How tall was Johnny Cash

Eileen said on 18/May/23
I just watched that old series of Colombo where Johnny Cash starred, and I was amazed at what a good actor he was. I don’t think he was in that many movies but he sure did a good job on Columbo. He had a really endearing smile and I’m sure the girls really loved him although June Carter Cash knew how to keep them in line evidently

Arch Stanton said on 16/Apr/23
Cash had one of the manliest voices in history LOL. He's like the John Wayne of the music world! 6'1.5 seems accurate.

berta said on 28/Jan/23
i tihnk cash was one of those guys that lost height pretty early. already at age 50 maybe. Whrn i think about how he looked the last year you think of an old old man but he was only 71 years old. at that point he could have lost around 5 cm. thats similar to arnold at that age. Drugs can do alot to a person. Peak i cant see anything under 186 and nothing over 188. i think weak 187 was his real height.

Sandy Cowell said on 13/Jan/23
Johnny had a lovely speaking voice as well as a classic singing voice. I noticed how tall he was when he guest starred in The Little House on the Prairie, and I was able to compare him to Melissa Sue Anderson. As he spotted her, he started singing about meeting a golden-haired maiden, and Melissa’s Mary turned round and smiled. Who wouldn’t have been enchanted?

There were some incredible stars turning up in that delight of a programme, including Johnny, Moses Gunn, Ernest Bourgnine and Ray Liotta.

6ft1.5. 🎶🕯

bernie said on 21/Nov/22
In that one Columbo Episode.. yes he looked that height 6ft 1 ½ compared to Peter Falk. In that scene where he is beaten down from his brother-in-law and lying on the ground you can see those enormous heel,
looks like 4 inches for sure. So barefoot nowhere near this listed height.

giop said on 24/Jan/22
I actually always thought he was average height vever knew he was 6'1

Tall Sam said on 28/Nov/21
I would believe he measured 6’1.5”, I don’t see any reason he would be only 6’1” flat. He was a little taller than Waylon Jennings, who may have been 6’1”, and a little shorter than Billy Graham, who was listed 6’2” and seemed to be at least that tall.

Stavro said on 28/Nov/21
Could believe 6’1” flat, and no more.

Skinny frame made him seem a bit taller than he was.

5'10 Dude said on 7/Oct/21
6'1½ seems honest to me and he was definitely taller than Elvis Presley. He was a noticeably tall man. In his cuban heels he would probably have been 6'3½!

Daniel Johnson said on 24/Mar/21
In Man in Black he says he was six two. Not six one and a half.

Ian Coleman said on 5/Dec/20
I think you might have me there, Sam. I took a look and there are pictures of young Cash where he does look quite strong. Although on the album cover, his head doesn't look quite natural in its placement on his shoulders, so I have some doubt that the picture is entirely legit.

Arch Stanton said on 30/Nov/20
He could pass for a bit taller at times, had the demeanour of an old school film actor like John Wayne.

Tall Sam said on 11/Nov/20
That's an interesting theory about his being super-imposed on someone else's body on the album cover I don't really believe it. There's a number of pictures with his arms folded and he was a big man, built solidly with good sized shoulders and chest, more naturally strong than athletic. I think he just thinned out for a while at the peak of his speed addiction. If you see him on the Bitter Tears, Johnny looks pretty slim but well muscled.

Tall Sam said on 11/Nov/20
That's an interesting theory about his being super imposed on someone else's body buy I don't really believe it. There's a number of pictures with his arms folded and he was a big man, solid with good sized shoulders and chest, I think just thinning out for a while at the peak of his speed addiction. If you see him on the Bitter Tears, Johnny looks pretty slim but well muscled.

Ian C. said on 27/Sep/20
Google up the cover of Cash's album Blood, Sweat and Tears. Cash's head has been photoshopped (so to speak) on another man's body. Never in his life was Cash so strongly built as he appears in that picture. The record company decided to photographically endow him with the body that suited his voice.

