weighed 158 on average. This was the average for Nazi Germany’s SS officers.
●Gypsy Rose Lee: exotic dancer, 132 pounds.
●Husband E. Kimmel: admiral. He commanded U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
●Walter C. Short: lieutenant general. He commanded U.S. Army at Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was slim.
●Alec Guinness: actor.
●George Raft: actor supposedly was 5-10, but some question that.
●Dick Chaney: U.S. vice president. He weighs 210 pounds.
●Bugsy Siegel: mobster. He pioneered Las Vegas gambling, was shot.
● Jimmy Connors: tennis player.
●Lady Di: international celebrity. It’s said she was over 6 feet with heels, wore flats for wedding and let Prince Charles pose for official photos standing on a box.. But other sources say she was 5-7.
●Mel Gibson: actor. He weighs 160 pounds.
●Arnold Schwarzenegger: actor. He claims 6-2..
● John L. Sullivan: heavyweight champion 1892-92. He weighed 200 pounds. His father was 5-3 and 125 pounds, his mother 5-10 and 180 pounds, meaning that mom was bigger than some of his opponents.
●Franklin Pierce: 14th U.S. president, 1853-57.
●Harry Truman: 33rd U.S. president, 1945-53. He weighed 185 pounds.
●Dwight D. Eisenhower: 34th U.S. president, 1953-61. He weighed 175 pounds.
●Nicole Kidman: actress. With heels, she’s half a head taller than (now ex-) husband Tom Cruise.
●Gwyneth Paltrow: actress.
●Daryl Hannah: actress. She once played a 50-foot woman.
● Sylvester Stallone: actor.
● Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle: old-time movie comedian weighed 270 pounds.
● Serena Williams: tennis player..
● The Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh): western outlaw. He weighed about 170 pounds.
●Rebecca Romijn-Stamos: actress/model.
●Robert Louis Stevenson: author weighed 119 pounds.
●Charlize Theron: actress.
●Father Charles E. Coughlin: controversial radio commendator of 1930s.
●Alec Guinness: actor.
●Kathleen Turner: actress.
●Ingrid Bergman: actress.
●Franchot Tone: actor.
●Doc Holliday: dentist and gunfighter.
●Wilbur Wright: inventor of airplane weighed 140 pounds.
●Dean Martin: singer/actor.
●Bob Hope: entertainer.
●Yul Brynner: actor.
●Judy Holliday: actress. But other reference say she was 5-7 and, if dieting, weighed 125 pounds.
●Montgomery Clift: actor.
●Rebecca Romijn-Stamos: actress/model.
●Rudolph Valentino: but actor claimed to be “near 6 feet.”
●Bert Reynolds: actor.
●Alexis Smith: willowy actress.. Some sources say 5-9, but she seemed even taller than 5-10.

5 FEET 9 3/4 INCHES
● Jane Leeves: actress..

5 FEET 9 1/2 INCHES
●Jimmy Carter: U.S. president, 1977-81. He weighs 155 pounds.
●Ben Franklin: founding father. He was described as "5-9 or 5-10."
●Claire Chennault: World War II general.
●Paul Newman: actor.

5 FEET 9 1/4 INCHES
● Melanie Griffiths: actress..

5 FEET 9
This is the average height of the American male.
●Arthur Wellesley: Duke of Wellington. He was slim.
● Frank Stranahan: golfer
●”Two-Ton Tony Galento: boxer and wrestler. The Ring guide lists him at only 200 pounds, but he likely weighed nearer 235. He was born in 1910 and considered huge for his era.
●Fred Astaire: dancer, actor. He weighed 140 pounds.
●Diego Rivera: Mexican artist. He was described as 1.8 meters and 136 kilograms. That apparently would make him 300 pounds.
● Rosemary Forsyth: actress. Canadian-born, she began as a model.
● Jesse James: outlaw. Actually he was usually described as between 5-8 and 5-10..
● John Edgar Hoover: FBI director. This is the best estimate; he claimed 5-11, critics claimed 5-6..
● Beau Bridges: actor.
● Lon Chaney Sr.: actor.
●Fletcher Christian: ship’s officer. He led the mutiny against Captain Bligh of the Bounty.
●Calvin Coolidge: 30th U.S. president, 1923-29
●Ron Howard: Actor weighed 145 when he played Richie Cunningham in Happy Days.
●Trisha Yearwood: country music singer.
●Cindy Crawford: model..
● Tom Cruise: actor. He claims to be 5-9 but likely isn't.
●Cameron Diaz: actress.
●Diane Sawyer: TV personality.
●Julia Roberts: actress.
●Mira Sorvino: actress.
●Eliot Ness: lawman. His “Untouchables” fought Al Capone.
●Melanie Griffith: actress.
●Butch Cassidy: western outlaw. He was immortalized in film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
●Mata Hari: World War I spy. French executed her in 1917 for spying for Germans.
● Rod Laver: tennis player. Legendary Australian of a generation ago is shorter than many present female players..
●Richard Barthelmess: actor.
●Tony Curtis: actor.
●Douglas Fairbanks Sr.: actor.
●John Barrymore: actor.
●Kirk Douglas, actor.
●Charles Boyer: actor.
●Richard Burton: acvtor.
●British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.
●Jack Lemmon: actor.
●Marie Windsor: actress who was “Queen of the B’s.”.
●Steve McQueen: actor.
●Spencer Tracy: actor.

