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The Height
of Celebrity
by
Maggie Van Ostrand |
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When
we say we want the truth about celebrities, we don't really mean it.
We don't care if their breasts are natural or silicone, we want 'em
big. We don't care if fashion magazines airbrush the models' bodies
or not, we want 'em skinny. And we don't care if our favorite stars
wear lifts or not, we want 'em tall.
When we watch television, we're smart enough to know the actors are
not as small as they appear. Who could possibly be only an inch tall?
Well, as it happens, hardly anyone. But some of our celebrities are
pretty little.
Since the media harps on the public's right to know, be it the names
of secret agents, who's dating whom, or who's gender bending, why
not ease our minds and let us know who's walking tall and who's walking
small? Like former-planet Pluto, some stars need to be downsized.
To that end, help is on the way from the Height Detective.
When casting films and TV shows, casting directors must consider two
important characteristics: voice and height. You'll never hear actors
in the same scene with similar-sounding voices, nor will you often
see a short actor paired with a love interest who's considerably taller.
Back in the 40s, the public wanted to see 5'-6" Alan Ladd, their favorite
film noir actor ("This Gun For Hire," "The Glass Key") star opposite
Veronica Lake (4'-11"). When shooting love scenes with taller actresses,
they were filmed from the waist up to conceal the ditch the actress
was standing in to make Ladd appear taller. Imagine how deep that
ditch would have to be today, were Ladd to star opposite 5'-10.5"
Nicole Kidman.
When Jason Alexander as Seinfeld's George Castanza talked about his
"shrinkage;" maybe he wasn't talking about what we thought. Jason
Alexander measures a diminutive 5'-5," even more obvious when he stood
next to Kramer, played by 6'-3" Michael Richards.
Your height detective isn't impolitic enough to suggest Brad Pitt
wears lifts, it's just that 5'-9" Pitt is 5'11" in shoes, even taller
if he's standing uphill from 5'-7" girlfriend Angelina Jolie.
Tom Cruise is 5'-7.75" with and without shoes, and hasn't tried to
fake it. He's shorter than 5'-9" Katie Holmes, unless he sits on his
money, in which case he's taller than anyone in Hollywood except Tom
Hanks (6'- 0.25"). Perhaps Cruise should consider starring with Eva
Longoria or Hilary Duff, both 5'-1."
If Oprah Winfrey and Andy Williams made a video, they'd see eye to
eye, both at 5'-6.5", but if Jennifer Love Hewitt made a video with
Prince, he'd have to lose his high heels and so would she to make
them the same height, 5'-2.5."
Dustin Hoffman and Sandra Oh are only 5'-5" but Richard Dreyfuss is
even shorter than that at 5'-4", right down there with 5'-4.25" Barbra
Streisand, who cannot see eye to eye with 6'-3" husband, James Brolin,
unless he's sitting down and she's standing. Queen Elizabeth II is
also 5'-4" which may account for those big hats that make her appear
taller, not to mention the crown.
Speaking of Queens and such, Queen Victoria, Dolly Parton and Mae
West all have something in common; they're each just 5' tall. Two
of them could manage that same number lying down.
The shortest U.S. president was James Madison, coming in at 5'-4",
same height as Lucy Liu. The tallest U.S. President, beating out Abe
Lincoln's 6'-4" is television's greatest president, 24's David Palmer,
portrayed by 6'-4.5" Dennis Haysbert.
Lawrence of Arabia and Marilyn Monroe were both 5'-5.5" and both looked
good in veils.
John Barrymore at 5'-9" had to have special shoes designed to play
the 4" taller Svengali. His granddaughter Drew Barrymore is an inch
shorter than 5'-4" Robert Blake, and a full four and a half inches
shorter than 5'-7.5" Lucille Ball, married to 5'-9" Desi Arnaz, who
was an inch taller than wild west gunman Billy the Kid.
River Phoenix was under six feet and now he's six feet under. Speaking
of six feet, both Allison Janney and Geena Davis hit the mark, right
up there with the six feet-and-over hunks Laurence Fishburne (6'-.25"),
Harrison Ford, 6'-1" (girlfriend Calista Flockhart is 5'-5.5"), Morgan
Freeman (6'-2"), Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer, both 6' and Will
Smith (6'2"), married to 4'-11" Jada Pinkett Smith, who's still taller
than 4'-10" Danny DeVito, married to 5'-1" Rhea Perlman.
Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and Conan O'Brien are 6'-4"," taller
than Jesus who was 6'-0;" that's what my mom told me, but she wouldn't
say who took the measurements.
Martin Short isn't. He's a respectable 5'-6.5," taller than 5'-6"
Jack Black, and they'd both tower over Bette Midler, Carrie Fisher
and St. Francis of Assisi, all 5'-0.5"
Charlize Theron at 5'-9" can literally look down on Gillian Anderson,
Christina Aguilera, Elisha Cuthbert and Paula Abdul, all 5'-2." And
Broadway's Bernadette Peters may have a huge voice, but it's propelled
out of a 5'-2" frame.
World famous megastar Judy Garland was taller at 5'-0.5" than France's
famed chanteuse and Judy's poignant counterpart, Edith Piaf, who stood
at only 4'-8." Judy's daughter, Liza Minelli, is taller than both,
at 5'-4."
5'-3.5" Angela Bassett is almost as tall as the superstar she portrayed
in "What's Love Got to Do With It," Tina Turner, who's 5'-4."
If you don't count 6'-2" Saddam Hussein and 6'-4" Osama bin Laden,
terrorists and war criminals may get high, but they are not generally
tall. Hitler was 5'-8," Stalin 5'-6" and Hirohito 5'-3." Sometimes
good and sometimes bad guy Napoleon was 5'-6.5" in real life, but
when measured in French feet (pieds de roi), he lost 4.5 inches to
come in at 5'-2." Even Al Pacino's taller than that.
Folk anti-heroes Bonnie and Clyde were 4'-10" and 5'-4" respectively,
their blazing tommy guns doubtless making them appear frightfully
large.
Johnny Depp, at 5'-9.25" is a quarter inch shorter than Lisa Kudrow's
5'-9.5" so that lets her out of playing parrot to his Sparrow.
When asked by Allure Magazine what his height was, Jude Law replied,
"It depends on my mood, really. I'm five nine, and some days I only
feel five nine. But if I'm feeling tall, I say six feet!"
When asked his height, Mark Wahlberg said "I'm told that I look taller
on screen. One girlfriend said: 'You look about 6'- 2" on screen.'
People look at me and say: 'My God, what happened?' I can look pretty
ordinary away from films. The camera does things to all of us." So
does an airbrush or a can of spackle.
Today's anti-hero superstar, 5'-9" Kiefer Sutherland, is taller than
yesterday's anti-hero superstar, 5'-8" Humphry Bogart, who'd stand
a half inch shorter than both Cate Blanchett and Cameron Diaz, Sutherland
and Bogart both considerably taller than 5'-4" Scarlett Johansson.
All these celebrities are way taller than one television personality,
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, whose height markings in the doorway place her
at an itty bitty 4'-7." If she runs into Clint Eastwood, she'll be
talking directly into his belt buckle.
As to our own heights, some of us might be even shorter than Dr. Ruth
but, in the long run, the only small thing we have to worry about
is our minds.
Copyright Maggie Van Ostrand
"A Balloon In Cactus"
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September
28, 2006 column
Email: maggie@maggievanostrand.com |
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