How tall was Adolfo Celi

Rory said on 21/May/23
If he was only 5ft10 then you'd have to assume he was wearing some sort of lift in thunderball because he could look 5ft11+ quite easily next to all the actors in that film,even six foot in the odd scene.

Gerald S said on 19/Feb/23
Rob, could Adolfo Celi please be added to the Bond actors tag? He played the infamous Emilio Largo in Thunderball. Cheers

Sinclair said on 28/Aug/22
Rob, can Celi have at least 5’10.25”?

Celi could seem anywhere from 5’10” to 6’0”; probably 5’11”. 5’10” is probably closer than a full six feet, making 5’10.75” more appropriate than 5’11.25”. But a flat 5’10” at peak or in Thunderball, I just cannot see it. Maybe 5’10” flat was a likely figure by the 1980s though.

Ian C. said on 15/Mar/21
What? No! I thought he was six foot two. I saw him in Thunderball when I was a teenager, and I couldn't figure out why they had cast an old man as Emilio Largo when Largo in the book is a big handsome guy of about 40 who is an Olympic-class swimmer. So now I find out that the movie Largo was not only elderly but also kind of short. What was he doing with that hot girlfriend, and fighting Sean Connery to a draw in a speeding boat?

Sinclair said on 27/Aug/20
Rob, could you please add And Then There Were None and Murders In The Rue Morgue to Celi’s film credits?

I thought Celi did look almost inseparable in height to Oliver Reed in the 1974 version of And Then There Were None (I would say Reed was just a hair taller than Celi, by that time). 5’11” seems logical for both Celi and Reed, two fine actors whose broad figures often made them seem shorter than they actually were. I don’t recall Sean Connery being any more than three inches taller than Celi in Thunderball. Perhaps, Celi could have passed for 6’0” in Thunderball, as he was significantly taller than 5’8” Claudine Auger. Celi also had a couple of inches on 5’8.5” Jason Robards in Murders In The Rue Morgue.

Arch Stanton said on 23/Mar/17
I can't explain his height being all over the place though!! Nothing else explains it but lifts. In one film The Honeypot he looks 5 ft 9 range then in another can pull off almost 6 ft at times!! He can look anyting from 5 ft 9 to 6 ft, generally looks 5 ft 11.

Arch Stanton said on 19/Mar/17
Yeha it's a tough call on him, because he pulls off looking 180cm quite a lot and that looks right with Nero. But I think he had to have been a regular lift wearer, he slipped up in the Honey Pot!

Arch Stanton said on 19/Mar/17
@Rob, in Un detective Franco Nero edges him out slightly. I think Nero generally looked 5'11.5 peak, similar sort of height and look to Wagner, though has lost height today of course. I do think it is possible though that Celi wore lifts in most of his films to bump him up to looking 5 ft 11.

Arch Stanton said on 13/Jan/17
This guy was in a HUGE number of late 60s films, he literally had to have been one of the busiest actors in Europe in that period.

Arch Stanton said on 13/Jan/17
5'10 Cliff Roberton on right Click Here That's how it looked in the film too. 1-1.5 inch diff. Adolfo had on a big heel in the film too so if anything would put him at 5 ft 8 range! The only thing is that Cliff could look nearer 5'11 with Rex. Possible he wore lifts.. Can't explain it as if you deduct the big heel Adolfo had on it would make him more 5 ft 8 range in reality and more infitting with how we might think of him!

Arch Stanton said on 13/Jan/17
@Rob. Mmm, baffled. In The Honey Pot he had on quite a big heeld shoe and still looked a good inch shorter than Cliff Robertson who you have at 5 ft 10. With him and Mggie Smith in that film he looked no more than 5 ft 9. In fact he looked so far off 5 ft 11 in it I would exercise caution with this listing. He might have been a frequent lift wearer.

Arch Stanton said on 7/Jan/17
Yeah he's something in 180-81cm range I think, Watching Grand Prix and there's a scene in a Ferrari factory where he and James Garner walk together and he certainly looks 5'11 ish.

Andrea said on 29/Mar/16
I don't know, Arch. Volonte never struck me as a tall guy, in the few movies i've seen! Maybe a bit above average. But tall? Not really!
He looks 5'10-5'11 next to 5'9 listed Nino Manfredi!
As for Adolfo, look at him in this scene from Amici Miei: Click Here
Doesn't he look a bit too "short" to be 5'11?

Rory said on 29/Mar/16
Rob, ive only seen him in Thunderball but in that film he looks at most an inch shorter than Connery, must have been wearing lifts ?

Arch Stanton said on 28/Mar/16
Volonte never looked average though Andrea, he was taller than most guys in his films. A heavy built broad guy like Celi though you'd think more 5 ft 8 or 9 than 5 ft 11, but if you really look at him in comparison to some at times he can look nearer 6 ft!

Andrea said on 25/Mar/16
As far as i remember, he looked average(ish) in Amici Miei... Quite surprising this 5'11 listing but again you have a Gian Maria Volontè at 6' and he looked in the average zone too...
I guess italian people shrunk too, compared to the past!

MJKoP said on 24/Mar/16
Looks a bit like Jay Leno....same height, too!

Arch Stanton said on 23/Mar/16
A very stocky built guy though, you'd think of him as being shorter I think.

Arch Stanton said on 23/Mar/16
Grazie, seems a good shout. You'd guess over 200 pounds too. I'd thought he could look 6 ft at tmes but seeing him with Silva and Wood Strode he looked no more than 5 ft 11. He was getting on in the 70s though.