Tall Sam said on 6/Jul/20
Interesting, at age 19, Johnny was put down as 175 pounds and six feet tall. I don't know if that was a measurement but he was perhaps not fully grown at that point although most males are by then. Even with his sometimes big shoes, I highly doubt he was only six feet tall at peak.
Click Here

Willis Christian Macaraig said on 27/Apr/20
6'1.5"(187 cm) sounds right.

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 27/Feb/20
Johnny was born 88 years ago yesterday, the 26th February.

I remember him starring in 'The Little House on the Prairie', playing a fake vicar. He got such a buzz from helping people that it changed his character for the better.

6ft1.5. 😁

RIP Johnny.🕯️ XX

ewald vopel said on 15/Jul/19
Just did some research on him including his latest Bio. Several frames shows he wore enormous heels. So with heels 6"2, without 5"10 to 11.

Vernon cullum said on 13/Jul/19
I meant Johnny cash in the early 70's I promise you he was at least 6'3. Someone I knew who worked at a restaurant back in the 70's had him and his dads picture made with Johnny, and Johnny and his dad were the same height". His dad was just over 6ft3. So anyone who says Johnny cash was short don't know what they are talking about.

waylon jennings said on 14/Dec/18
Johnny cash height: 6'2,6'3
Waylon jennings height: 6'1
Kris kristofferson: 5'10,5'11
Willie nelson: 5'6

Larry McCue said on 14/Oct/18
I shook his hand in Jamaica in 1974. I'm 6.0 ft tall and I was looking DOWN at him. He was 5'8 or 5'9 at best. Unless he either grew later or I'm much taller than I thought......

Tall Sam said on 26/Sep/18
Yeah his brother claimed he was 6'3" but that was of course an exaggeration, Johnny was exceptionally tall in comparison based on pictures with his brothers, multiple sisters and father.

Cash was really thin for a lot of the 1960s due largely to drug use and a poor lifestyle but he looked a lot bulkier and well built a few years back in the 1950s. At any rate, he always looked old for his age even at his youth peak aged badly and looked like an old 80 year old when in his late 60s but his height loss wasn't all that great. He looked even with Rick Rubin who still looks about even with Dave Letterman recently.

Ian C. said on 18/Sep/18
Benny's comment below is interesting because he claims to have met Cash and puts his height at several inches lower than the consensus estimate. This is fairly common on Celebrity Heights boards and, assuming that the posters are all honest and were not having us on, I wonder what explains the phenomenon. Is there some sort of perceptual distortion going on when people meet celebrities? I have seen only two celebrities in the flesh so far. One was Kris Kristofferson, who I thought was quite a bit shorter than his listing here, and the other was Roger Moore, who seemed huge, although he was just moderately large. That is, when I saw both men I edited my perceptions of their sizes in ways that left me with inaccurate impressions of their heights. Odd.

Arch Stanton said on 31/Aug/18
He had the manliest voice possible for a guy, obviously a heavy smoker and drinker. Love the Folsom Prison album. On par with John Wayne in manliness, but in person as people say a skinny guy and not as imposing as his voice. I have read 6 ft 3 for him but that's probably in shoes early in the morning.

Ian C. said on 28/Aug/18
Okay, Clayton, Cash was able to knock down his brother. You can't really infer much from that without knowing how strong his brother was.

A good way gauge a man's athletic strength is to ask, could he have been a policeman? I have never in my life seen a thin policeman. Looking at Johnny Cash, I don't believe he could have made the cut if he had presented himself to a police recruiter. He wasn't a weakling, but I wouldn't classify him physically as anything more than average. Although certainly he was tall.

Chayton Epping said on 22/Aug/18
I have been reading Hilburn's biography and it addressed Cash's physical strength when the book mentioned Cash getting in a fight with his brother, Tommy, in 1968. Cash allegedly knocked him to the ground in one punch. Also, many of Cash's peers, including his stepdaughter, called him "Big John".