BETWEEN 5 FEET 8 AND 5 FEET 9● Tom Bosley: actor. He played father on Happy Days, was 5-8 3/4 and 213 pounds.
● Rutherford Hayes: 19th U.S. president, 1877-81. He was 5-8 ½ and weighed 170 to 180.
● Sophia Loren: actress.
● Frank Sinatra: entertainer.
● Adolf Hitler: He was described as 5-8 1/2.
● Peter Sellers: actor was described as 5-8 1/2.
● Orville Wright: inventor of airplane weighed 150 pounds.
● Loren Bacall: actress.

5 FEET 8 INCHES
This was the minimum height for the Roman army during the glory days of the empire. This minimum was lowered to 5-5 when the Western empire was waning. But see the supposed average height of Italian soldiers during WWII. This also was the minimum for SS officers, as set by Heinrich Himmler. This is also the minimum height for for Las Vegas showgirls.
●Lillie Langtry: actress, lover of British King Edward VII.
●Rod Laver: tennis player weighed 150 pounds.
●Mario Lanza, singer, actor: He weighed 240 in 1954. In ‘57 he dieted to 185 by eating only veal and salads. He soon died.
●Kirstie Alley: actress (weight varies between 145 and 220.)
●Robin Williams: actor.
●Meg Ryan: actress.
●James Dean: actor.
●Maureen O’Hara: actress.
●Jackie Chan: actor.
●Red Adair: firefighter.
●Scott Adams: artist (Dilbert).
●Shirley Jones: actress.
●Jane Fonda: actress.
●Tony Randall: actor
●Georges Simenon: French mystery novelist. He weighed 150 pounds.
●Catherine Zita Jones: actress.
●Geronimo: native American leader.
●Zane Gray: novelist famous for his Westerns. He weighed 150 pounds.
●Michael Dukakis: politician. He lost presidential election in 1988.
●Burt Reynolds: actor. He claims 5-11.
●Zachary Taylor: 12th U.S. president, 1849-50. He weighed175 in his prime, 200 as president.
●Teddy Roosevelt: 26th U.S. president, 1901-09. He weighed 200 pounds.
●Billy Crystal: comedian, actor.
●Chris Farley: comedian, actor. He weighed 296 pounds.
●Ivana Trump: The Donald’s ex. This is her height without heels.
●John Singleton Moseby: Confederate raider. He weighed about 125 pounds.
●Melvin Purvis: FBI agent. He shot John Dillinger outside theater in Chicago. He weighed 135 pounds.
●Anna Kournikova: tennis player and glamor girl.
●Julie Andrews: actress.
●Andy Rooney: TV personality.
●James Morrison: Bounty mutineer.
●Lee Harvey Oswald: JFK’s assassin.
●Thomas E. Dewey: unsuccessful presidential candidate, 1944, ‘48: He looked smaller. Critics said he looked like the little man on the wedding cake.
●Joseph E. Johnston: Confederate general. Friends described him as between 5-7 and 5-9. He weighed 150 pounds.
●Tom Cruise: actor claims to be 5-2, 200 pounds, likely is nearer 5-7. This listing is a compromise.

