Posted on 03/19/2015 11:06:09 AM PDT by donna
Actors were once strapping hunks, thick-thighed he-men who had only to arrive at a film premiere to make everyone’s eyes bulge.
These Adonises towered above lesser mortals and had their suits made specially for them because they were such muscular specimens.
That’s the way things were when the likes of John Wayne (6ft 4in), Gregory Peck (6ft 3in), Charlton Heston (6ft 3in) and Clint Eastwood (6ft 4in) were in their prime.
They were big men playing big characters, often on top of enormous horses or engaged in butch boxing bouts.
Compare that with the recent Oscars ceremony, when our own Eddie Redmayne was announced as winner of the Best Actor category for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything. The audience members sitting near him leapt to their feet to applaud — and little Eddie was suddenly dwarfed.
The actress Cate Blanchett loomed over him — she looked so much bigger than him, he could have been her lunch. And yet Redmayne, at 5ft 10in, is one of the taller modern male stars.
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All 4 Stooges were 5-6 or under, LOL
Moe and Larry were 5-4
No there were shorter male stars back when..
My mother used to tell of reading that some male stars would stand on a box when standing next to a taller female star for scenes that called for them standing together..
and for one taller female (I think it might have been Sophia Loren) they dug a trench and had her walked down in it along side the shorter male to make him appear taller than she was..
this would have been the 1940/50s and it may have also been that the stars were the same height or he just an inch or 2 taller and they wanted the male to seem taller than the female..
From what I hear, he wasn’t much of a man, either.
Likewise for the actresses. Watch some old classics on TMC and the difference will jump out at you. Like comparing adults vs teenagers for both sexes.
Since he got his fake Teeth anyway.
As with Bogart, I’m pretty sure they still use boxes.
No CGI needed.
All well over 6 ft: Vince Vaughn, Liam Neeson, Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onfrio, Tim Robbins, Tyler Perry, Jason Segal
They cherry picked some data. For the most part people (especially men) driven to fame tend to be short. It’s one of the ways short man syndrome manifests, that need to be “respected” by others turns into a need to be adulated by the masses. There’s always going to be exceptions, but by and large the famous are short... and neurotic.
Women are also wearing incredibly high heels in performances with men. No one seems to care if it makes them look taller than the men anymore. There was a time when that was a no no.
I think it is odd. Often looks like the men are shorter than the women when in fact they are not.
HA! That’s funny. Cruise sure packed a punch as Reacher in the movie. Saw it twice even, liked it so much.
He did play the badass Jack Reacher very well, but in the book Reacher is 6'4"
I saw Arnold Schitzenegger in person. He is an orange haired runt about 5’6” and he wears elevator shoes. If you look closely at some of the old I Love Lucy reruns you can see Desi Arnaz wearing elevator shoes to match up with Lucy.
Bingo. It makes it much easier to frame shots, and only looks strange during full length shots, which are rarer.
I know Robert Duvall is about average, but I only know this because he was in line behind me at a grocery store. Decent guy.
OK I found it..Sophia Loren..
The movie was Boy on a Dolphin and the shorter male actor was Alan Ladd..
the did walk together with Sophia in a ditch/trench..
Steve McQueen was the epitome of “cool.” He did his own driving during the chase scene in Bullit. Imagine today’s ‘roided up CGI altered pretty boys trying to do the same in Fast and Furious.
Cruise as Jack Reacher:
Well, the character is described as being 6’-5” tall, about 280 lbs, with hands the size of hams, able to commit controlled mayhem against 3 or 4 large fit opponents within seconds.
So maybe you can understand why casting Cruisr as Reacher is laughable to Lee Childs readers. Same as casting the petite Demi Moore as GI Jane.
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