Why it is difficult to determine Harry's true height

Posted by Satipo from webcache05p.cache.pol.co.uk on February 21, 1999 at 05:20:59:

In Reply to: Harry's height! posted by Seamus on February 20, 1999 at 06:42:53:

The height of Harrison Ford is usually stated as six foot. There are some clues to his actual height in his films. I remember reading that Alfred Molina, the actor who played Satipo, the shifty guide at the beginning of Raiders, is actually six feet two inches tall. If you watch the scenes featuring a full-length shot of Indy and Satipo entering the cave, you can see that Molina is a lot taller than Ford. I read somewhere else that Sean Connery is supposed to be six feet three inches tall and you can see that he is a lot taller than Ford in some of the Last Crusade scenes. In the film, ‘The Fugitive’, Ford’s character is described as about six feet one. Sigourney Weaver is supposed to be about five feet eleven inches tall, and she appeared slightly shorter than Ford in ‘Working Girl’.

However, I do think that determining an actor’s height is quite a difficult thing to do accurately unless you meet them in person. This is due to the following reasons:-

1) Show business agents/promoters often exaggerate their clients’ heights in order to make them seem more marketable. I experienced this when I met the Gladiator, Wolf (from the British version of the television show, ‘The Gladiators’). On the show and in articles I had read, Wolf’s height was given as six feet. I’m five feet eleven and a half inches in bare feet, and I must have been at least two inches taller than him when we met (both in shoes, of course) making him no more than about five feet nine inches tall.

2) When films are made, they very often use platforms to reduce the height differences between actors. For example, often, when you read interviews with actor’s who have worked with Tom Cruise, they reveal that he stood on a platform for most of the film. Of course they can’t really do this with full-length shots, so it is these shots that are best for judging an actor’s height in relation to others.

3) When we talk about a person’s height, we generally refer to how they appear to us in shoes. Take an identity parade, for instance. None of the suspects stand there without any shoes on as that is not how they would have appeared at the time of the crime. Shoes can often add at least an inch to a person’s height. So in actual fact, a person’s real height is not seen by many people at all, as it involves them standing bare foot. However, when we speak of our own height we tend to give the bare foot version. The question we must ask when we read about an actor’s height is – is it their height in shoes or their real height?

4) Many people walk with a stoop that betrays their true height. For an example of this, watch Alan Alda in ‘Mash’. If the person were to develop good posture, they could possibly add an inch or more to their height. This is often the case with people who have practiced the Alexander Technique for a while. I’m not sure, but I think old Harry might well have a bit of a stoop.

5) Age is also a factor. As a person gets older, they often get shorter. Harry may well be shorter now than he was in Star Wars.

6) A person’s height can change by almost an inch during the day. Generally, people are tallest in the morning and shortest in the evening.

7) The term ‘six foot’ is often used as an approximation to include heights that are slightly higher and lower than the real six feet measurement when describing someone.

As for my own guess at Ford’s height, I’d say it is probably about six feet with no more than an inch in either direction.

Adios,

Satipo

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: The height of Harrison Ford is usually stated as six foot. There are some clues to his actual height in his films. I remember reading that Alfred Molina, the actor who played Satipo, the shifty guide at the beginning of Raiders, is actually six feet two inches tall. If you watch the scenes featuring a full-length shot of Indy and Satipo entering the cave, you can see that Molina is a lot taller than Ford. I read somewhere else that Sean Connery is supposed to be six feet three inches tall and you can see that he is a lot taller than Ford in some of the Last Crusade scenes. In the film, ‘The Fugitive’, Ford’s character is described as about six feet one. Sigourney Weaver is supposed to be about five feet eleven inches tall, and she appeared slightly shorter than Ford in ‘Working Girl’.

: However, I do think that determining an actor’s height is quite a difficult thing to do accurately unless you meet them in person. This is due to the following reasons:-

: 1) Show business agents/promoters often exaggerate their clients’ heights in order to make them seem more marketable. I experienced this when I met the Gladiator, Wolf (from the British version of the television show, ‘The Gladiators’). On the show and in articles I had read, Wolf’s height was given as six feet. I’m five feet eleven and a half inches in bare feet, and I must have been at least two inches taller than him when we met (both in shoes, of course) making him no more than about five feet nine inches tall.

: 2) When films are made, they very often use platforms to reduce the height differences between actors. For example, often, when you read interviews with actor’s who have worked with Tom Cruise, they reveal that he stood on a platform for most of the film. Of course they can’t really do this with full-length shots, so it is these shots that are best for judging an actor’s height in relation to others.

: 3) When we talk about a person’s height, we generally refer to how they appear to us in shoes. Take an identity parade, for instance. None of the suspects stand there without any shoes on as that is not how they would have appeared at the time of the crime. Shoes can often add at least an inch to a person’s height. So in actual fact, a person’s real height is not seen by many people at all, as it involves them standing bare foot. However, when we speak of our own height we tend to give the bare foot version. The question we must ask when we read about an actor’s height is – is it their height in shoes or their real height?

: 4) Many people walk with a stoop that betrays their true height. For an example of this, watch Alan Alda in ‘Mash’. If the person were to develop good posture, they could possibly add an inch or more to their height. This is often the case with people who have practiced the Alexander Technique for a while. I’m not sure, but I think old Harry might well have a bit of a stoop.

: 5) Age is also a factor. As a person gets older, they often get shorter. Harry may well be shorter now than he was in Star Wars.

: 6) A person’s height can change by almost an inch during the day. Generally, people are tallest in the morning and shortest in the evening.

: 7) The term ‘six foot’ is often used as an approximation to include heights that are slightly higher and lower than the real six feet measurement when describing someone.

: 
: As for my own guess at Ford’s height, I’d say it is probably about six feet with no more than an inch in either direction.

: Adios,

: Satipo

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