5 FEET 7 1/2 INCHES
● F. Scott Fitzgerald: author. He was described as just under 5-8.
●William IV: king of England, 1830-37. “Sailor Billy” was described as 5-7 or 5-8 and as ●Britain’s “least dignified monarch.”
●John Garfield: actor.
●Humphrey Bogart: actor weighed 136 pounds at age 18.
●Shelley Long: actress.
●Katharine Hepburn: actress.
●Greta Garbo: actress.
●Groucho Marx: commedian.

5 FEET 7 INCHES
●Nicholas II: last czar of Russia, 1894-1917.
●Harry Hopman: tennis player, coach; he weighed 133 pounds.
●James Cagney: actor.
●Brigette Bardot: actress.
●Adele Jergens: actress.
●Alan Ladd: actor weighed 150 pounds.
●Stan Laurel: commedian.
●Gene Kelly: actor/dancer.
●Doris Day: actress/singer.
●Bing Crosby: actor/singer.
●Kirstie Alley: actress.
●Puff Daddy: entertainer.
●Jane Russell: actress.
●Premier Ariel Sharon of Israel; he weighs 255 pounds.
●Betty Pack: spy for U.S. during World War II.
●Ann Miller: dancer/actress; She’s best remembered for On the Town. But she appeared taller than Fred Astaire, who supposedly was 5-9.
●Alfred Hitchcock: director.
●Maria Callas: opera diva.
●Rocky Graziano: middleweight champion, entertainer..
●Christopher Isherwood: British writer. He was the basis for Cabaret.
●MacKenzie Phillips: actress.
●Charles Bronson: tough-guy actor. He claims to be 5-11.
●Ross Perot: billionaire, candidate for president.
●Lady Di: international celebrity.
●Princess Anne: daughter of British queen.
●Prince Albert: husband of Queen Victoria of England.
●Audrey Hepburn: actress. She was too tall for ballet, so she tried acting.
●John Quincy Adams: 2nd U.S. president, 1797-1801. He weighed 175 pounds.
●Ulysses.S. Grant: 18th president, 1869-77. He was 5-1 when he first went to West Point.
●William McKinley: 25th president, 1897-1901. He weighed nearly 200 in an era when paunchiness was equated with prosperity.
●Tommy Burns: heavyweight champion, 1906-08. He was shortest ever to hold title. He weighed 170 pounds.
●Martina Hingis: tennis star.
●Angelina Jolie: actress
●Hilary Swank: actress. She weighs 118.
●Capucine: actress. She was in two of the Pink Panther films.
●Tawny Kitean: actress. The police blotter showed her as 5 feet 7, 145 pounds and 40 years old when she was booked in 2002 for punching husband, pitcher Chuck Finley (6-6, 225) of the Cleveland Indians.

5 FEET 6 1/2 INCHES
●Princess Grace: former actress. At 18, Grace Kelly weighed 126 pounds.
●Anita Ekberg: actress
●Bob Costas: sports announcer
● Henry Winkler: actor. “The Fonz” weighs 134 pounds..
●Olivia de Havilland: actress. This is her height in heels, according to a police lineup chart in The Dark Mirror.
●Dustin Hoffman: actor. Many think he’s even shorter.
●Winston Churchill: prime minister of Britain. Successor Anthony Eden was a whole head taller.
●Bernard Montgomery: British general. Monty was about the same as Winston Churchill, judging from photos.
●Jamie Lee Curtis: actress.
●Napoleon: French emperor. Modern historians say he was “5-6-plus,” noting that the 5-2 height often reported for him resulted from confusion over old systems of measurement. If this is so, he was taller than nephew Napoleon III.
● Louis XVI: king of France. This was his height with his head. Actually, he’s described as “5-6 or 5-7.”
● Augustus Caesar: Roman emperor. He was “just over 5-6,” according to a biographer. This might be inaccurate, though. Suetonius, the historian, says it's much exaggerated. He notes that everyone, in first meeting Augustus, was surprised to see how small he was.
●Benjamin Harrison: 23rd U.S. president, 1889-93.
●Henry Winkler: actor (the Fonz)
●Claude Rains: actor.
●Eleanor Powell: actress.