Benny said on 16/Aug/18
met him maybe 3o years ago. 5 foot 11

Tall Sam said on 18/Apr/18
Hmm, not sure what you mean. I know Dean Martin did some semi-professional boxing, but in terms of Johnny Cash, he got rail thin around the early to late 1960s because of a diet almost purely of amphetamines and whiskey but he was a tough costumer who served in the Air Force, according to one of biographical books he in succession punched two other soldiers unconscious when a confrontation turned violent. I would hesist to pick a fight with this guy: Click Here

Ian C. said on 15/Apr/18
I always thought that Cash's physical appearance was not quite up to the powerful impression leant by his voice. When he was young he was thin, and when he became middle-aged he just got stout. On some of his album covers he was posed as if he were stronger and tougher than he was, but those always struck me as forced. He's not as strong looking as Dean Martin, for example, or as tough looking as Waylon Jennings. I really doubt if he was ever in a fistfight in his adult life, although both Martin and Jennings actually were, it is said.

Ian C. said on 29/Jan/18
So how tall was Cash's Tennessee Two guitar genius Luther Perkins? He must have been at least six foot four.

Anonymous said on 18/Nov/17
He easily woke up at a full 6'2" and measured at 6'1.5" during the day/afternoon in his prime. Looked to have dropped quite a bit of height by the time he died at 71 years old.

Ted said on 28/Aug/17
Solid 2 inches on Elvis Presley. Strong 6' 2'' in the morning seems reasonable.

Chayton Epping said on 2/Aug/17
Johnny Cash's Air Force papers listed him at 6', because that's how tall he was when he enlisted. In the biography by Hilburn, it says he grew from 6' to 6'2" and 145 to 165 pounds and was muscular.

Patrick Heffernan said on 4/Jun/17
One of the greatest and most influential men who ever lived I admired him and his music immensely There will never another man to surpass him and his legacy

Ian C said on 27/May/17
In Canada, Rob, our driver's licenses list our heights, but nobody actually measures you when you apply for your license, and you can put down pretty much anything you like, as long as you're reasonably close. They use a special camera when they take your picture, such that the image on your license resembles you, but is modified to make you look ugly. You could use my driver's license picture to frighten children.

Sandy Cowell said on 18/Feb/17
I had not the slightest inkling how tall Johnny Cash is as I'm not exactly a country music head, but I did notice he was rather tall when I saw him guesting in an episode of 'The Little House on the Prairie' - yes, really! I had to blink a few times, I can tell you!
He played a con man posing as a fake preacher to make money, but he enjoyed helping people so much that he came clean in the end and saw the error of his ways!
Well, I enjoyed it!! 😝

Mike said on 16/Feb/17
Johnny Cash is 6'2 at best.

185cmAriel said on 28/Dec/16
his driver's license stated that he was 6'1 probably they leave out the 0.5"

Danimal176-178 said on 24/Oct/16
Johnny was somewhere between 6'1.5" and 6'2" in his younger years. By the time he died at 71 years old he looked to be between 5'11" and 6'0", but his health was poor and so was his posture at that point.

Steve said on 27/Jun/16
My father had a photo with him in his younger days and he was the same height as my father who was 6'2 so I believe in his younger days definitely a 6'2 guy

Jon said on 12/Dec/15
Visited the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, TN. His Air Force Discharge papers listed him at 6 feet tall.

Sam said on 2/Apr/15
Not sure if linked before, but here's his passport where it lists him as 6'2".
Click Here

Micksor said on 24/Nov/14
I saw him in concert in Dublin Ireland , after the show I stood next to him for the same reason I'm 6'1 , he was maybe I inch taller than me .

Sam said on 2/Sep/14
Just re-saw a majority of Walk the Line on TV...despite a passing resemblance, Phoenix is just not physically right for the role due to the size difference, not to mention his vocal range, although I am impressed by his efforts. The Cash character should be an imposing, somewhat lumbering, bass-voiced guy but is not there, Phoenix is clearly a bit under most of the other male actors.

Ian C. said on 13/Apr/14
Well, he sounded tall.

Sam said on 1/Apr/14
Sue, you're just angry about the song Cash sang about you :=) Cash's brother claimed Johnny was 6'3" in the book "I Still Miss Someone". He obviously wasn't quite that tall but Johnny was unusually tall for his family from family photos in Cash books I have, towering over his siblings and father. On the other hand, Johnny looked around an inch shorter than preacher Billy Graham in photos, though whether Graham was 6'2" (as he's commonly listed online) or more than that, I'm not sure.

