How tall is John Cassavetes

Arch Stanton said on 24/Jan/23
Cassavetes was born in 1929, I'd say the average might be nearer 5 ft 8 for his generation though within average range then. Sinatra, born in 1915 I think 5'7.5 was. A classy guy, both looks and intellectually, not somebody you would have thought would be an alcoholic, though it can often affect creatives. He was married to Gena, I've always had a big crush on her! Had everything going for him except height.

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 17/Nov/19
I saw him in 'The Fury' last night, but I missed the beginning.

He might be only 5ft7, but he could pull off menacing as HELL! 😱

Oh well, 5ft7 he still looked back in 1978, so as there's just the one box, that's what he gets!

Bradley said on 6/Sep/19
I'm looking at a photo of him in '70 at a Playbill party with my father. 5-7 is all you get.

Anonymous said on 22/Dec/17
Cassavetes was 5'6".

Sandy Cowell said on 3/Apr/17
Argh! 😨
Wasn't this guy scary in the film 'Rosemary's Baby'? I never knew he was only 5ft7, which comes as a big shock when you've just found out that his son is 6ft6!
It goes to show you don't have to be stupendously tall to be convincing in a terrifying role!

Sam said on 8/Oct/15
He was probably pretty close to average height for his day and age...probably only felt insecure in the context of trying to be a Hollywood leading actor which at that time being above average was a positive (i.e. opposite the mostly really big dudes in The Dirty Dozen). I wonder what he thought of his son Nick towering him!

Chase Witherspoon said on 7/Oct/15
Yes I too thought he was closer to 5'8" maybe 171-172 at times he wasn't dwarfed by Heston in Two Minute Warning, didn't look noticeably wee beside Mia in Rosemary's progeny or the glut of taller actors in D12.... he actually doesn't look much more than 2" shy of Ben 5'10" Gazzara either.. I reckon if he was just 170 then Gazzara wouldn't have been the whole 5'10" but closer to 176...

Voiceless Dental Fricative said on 29/Jun/15
John Cassavetes is my all time favourite actor. What he could do on camera was unparalleled. Everything from the intonation on his words, to his body language… He's so good I can't watch him anymore.

Ray Carney, who knew John Cassavetes and has written extensively about him, said that Cassavetes lied about his height because it was an area of insecurity for him.

I think it was an area of insecurity for the younger Cassavetes, but maybe he came to grips with it later. In Husbands (which he wrote) there's a joke about his character being short.

Gonzalo said on 6/Nov/14
He looked short next to Robert Taylor in Saddle the Wind. Taylor wasn´t particularly tall (around 1`80). Cassavetes struggled with the 1`70 mark next to Taylor.

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Arch Stanton said on 18/Oct/14
Yeah, only A Women Under the Influence was quite brilliant!!

Sam said on 15/Oct/14
Cassavetes wasn't working from much of a screenplay, I understand there was a lot of improv there. I think he was more condeming than condoning his characters but that doesn't mean its fun to spend two hours with them. I could also say the same thing about the couple from A Woman Under the Influence.

Arch Stanton said on 14/Oct/14
Amusing that Time magazine thought Husbands his best work and Gene Siskel also thought it top 10 of the year material. Fortunately Ebert said "seldom has Time given a better review to a worse movie" and Pauline Kael described it as "infantile and offensive". Ebert and Kael are totally correct!!

Arch Stanton said on 14/Oct/14
Loathsome Sam yeah, I thought the screenplay was very poor and childish, more like something filmed at drunken campfire unscripted. In bad taste.

Sam said on 13/Oct/14
Arch, I can see why you hated Husbands...it's a hard film to enjoy or even like. Although I'd say a bunch of Cassavetes' films were not entertaining in a traditional sense, in addition to Husbands, Faces and A Woman Under the Influence were quite harsh, pessimistic films, at times Shadows and Chinese Bookie are fairly entertaining though.

Sam said on 13/Oct/14
The difference is variable between Falk and Cassavetes, at times it seems like Cassavetes has him by a solid couple inches at other times, the difference btween their heights looks rather smaller. No question that Cassavetes was taller but there's probably a lot of variability in their footwear and posture.

diavolo said on 12/Oct/14
I often say that if I'd be a woman, John Cassavetes would be the celeb crush of my life. Despite his short stature he was the quintessential macho. A macho with a great sense of humor, style, intelligence and exceptional talent in more than one field. An amazing actor and a true auteur director, John was a true one of a kind artist.

His 5'7" height listing seems to be legit. In Opening Night 5'6" Gena Rowlands is wearing 2-3 inches of heels and is taller than her husband. In The Dirty Dozen he is among the shorties in the gang, towered over by Lee Marvin, Donald Sutherland and the other tall guys. In Columbo: Etude in Black, Cassavetes seems to be at least 2-3 inches taller than 5'6" Peter Falk, but that can be attributed to 1. Cassavetes having a big footwear advantage, wearing dress shoes versus Falk's flat worn sneakers. Also we can't rule out the chance of him wearing lifts. And 2. Falk famously slouching as Columbo, making him look shorter than he actually was.

Sam said on 9/Oct/14
Yeah, the family I know, the dad peaked 5'7" and the mom was the same height, the taller son turned out to be a bit over 6'6" I think, with tall genes from the mom's family.

Gaz said on 8/Oct/14
Click Here John Cassavetes with 5'10 Ben Gazarra and 5'6 Peter Falk. I'd say those listings are pretty close.

Arch Stanton said on 8/Oct/14
Gena's 5'6" range but I said this because she had the bone structure of a tall woman and I get the impression that she came from a tall family so yeah, possibly there's some tall guys on her side where Nick got it from. When I went to Sardinia once a lad there was 6'6" range and his dad was only about Cassevete's height but the mother was about 6 ft...

Sam said on 8/Oct/14
With his homies, Falk and Gazzara. He could look 2-3 inches shorter than Gazarra, who was like a weak (and is listed as) 5'10", Falk's listed 5'6".
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And his character being confronted by Lee Marvin.
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A soft 4 inches taller than 5'3" listed Martin Scorsese.
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His wife Gena Rowlands, listed 5'6", is close to his height. Yeah, she undoubtedly all the tall genes. Believe or not, I know a family where a son turned out about 11 inches taller than his father in my life as well.
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Mastro said on 7/Oct/14
5'7" seems OK-- strangely his son Nick is a huge 6'6". Must be from his mother.

Sam said on 6/Oct/14
I think 5'7" is a fair listing, he looked pretty short with the rest of The Dirty Dozen.
He seemed like a real tough guy...there's a scene in Shadows where some guy starts harrassing the main actress while they filmed in the street and Cassavetes (who was just directing not acting) walked on screen randomly and pulls the guy off by the collar.
Shadows might be favorite of his, followed by A Woman Under the Influence, Faces and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie in that order.

Gaz said on 4/Oct/14
5'7'' Cassavetes brilliant actor.

Arch Stanton said on 4/Oct/14
Thanks Rob, don't forget Shadows, Faces, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, A Woman Under the Influence and Love Streams too. I hated Husbands though. IAs Sam said he didn't have height but he certainly had an imposing presence. Anything in 5 ft 7 range is arguable, he could look 5'8 ish at times.

Arch Stanton said on 4/Oct/14
Thanks Rob, don't forget Faces, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Love Streams too. I hated Husbands though. As Sam said he didn't have height but he certainly had an imposing presence. Anything in 5 ft 7 range is arguable, he could look 5'8 ish at times.