5 FEET 6 INCHES
●Benito Mussolini: Italian dictator. He literally looked up to Hitler, who was relatively tall. Figuratively, he looked down on him as "effeminate." Mussolini was always photographed amid short people and it was said he would permit only short people around him. He weighed 162 in 1943.
●Rita Hayworth (actress)
●Herman Goering: Hitler’s top henchman weighed up to 265 pounds. Photos show Heinrich Himmler about Goering's height).
●O. Henry: author. He had a slight build..
●King George V of U: Wise guys called him "George the Four-Fifths."
●Edward VII: He was king of England in 1901-10. He looked taller, maybe because he was a king, maybe because he was a bully.
●Edward VII: He was king of England in 1936. Upon abdication he became Duke of Windsor..
●Alfred Hitchcock: Master of movie suspense was short and fat.
●Dustin Hoffman (but see above).
●John Paul Jones: Some say founder of U.S. Navy was 5-7, some say 5-5. This is a compromise.
●John Adams: The second president was described as “about 5-6.”.
●Harry Houdini: escape artist/entertainer.
●Louis Lepke: labor-racketeer and mobster.
●Kate Winslet: actress. She weighed 185 as teenager.
●George Wallace: Alabama governor.
●Pete Conrad: astronaut. He was third man on the moon.
●Dorothy Malone: actress. Her character was described as 5-6 in Flaxie Martin.
●Rudyard Kipling: author.
●Julius Caesar: Roman general, dictator. (“about”).
●Elisha Cook Jr.: This is the noted character actor’s height, according to Humphrey Bogart’s description in The Maltese Falcon. Cook is also remembered as the little farmer who got shot in Shane.
●Goldie Hawn: actress.
●The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen.
●Ava Gardner: actress
●Lillian Russell: actress grew to 165 pounds in the 1920s.
●Cyd Charisse: dancer/actress.
●Lon McCallister: actor.
●Cullen Landis: silent film hero.
●Raquel Welsh: actress.

5 FEET 5½ INCHES
●T.E. Lawrence: “Lawrence of Arabia.”
●Admiral Horatio Nelson: British naval hero.
● J. Lionel Cowen: manufacturer of toy trains. The famous founder of Lionel Trains was described as "a little over 5-5."
●J.R.R. Tolkien: writer.
●Ann Sheridan: actress.
●Fred Patek: ballplayer.
●Albie Pearson: ballplayer.
●Emperor Hirohito of Japan.
●Rabbit Maranville: ballplayer.
●Roman Polanski: director.
●Jules Verne: novelist.
●Audie Murphy: war hero, actor. This was his height upon induction into the U.S. Army. He emerged as World War II’s most decorated hero, then became a Hollywood actor..
●Martin Van Buren: 8th U.S. president, 1837-41. He was described as “not quite 5-6.”
●Marilyn Monroe: actress.
●Harpo Marx: actor.
● Janet Leigh: actress.
● Dustin Hoffman: actor.
●William Faulkner: novelist.
●Gene Sarazen, golfer.
5 FEET 5
This is the average height of Italian soldiers in World War II.
●King Tut: Actually, the mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh was measured at 5-5 1/8..
●Aristotle Onassis: Greek shipping tycoon.
●Hirohito: Japanese emperor.He appeared shorter than that in photos beside future Duke of Windsor.
●Samantha Eggar: actress.
●Earl Boykins: basketball player. A guard with Golden State Warriors, he was NBA's smallest player in 2003. He weighs 133.
●Edward G. Robinson: actor.
●Demi Moore; actress. She weighs 130 pounds
●Evita Peron: legendary wife of Argentine dictator. She was subject of play and movie entitled Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”
●Emperor Napoleon III of France: He ruled in 1852-70. He had very short legs and was perhaps shorter than his more-famous uncle.
●Jimmy Hoffa: labor leader. .
●Gus Grissom: astronaut.
●Armand Hammer: industrialist.
●Spike Lee: director.
●Vaslav Njinsky: ballet dancer.
●Aristotle Onassis: tycoon.
●Geoffrey the Giraffe: This was his height at birth, Dec. 25, 2002, at NYC’s Bronx Zoo.
●Ann-Margret: This is her official height but she looks smaller when photographed with Elvis...
●Frederick Funston, the "little colonel" (115 pounds) who captured Emilio Aquinaldo in March 1901 during war in Philippines (father was 6-2, 200-pound "Foghorn" Funston, a Civil War officer who bcame a U.S congressman).
●Evil King John: He ruled England in 1199-1216.
●Manfred von Richthofen: Germany’s Red Baron shot down 80 Allied planes in World War I..
●Axis Sally: German disc jockey during World War II. Mildred Gillars died in Ohio.
●Queen Mary, wife of George V.
●Barbara Stanwyck: actress.
●Virginia Mayo: actress.
●Martin Bormann: Nazi.
●Mama Cass Elliott: singer weighed up to 250 pounds.
●Pete Lorre: actor. But he looked nearer 5-2.
●Syngman Rhee: politician.
●Mickey Cohen: gangster.
●Gina Lollabrigida: actress.
●Alan Ladd: tough-guy actor. He stood on boxes when filmed with taller actresses..
●Baby Face Nelson: bandit.
●Richard Dreyfuss: actor.
●Fightin' Joe Wheeler: Confederate major general lived to fight in Cuba as U.S. general. He weighed 120 pounds.
● Joel Grey: Actor is best known for role in Cabaret..
●Lou Costello: comedian.
●William Mahone: Confederate general was described as barely 5 1/2 feet tall. He weighed less than 100 pounds. (The name was pronounced “Muh-hown.")