Sam said on 22/Jul/13
Clearly the tallest in a line-up also including Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis. Guessing the other's heights from these photos, Perkins= 6'0.75"; Orbison & Lewis= 5'10.5"-5'11". BTW, everyone's hairstyles but Lewis looks like they're wearing a dead animal on their head...
Click Here

Steve said on 30/May/13
He was big. I'm 6'0", and I met him in a bar and he was at least 6'1" or 6'2". And he was big as well as tall. He went at least 230, and probably 260

SaimoN said on 20/Jan/13
@jms yeah I had to look that up, but found yet another picture of another driver's licences of his, with "Tenessee" markings. There Johnny's listed height is not even 6'1" but 6'0"! Something is horribly wrong because I have seen another picture of one of his many driver's licences and it said 6'2" which I find to be the most correct. I have no doubt that Johnny was a true 6'2" man in real life.

jms said on 24/Nov/12
On an episode of Pawn Stars someone sells his license and his listed height is 6' 1"

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 24/Aug/12
"height is 6 ft 1.75 in (187cm)"
Claimed 6"1.5 and 6"2 and usually looked both

Sam said on 8/Feb/12
I wouldn't recommend the Johnny Cash "diet" of living off of amphetamines! BTW, I would also mention that Johnny got quite heavy in his post-drug days, probably well north of 200 pounds (230+)

Shaun said on 6/Feb/12
155 pounds at 6'1.5"? I'm struggling to get down to 190!

Patrick said on 17/Jan/12
Definitely 6'2 and broad shouldered. His best play was unquestionably in Columbo. Human and so realistic actor if any! A mountain in this episode and the most beautiful country voice ever!

Godred said on 14/Dec/11
I think 187 is correct.

R.A. said on 12/Aug/11
@scotty Not at all, man. Not at all.

Bob Kelly said on 25/Jul/11
On the Cash-Dylan pic, consider Cash's posture. He appears to be slouched and possibly bending his knees. Dylan's hair is very high, too. Also, in Dylan's biography, he says when he met Cash, he felt like he was looking up at a tree.

johnny james said on 23/Jul/11
johnny cash is a solid 6.2 or maybe taller but he is not shorter than 6.2 when he got old he become smaller but in his young days he was definitely 6.2

Sam said on 21/Jul/11
There's also a picture with Dylan where Cash (with his head up and arms around Dylan and another guy) looks nearly a head taller (can be found in the photos from the CD cover of Cash's The Essential Recordings 1955-1983).

SaimoN_ said on 3/Jul/11
I'd say Cash might very well have been 6'2 in his younger days, judging from the picture where he is standing next to Elvis (link below). But if you look closely Johnny has a smaller, more rounder head then Elvis, who has an oval-shaped head. Could be just an illusion. Elvis height is said have been 5'11.5 but it varies depending on sources.

As scotty mentioned the pic with Johnny Cash next to Bob Dylan they look pretty close in height. Or should we say the height difference is too small between a 5'7 guy and a 6'2 guy. He said 6'1 and a half himself so maybe he was truly 6'1?

In 1994 Johnny Depp met Johnny Cash during one of his shows. Depp is said to be somewhere around 5'8 or 5'9, and when standing next to Cash they look pretty much the same height. So Cash must have been just about 6' or so at that point or Depp was wearing some kind of elevator boots. Not sure. Check the video link of it here: Click Here

Pic with Johnny Cash and Elvis here: Click Here

scotty said on 24/Jun/11
Dylan is listed here as 5'7" and Cash as 6'2" but they look a lot closer in height here: Click Here

Steve said on 23/May/11
Looked around 6' with boots judging by the way he looked next to Bob Dylan you wis listed as 5'7"

Sam said on 22/Feb/11
He wrote 6'1.5" in autobiography and 6'2" in an original song ("I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick on My Old Guitar"), so I'd advocate splitting the difference and going with 6'1.75"!

John Dean said on 24/Jan/11
I met John lots of times in Dublin Ireland he was 6.2 plus the boots, he was one of the greatest men I have ever met, he and June ware a joy to meet I still love and miss them both, we have there music to enjoy and the fond memories lol John.

