It’s often difficult to find the real height of celebrities. The shorter ones who want to be known as taller sometimes go to great lengths always to be seen in public with high heeled shoes. As they grow older and comfortable in their careers they may stop doing that, there are a variety of pictures of men mentioned here wearing flats standing next to other taller people. Occasionally there’s an actual height that can be found, John Wayne was measured at 6’4" in a college physical exam. Elvis Presley was 6’0" and measured for his induction into the military. But people’s heights change, for younger people that may grow and most people shrink at least a little as they get older.
One thing I’ve noticed is how easily people are fooled by the height of professional wrestlers. They often wear lifts inside their boots. Their boots have soft soles to prevent injury and those are occasionally extra thick, and more than one wrestler has worn high heeled cowboy boots as part of their attire. The elevated ring gives the impression of height as well, just your mind fooling you when you have to look up at something. They will often wear tall hats when not wrestling. They create images of height that they then use for comparative imagery in the ring, for instance a very tall wrestler will slouch next to a shorter guy to make him seem taller and minimize the height disparity. In general you can add at least 2 inches and often more to the billed height of pro wrestling men, except at the opposite end of the spectrum where they may subtract an inch or two to exaggerate their small size. There has always been an attraction to giants in the pro wrestling business and men no more than 6’6", or maybe shorter, have been billed as being 7’ or more in height. Andre the Giant billed at more than 7’ all the time could walk under a 7’ bar. He potentially could have been taller if not for the extreme curvature of his spine that he suffered as a result of acromegaly that kept him growing throughout his life, but he’s been photographed next to basketball players with confirmed heights of 7’ and over, and he was clearly not as tall in actual height, though still had more of the appearance of a giant than they did because of his outsize proportions in all directions.
Looking at all the actors who tower over Cruise, including children and animals, I think Cruise could be no more than 14" tall. We are talking about acting ability, right?
I was a con in the early ‘90’s, and Dave (Darth Vader) Prowse was supposed to be signing autographs, so my GF and I went looking. I spotted a volunteer and asked where he was. She pointed him out, and I said, "Wait, isn’t he supposed to be like 6’ 7"? That guy’s my size!" (about 6’ 3" at the time)
The volunteer said that arthritis had taken a toll.
As a side-note: He has a somewhat notorious reputation, but he was very nice to us, and talked with us at length.
After working with the local pro wrestling promotion, I’d say the fans will believe whatever you tell them. We billed out a tall guy at “over seven feet tall and over 400 pounds,” but he was actually 6 feet 6 and about 340. Another guy is billed at 369 pounds, though he’s only about 315. I won’t say that the fans are gullible, just that they’re willing (whether they know it or not) to suspend disbelief for the sake of the show. And you’re right; the fact that the fans’ seats are on the floor, and the ring is three feet off the floor, helps exaggerate the wrestlers’ height.
I did once meet Jake “The Snake” Roberts, formerly of the WWF (now WWE). Jake had retired, but he was still quite tall–I’d guess about 6 feet 4 or so. He always looked about average height in the ring. I asked him why he looked pretty average height in the ring. He replied (paraphrased), “Camera angles, and the fact that they always matched me up against guys who were within a few inches of my height.” Makes sense. Anyway, I may have booed Jake when he was a wrestler, but years later when we met, he proved to be a very nice guy, and I was glad that he took a few minutes to speak with this wrestling fan.
Former FBI director and Trump foe James Comey is 6 ft 8 in. Watching video of him walking or standing with other people, I might have guessed that he was even taller than that. He is like, really, really tall.
Cycling’s new big thing is Remco Evenepoel - first person to win a classic whilst in their teens for about a century; European time trial champion at 20. He’s a hell of a time trialler.
Thing is, time triallers are typically big (as cyclists go) - for example:
Tony Martin - 6’ 1"
Rohan Dennis - 5’11 1/2"
Brad Wiggins - 6’ 3"
Evenepoel clocks in at 5’ 7 1/2" - an extreme outlier. It’s hard to figure how he generates the power. But then I suppose, outstanding athletes are outliers anyway.
It’s weird, I watched a lot of Night Court back in the day, and it seemed obvious to me that Richard Moll and John Larroquette were tall, but I never would have guessed that Harry Anderson and Charles Robinson were over six feet.
Even though he wasn’t someone you see in movies or tabloids, I was surprised that shrimp Bill Gates’ father is like a 6’9" monster.
The Rock is commonly listed as 6’5" and he seems it on film, but he’s more around 6’1", 6’2" there is a picture of him with Obama and he looks almost the same height as Obama.