5 FEET 4 3/4 INCHES
●Baby Face Nelson: gangster.

5 FEET 4½ INCHES
●Sir Francis Drake: England’s noted privateer (pirate) was described as “under 5-5.”
●Willie Keeler: Wee Willie hit em where they ain’t when playing baseball for old Baltimore Orioles...
●Elizabeth Taylor: actress's best weight is 120 to 122 pounds.
●Jeanette MacDonald: actress/singer.
●Rosanna Podesta: actress.
●Adam Worth: master criminal. He was model for Professor Moriarity in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Worth was described as 5-4 or 5-5 and 130/135 pounds..

5 FEET 4 INCHES
The Floradora Girls, a public sensation of 1901, were each 5-4 and 130 pounds -- the ideal of the era.
The Average Japanese officer was 5-4 during WWII, partially because food at notorious military academy at Ichigaya was so sparse and bad. They weighed 128 pounds on average.
●Joan Crawford: actress.
●Virginia Hill: gun moll weighed 130 pounds.
●Charles I: British king.
●Pablo Picasso: artist. (“about”)
●Madonna: entertainer. She weighs 101.
●Hercule Poiret: fictitious detective.
●Carmen Electra: actress.
●Hideki Tojo: premier of Japan. He was executed after World War II. He weighed 155 pounds, was bald and wore horn-rimmed glasses
●Ludvig von Beethoven: composer.
●Mario Andretti: race driver.
●Sir Tom Phillips: British admiral. As commander-in-chief of the Far Eastern Fleet, he presided over British naval disaster in which cruiser Repulse and battleship Prince of Wales were lost to Japanese Dec. 8, 1941. He was called “Tom Thumb” because of his size and it was said he was “all brain and no body.” He was killed in the debacle..
●Ginger Rogers: actress. She’s best remembered as Fred Astaire’s dancing partner.
●Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: composer.
●Meyer Lansky: gangster. He was “prime minister” of organized crime.
●Phil Sheridan: Civil War general. He weighed 115 pounds.
●Josef Stalin: Soviet dictator.
●Clara Bow: actress.
●Vivian Leigh: actress.
●U.S. Gen. John S. Casement: Civil War commander, building of Union Pacific Railroad.
●Michael J. Fox: actor.
●Donald Meek: character actor. Bald and humorous, he was in many famous movies but is perhaps most familiar as frightened traveling salesman in Stagecoach. He weighed 130 pounds.
●Liz Ray: Washington, D.C. secretary: The notorious non-typer weighed 108 pounds..
●Elizabeth II: queen of England. ("just under").
●Queen Mum (Elizabeth): late mother of Elizabeth II.
●James Madison: 3rd U.S. president, 1809-17. He weighed 100 pounds.
●John Harvey Kellogg: cereal maker. Dr. Kellogg made Battle Creek, Mich., famous.
●Elizabeth Taylor, actress.
●Winona Ryder: actress.
●Barbara Hutton: heiress to Woolworth fortune.
●Composer Ludwig von Beethoven: composer. This height is from a Bose ad, but is this credible?
●Jeanette Macdonald: actress, singer. This is according to her description of herself in the film Rosemarie.
●Rod Serling: TV writer.
●Chris Antley: jockey.
●Haile Selassie: Ethiopian emperor.
●Gustav Mahler: composer.
●Sammy Davis Jr.: entertainer.
●Moe Howard: actor.
●Barry Fitzgerald: actor.
●John Hancock: politician.
●Burgess Meredith: actor.
●Rick Moranis: actor.
●Guy Lombardo: band leader.
●Pablo Picasso: artist
●Igor Stravinsky: composer.
●Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
●James McNeill Whistler: artist.
●Auguste Rodin: sculptor.
●Martin Scorsese: director.
●Arnold Schoenberg: composer.
●Mel Brooks: actor/director.
●Robert Blake: actor and murder defendant.