Frank2 said on 15/Jun/09
I met Cash when he was standing in line in front of me with his two daughters buying tickets to see the film CAMALOT in Westwood when the film was playing a repeat engagement. This was in 1976. I first heard that incrediblt deep, penetrating voice of his and then when he turned I could see it was him. He was over six feet, that's for sure. At least 6'1" but what got me was how big his hands and feet were.

As far as Elvis, I met him, stood right next to him and he and I was very close to the exact same height. Even Elvis stated he was under six feet and did so right next to me. He was joking with some big guy in his group who grabbed him in a headlock. I'd say if I had to wager, Elvis was 5'11", maybe 5'11 1/2". But he wore lifts in his films and especially on stage. He did so in the film he was working on at the time which was THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS. With his lifts he was taller than me by at least an inch, maybe two. But with street shoes on he wasn't six feet.

Tom said on 14/Jun/09
Elvis was 5 ft 11 and 3/4 and Cash was 6 ft 1.5 .....That sounds about right to me.

sam said on 2/Mar/09
He was the tallest member of The Highwaymen. About 4 inches taller than Kris Kristofferson, 1-2 inches taller than Waylon Jennings and about a head taller than Willie Nelson.

mcfan said on 17/Feb/09
Cash was at least a legitimate 6'2, 6'2.5, not 6'1.5. He probably shrunk when he got older.

David Melton said on 2/Dec/08
One book listed Johnny Cash as 6'2". he sang a song about him playing the guitar on the porch and said all 6 feet 2 inches playing the guitar. Sp he's as tall as i am.

Justicejayant said on 29/Jul/08
I have seen his pic with Elvis Presley too, He looks 2 inches taller than him, Elvis was of 6 feet, so cash's height was 6'2.

dfgh said on 1/Jul/08
well theres a pic with him and elvis and he is like 2 or 3 inches taller than elvis so that hights right. and the fact that he said it, i mean he knows his own height

glenn said on 2/Apr/08
rick rubin is way bigger than 6ft.also reported at 6-3.i have an old pic.at least 6-2.if not more.

sam said on 2/Apr/08
Yeah, that's way off, d. Johnny has been reported from 6'1" to 6'3". Even in later pictures with Johnny ailing and elderly he still appeared to have an inch over six-footer Rick Rubin.

glenn said on 1/Apr/08
thats absurd.some say cash was 6-3.cash was 6-1 min is his youth.maybe he shrunk to barely 6ft.

d said on 31/Mar/08
The one time I seen Johnny Cash he seemed to be about 5'8,then add the 2 inch heels , He was about 5'10 or so

G said on 21/Jan/08
James Hetfield, John C McGinely and Johnny Cash (all my idols) all the same height! kinda funny

Glen said on 9/Jan/08
In response to ancient Aztec guy, Johnny Cash was a good fighter. When he was in the airforce, he beat up two military cops. They tried to steal two cartons of cigarettes from him.

sam said on 4/Dec/07
In his song, "I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick on my Old Guitar", he sings "I have still got all six foot two in control".

Gene C said on 26/Oct/07
Johnny SERIOUSLY shrunk over the years. He seemed taller than what is listed, of course. I've seen a pic of him and Chuck Berry and they about the same: 6'1 and a half or so. But the point is he SEEMED taller and that is why Phoenix seemed too short to play him, in my book. I was hoping Vince Vaughn had gotten the part, actually.

Anonymous4 said on 27/Sep/07
loves hillbillies: Maybe your dad overestimated his height? :P

Mark said on 19/Sep/07
From the various times I've seen Johnny Cash on TV, he appears more like 5'11 than 6'1".

loves hillbillies said on 24/Aug/07
I think Johnny underestimated his height. I have a picture of my dad and Johnny. It was taken around 1960, before the man in black work boots era -- Johnny dressed like a rockabilly then. My dad was 6'3" and they are the same height. I once asked my dad what kind of shoes Johnny was wearing and daddy said, "plain old black shoes, just like mine".

