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Why ARE today's stars so short? Actors were once strapping hunks and muscular specimens.
Daily Mail ^ | 03-19-15 | Quentin Letts

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: actors; celebrities; height; movies; moviestars; short; shortactors; tomcruise
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To: BigEdLB

I think Hoffman is shorter than 5’6”. Looked more like about 5’2” to me.


81 posted on 03/19/2015 11:47:13 AM PDT by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: SJSAMPLE

When you said he wasn’t much of a man, you meant his Hollywood morals, not his general manliness.

You could have been more clear.


82 posted on 03/19/2015 11:48:51 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: Ransomed

Every day, Sean Penn comes closer and closer to looking like a real live Popeye. Without the honorable military service.


83 posted on 03/19/2015 11:49:09 AM PDT by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: kjam22

Google is wrong. I posed the question when I saw the thread


84 posted on 03/19/2015 11:49:29 AM PDT by BigEdLB (We're experienceing the rule of a Roman Emperor, Barack I)
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To: donna

Taller actors fit better on the “big screen.”

Now we have wide screen, so it doesn’t matter so much.


85 posted on 03/19/2015 11:49:35 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: RedStateRocker

Yeah, I saw Stallone once in LA,at some sporting event or other, when he was dating Brigitte Nilsson— she was wearing flats but towered over him. I remember he was wearing a beautifully tailored suit, and spent quit a bit of time signing autographs..seemed like a decent sort.


86 posted on 03/19/2015 11:50:13 AM PDT by Radagast the Fool (At my signal, UNLEASH PALIN!!)
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To: gorush

Have to disagree, Gary Cooper was a pretty good actor and a great one in the right role. May I suggest you watch “High Noon” and “Sargent York” again.


87 posted on 03/19/2015 11:50:30 AM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: AFreeBird

I too have read all the Reacher books. Even though Cruise’s stature does not compare to the character in the books, it was a very enjoyable movie. Cruise did a fine job. I would still recommend it.

I think Cruise’s best role was in the movie “Collateral”.


88 posted on 03/19/2015 11:50:38 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: Radagast the Fool

Crowe is 6’ even.


89 posted on 03/19/2015 11:51:09 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Vinnie

Collateral was strange with Cruise as a hit man. Not thrilled with Jamie Fox,but he was great in Collateral.

My favorite Cruise film is still, hands-down, The Firm.

Love watching him RUN.


90 posted on 03/19/2015 11:52:23 AM PDT by b9 (II Timothy 1:7)
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To: needmorePaine

That was a pretty good movie, but I think that Jamie Foxx out acted him.


91 posted on 03/19/2015 11:52:35 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: SJSAMPLE
I think he went to Blackwater or another North Carolina training academy. I have the DVD somewhere, and the extras show him training. He’s quite a quick study.

I think Cruise was trained by former SAS, who Michael Mann also used to train the cast of Heat for the bank heist scene. Apparently Val Kilmer was very fast at reloading.
92 posted on 03/19/2015 11:53:29 AM PDT by needmorePaine
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To: hlmencken3

Right, the article’s premise is a little off-kilter. The actors of today are probably of similar height altogether, and are actually even more apt to be buffed up.

The difference is in the way they present themselves, in terms of manner, demeanor and comportment. They come across as UNMANLY and UNMASCULINE. Too much emo, too much self-consciousness. Doesn’t help when film directors also emphasize so many “strike a cool pose” shots. It all comes across as so laughably (and embarrassingly) ludicrous to me.


93 posted on 03/19/2015 11:54:13 AM PDT by greene66
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To: Captain Peter Blood

No accounting for taste...I own both movies and watch them relatively often. I cringe at his wooden delivery during the courtroom scene in The Fountainhead, what could have been...


94 posted on 03/19/2015 11:54:31 AM PDT by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: ansel12

It’s close. They were great together. I really dislike Jaime Foxx, but he pulled off that role big time. I just think Cruise was very good at being morally vacant.


95 posted on 03/19/2015 11:55:10 AM PDT by needmorePaine
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To: donna

96 posted on 03/19/2015 11:55:23 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Crowe is a six footer? I thought he was shorter than that!! Oh well, ny mistake!!


97 posted on 03/19/2015 11:55:54 AM PDT by Radagast the Fool (At my signal, UNLEASH PALIN!!)
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To: gorush
They left out Gary Cooper...of course he wasn’t much of an actor. Yet he is in many of my favorite movies, go figure.

I like Gary Cooper but....in Pride of the Yankees he gives the WORST imitation of a baseball player ever.

I cry in the speech but I also cry every time Cooper swings a bat or throws a ball.

98 posted on 03/19/2015 11:58:34 AM PDT by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the Ozarks)
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To: needmorePaine

For me, it is Cruise’s best role, I don’t like Foxx either, but when compared to Cruise he came off looking to me as the better actor, nor do I like Nicole Kidman, or think that she can act, but in Eyes Wide Shut, when her and Cruise were in the long and intense bedroom scene, she came off as the better actor.


99 posted on 03/19/2015 11:59:10 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: Captain Peter Blood
Have to disagree, Gary Cooper was a pretty good actor and a great one in the right role. May I suggest you watch “High Noon” and “Sargent York” again.

"Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody's gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on "Sally Jessy Raphael" and talk about their problems. Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn't know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn't be able to shut him up! And then it's dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!"

-James Gandolfini (6'1''), as Tony Soprano.


100 posted on 03/19/2015 11:59:20 AM PDT by needmorePaine
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