5 FOOT 3 1/2 INCHES
● Scott Hamilton: skater.
●Olyvia de Havilland: actress.

5 FOOT 3 INCHES
● Truman Capote: author best known for Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
● Charles Aznavour: singer.
● Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues: basketball player.
●Voltaire: philosopher.
●John Wesley: religious leader.
●Paul Simon: musician.
● Actress Betty Grable: actress, pin-up.
● Mohandas Gandhi: political leader.
● Anthony Armstrong-Jones: photographer. He married and divorced Britain’s Princess Margaret.
● Vladimir Lenin: ruler of Soviet Union..
● Mickey Rooney: actor.
● Isokoru Yamamoto: Japanese admiral. He masterminded attack on Pearl Harbor.
● William Bonney: Billy the Kid. He weighed 125 pounds.
● Marilyn Monroe: actress. American film goddess of the 1950s was described as 5-2 or 5-4. She wore, some say, a size 16 dress.
● Nikita Khrushchev: Russian premier.
● Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet): French writer and philosopher.
● Bette Davis: actress.
● Jessica Simpson: celebrity.
● Jay Gould: Wall Street chiseler's height was approximate. Some sources say 5-6, some 5-0. This listing is a compromise.
●King Ibn Talil Hussein of Jordan.
●Charles Manson: murderer weighs 130 pounds.

5 FEET 2 1/2 INCHES
●Rosemary Casals: tennis player.
5 FEET 2 INCHES
This is the minimum height for the French Foreign Legion.
● Fiorello LaGuardia: mayor of New York City. Some sources say 5-0.
● Honore de Balzac: novelist.
● Eva Longoria: actress
● Buckminster Fuller: scientist.
● Julie Christie: actress.
● Yuri Garagin: cosmonaut.
● Margaret Mead: anthropologist.
●Skinner Belfield: baseball player. He caught for the 1948 Newark Eagles of the Negro leagues.
●Charles Ponzi: swindler and father of pyramid schemes..
●Francisco Madero: Mexican president, 1911-13.
●Horatio Alger: author. Besides writing inspirational books for boys, he was a child molester.
●Dudley Moore: British musician and comedian was, some say, 5-2 1/2.
● Jacob “Little Augie” Orgen: gangster. NYC mobster of the '30s was killed by Louis Lepke.
●Yasser Arafat: politician.
●Carole Lombard: actress.
●Claudette Colbert: actress. (This is approximate. She was half an inch taller than Mae West.)
●Sen. Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi.
●John C. Fremont: explorer.
●Chang Bunker: Siamwse twin (but brother Eng was 5-3.)
●Julius Streicher: Nazi war criminal.
●Carlos Marcello: gangster. Some think this Louisiana godfather "hit" JFK..

5 FEET 1 INCH
●Mae West: actress. Some friends claimed she was under 5-0 without special shoes.
●Thomas C. Hindman, Confederate major general. But Joe Wheeler supposedly was war's smallest general.
●June Allyson: actress.
●Edvard Grieg: composer.
●St. Francis of Assisi.
●Debby Reynolds: actress.
●Marquis de Sade: notorious historical figure. He was “5-1 or 5-2.".
●Thomas Hardy: novelist. He was "barely over 5 foot."
●Henri Toulouse-Lautrec: artist. But other sources say he was 4-11, or even “4½ feet tall.”
●Mary Miles Minter; actress. She was suspect in notorious murder of director William Desmond Taylor.

5 /feet 0 3/4 INCHES
● John Keats: English poet.

5 /feet 0 1/2 INCHES
● Mary Pickford: actress.