Hank Snow (Nova Scotia) said on 27/Jun/07
I think Andre looked to be easily 6'2.5" standing next to Eric Clapton in that video on youtube. Maybe even 6'3". Johnny Cash was a big man.

ancient Aztec guy said on 5/May/07
I once saw a picture of Waylon Jenning who I belive is 6'1" Standing next to Johnny.They Looked to be almost the exact same height.Waylon was waering a cowboy hat so it was harder to tell. But I am Afraid I am unable to find it now. He was Likely 6'1.5" or 6'2". I bet he could fight when he was younger. He could probalby fight Gene Simmons (from KISS)no problem.

Roger Field said on 6/Feb/07
I met Johnny Cash with his band about eighteen years ago in the lobby of the Munich Hilton. I showed him my folding electric guitar invention. "I play acoustic' Johnny told me. I told Johnny that I had designed the guitar invention for a mutual friend. "It's sad to see a good man go down!" Johnny said of our mutual friend, I never could figure that one out. I remember Johnny being pretty much the same height as Schwarzenegger and Sean Connery, about 6'2," maybe just a little less. Roger Field

jaaguero said on 5/Feb/07
I think this 6 foot 1.5 is correct, you can check by looking at this video:Click Here , from his show, look at him next to Eric Clapton and Carl Perkins.

MyKat said on 21/Sep/06
I saw Cash a few times in the 70s & 80s and he was much taller than 6' 2", but his boots were very tall. Last time I saw him, his shoes were more normal & more likely 6' 1.5" as he claimed. Besides, we can trust ol' J R !

ancient Aztec Guy said on 3/Sep/06
My Gosh Most sources I have found say Reese Witherspoon was 5'1".I think she`s closer to 4'11" if Joquine Pheonix is only 5'8".By looking at the cover of the Walk the Line DVD I would think that if Joquine Pheonix was standing straighter Reese would come up to the ridge of his nose making Pheonix about 5 inches taller.That`s with her probably 3 inch heels on.Making her no more than 5'0".

Swede said on 28/Aug/06
WALK THE LINE note: Reese Witherspoon is 5'2 (157 cm). Of course Phoenix looks tall.

TR said on 15/Aug/06
I met Johnny Cash at the DFW airport many years ago. I'm 5'11" and
while shaking his hand, I was looking up at him. I noticed he had
boots with probable 2" heels. I would estimate 6'1'min. to 6'2".

frank p said on 5/May/06
I recall Cash on Doctor Quinn Medicne Woman. He did a couple of episodes as a retired gunfighter turned preacher. June Carter was with in it too. He looked like a good sized guy next to the rest of the guy cast, Joe Lando etc.

Ozzy said on 3/Apr/06
Good acting job, but he wouldn't need lifts to appear taller. Movie makers know all the tricks. Reckon you've seen them used in other movies like "The Maltese Falcon" with Humphrey (5'8) Bogart appearing as the tallish Sam Spade, or any Sly movie...

styleforlife said on 14/Mar/06
Phoenix looked in 'Walk the line ' as his own height ..i'm sure he wasn't wearing any lifts..sure it's a little strange because of the huge height difference but Phoenix played the role of Cash perfectly.

MHouillon said on 3/Mar/06
Isn't it weird, that a 173cm guy (Phoenix) plays a 187cm guy (Johnny Cash) ? He must have enormous lifts. But at some point, you can't wear too big lifts, the belt-line would be way too high, your legs would look too long. I think 3-4 inches (7.5-10 cm) would be the limit. Joaquin would need 14cms, that's almost 6 inches !!!
I'd like to see, how they did it in "Walk the line".

Mikex said on 1/Feb/06
I've seen a phot of Cash standing next to the evangelist Billy Graham and he looked about 2 inches shorter. I think Cash was somewhere in the 6'2'' region so his 6.1.5 inch sounds right. When Cash came on the scene in the 50s 6'2'' was big, probably the equivalent of 6'4'' today in relative terms. He did seem to shrink a bit though, I saw him next to George Bush who is 5'11'' and they were the same height.This maybe because Bush had his Texan cowboy boots on though, transforming him into a 6 footer.