5 FEET
●Abigail Van Buren: advice columnist.
●Dolly Parton: country singer.
●Georgia Sothern: stripper.
●Vittorio Emanuelle: Italian king in Mussolini era. He was described as “barely 5 foot.”.
●Benito Juarez: Mexican president 1857-72.
●David Ben-Gurion: politician.
●Milton Friedman: economist.
●Patty Duke: actress.
●Stephen A. Douglas: politician.
●Andrew Carnegie: tycoon.
●Thomas Hart Benton: artist.
●Gracie Allen: comedienne.
●Annie Oakley: entertainer.
●Natalie Wood: actress.
●Harriet Tubman: teacher.
●Shari Lewis: entertainer.
●Immanuel Kant: philosopher.
●Lorenz Hart: lyricist.
●Danny DeVito: actor.
●Josef Goebbels: German propagandist. He weighed 100 pounds.
●Izzy Einstein: Prohibition agent No. 1. He weighed 225. He and partner became nationally famous as “Izzy and Moe.” Jackie Gleason did a TV movie of this name in 1985.
●Princess Margaret: late sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She was often described as "just over 5 foot" but one source says she barely hit 5-0 even with her special high heels.
●Guiseppe Zangara: bricklayer, assassin. Zangara, 32, tried to kill President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 15, 1933 in Miami. He was so short he couldn't see over crowd. His five shots went wild. One killed the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak..
●Clara Barton: founder of American Red Cross..
●Drew Barrymore: actress.
●Pearl Hart: female bandit in Arizona.
●Helen Hayes, actress. In the movie Airport, she’s described as 5-0.
●Jean Paul Marat: revolutionist. He was murdered during French Revolution.
●Lupe Velez: actress.
●Estelle Astraire: dancer.
●Father Divine: Late preacher was said to be "about 5 feet."
●Maurice Ravel: composer.
●Mr. Ed: talking horse. Improbable TV star measured 15 hands.

“UNDER 5-0"
●Isidoro De Lara: composer. He was born Isidore Cohen in London in 1857. His operas included "The Light of Asia" and "Amy Robsart." Facially, he was handsome, and he had a fine baritone voice. He was charming, dynamic and confident, despite his size and his hunched back. He was notorious for cuckolding Prince Albert of Monaco, breaking up his marriage with Princess Alice.

4 FEET 11 INCHES
●Mother Teresa: future saint.
● Olga Korbut: gymnast.
● Cathy Rigby: gymnast.
● Harriet Beecher Stowe: author
● Nancy Walker: actress.
●Gloria Swanson: actress.
●Victoria: British queen 1837-1901. She weighed 181 pounds in old age..
●Carmen Miranda: actress. The bananas on her hats made her look taller..
●Willie Shoemaker: jockey. He became “Bill” as he grew older, richer..
●Judy Garland; actress. Her weight ranged from 90 pounds to 185..
●Engelbert Dollfuss: chancellor of Austria. He was known as "Millimetternich" and “Tiny.” The Nazis killed him in 1934.
●Barbara Boxer: politician.
●Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: artist
●Nell Carter: entertainer.
●Kristen Chenoweth: actress.
●Anita Loos: writer.
●Tammy Faye Bakker: evangelist.

4 FOOT 10½ INCHES
To qualify for the Japanese armed forces, a male had to be at least 4-10 ½ , 103 pounds and have a chest measurement more than half his height

4 FEET 10 INCHES
●Robert Reich: former U.S. Labor secretary. That's what he says, but some think he's smaller.
●Edith Piaf: French singer. She weighed 90 pounds.
●Sister Nirmala: nun. She’s Mother Teresa's successor.
●Brenda Lee: U.S. pop singer.
●Bonnie Parker: outlaw weighed 85 pounds.
●Margaret Mitchell: author (Gone With the Wind).
●Charlotte Bronte: author.

4 FEET 9 1/2 INCHES
●Mary Lou Retton: gymnast.

4 FEET 9 INCHES
●Linda Hunt: actress.
●Alicia de Larrocha: concert pianist.

4 FEET 8 INCHES
●Gary Coleman: actor.

4 FEET 7 INCHES
●Dr. Ruth Westheimer: psychologist.

4 FEET 6 INCHES AND LESS
Napoleon lowered the minimum for the Grande Armee to 4-6, obviously because he was killing off so many of his men.
●4 feet 6: Alexander Pope: British poet.

●4 feet 2 -- Queen Matilda: wife of William the Conquerer of England. This height was noted by those who opened her tomb in 1967. You have to wonder if they opened the right tomb, though.

●4 feet 0 -- Johnny Roventini: bellboy in commercials. His “Call for Philip Morris” was seen and heard in cigarette ads in 1933-74. He died 11/30/1998 in Suffern, N.Y., at age 88.)

●Herve Villachaize: actor (Love Boat).

●3-10 -- Billy Barty: actor. He made films in the early 1930s and was still making them in the ‘90s. He weighs 80 pounds..

●3-7 -- Eddie Gaedel, major league baseball player. His insistence that he’d played in the big leagues led to many bar fights, which he always lost, and perhaps led to his fatal beating in 1961. If fact, he was the midget Bill Veeck sent up to bat for the St. Louis Browns in 1951. He weighed 65 pounds.

●2-8 Verne Troyer: actor (villainous Mini-Me married 6-2 woman).

●2-5:-- George S. Stratton: circus performer (less euphemistically, he was a freak). He was from Bridgeport, Conn. He became “Gen.. Tom Thumb,” P.T. Barnum's midget. He was 2-1 at 5 years old, when first displayed. He’d grown to 2-5 by Feb. 10, 1862, when he married Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump at Grace Church in NYC. This was the first marriage for both.

●2-2 1/2 -- Calvin Phillips lived 1791-1812.

●1-10 1/2 -- Gul Mohanned who lived 1957-97, is said to have been world’s shortest person.

● An oldtime magician named Bukinger (?) was also 29 inches tall. might check him in library.

13 1/2 INCHES
●Oscar, the Academy Award.

VAGUE DESCRIPTIONS
●The Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, was described as above average height.
●President William Henry Harrison was described as average height.
●President James Knox Polk was just under medium height.

COMPARING HEIGHTS
We can try to fill in some blanks by using our ingenuity. Hollywood films are a big help, especially if we can see if the women are wearing high heels or not.
John Garfield and George Raft were shorter than Marie Windsor, offered to stand on boxes when filmed with her. Maureen O’Hara recalls Garfield standing on an “apple box” when filming beside her.
Some comparisons:
●Gen. Henri Giraud of France was nearly as tall as Charles de Gaulle.
Jay Leno looks about two inches shorter than Arnold Schwarzenegger. The latter claims to be 6-2 but is nearer 5-10.
●Economist John Kenneth Galbreath is very tall, perhaps about 6-6.
●Fidel Castro likely is about 6-3 or 6-4.
●Vladimir Putin looks about 5-11.
●Judging from photos, Gen. George Marshall likely was roughly 5-10.
●Judging from photos, Gen. John Pershing likely was roughly 5-8. He was quite burly.
●Hitler’s biographers can write 1,200 pages without revealing his height. He probably was about 5-9. Judging by photos, he was 2 or 3 inches taller than Goering, 3 inches taller than Mussolini and 4 inches taller than Goebbels.
●Martin Luther King Jr. was small.
●SS Gen. Sepp Dietrich was little more than 5 feet tall, judging by photos.
●Samuel Gompers, the labor leader of the early 1900s, was very small, not much over five feet apparently

WEIGHT
History has had some notorious heavyweights. Some are listed below. Unfortunately, the heights of most of these people aren’t known.

● Konishiki was champion sumo wrestler who weighed 630 pounds.
● Movie actor Andy Devine weighed 300 pounds.
● Movie actor Sebastian Cabot weighed 280 pounds.
● Major Gen. Sterling Price weighed more than 300 pounds at the end of the Civil War. He commanded a Confederate army in Missouri..
● Willis B. "Bill" Chapman umpired in the Big State League in 1951-52. He weighed between 405 and 410 pounds. He wore a size 56 chest protecotr, which the manufacturer called the largest ever made.
● Gen. William Shafter led U.S. troops in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He weighed 300 pounds and needed two privates to hoist him on his horse. His troops joked that he was three men rolled into one.
● Diamond Jim Brady, famous boyfriend of Lillian Russell, weighed 250 pounds.
● Union Gen. George Thomas grew enormous after the Civil War.
● Actor Sydney Greenstreet weighed nearly 300 pounds.
● Two British monarchs, King Henry VIII and Queen Anne, grew so fat they needed derrick arrangements to help them out of bed.
● Actor Victor Buono, 44, weighed about 300 when he died in 1982. He’s best remembered as the accompanist in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
● Politician William Jennings Bryan weighed 180 until the late 1890s, then gained 30 pounds.
●Composer Jacques Offenbach is said to have weighed 90 pounds.

Dieting has killed more than one film star. Mario Lanza, 38, died in a clinic in Rome in 1957. A crash diet killed Laird Cregar, 28, in 1944.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi "jphil",

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Regards, Johnny C