British actress, best remembered for films such as Genevieve, Les Girls, Once More, With Feeling! and The Reluctant Debutante.
"I had always wanted to be a ballet dancer, but I grew too tall. When I got up on my toes, I was 10 feet 6 and my feet collapsed."
This is an exaggaration. She is actually 5 feet 9, a statuesque height that doesn't seem to have handicapped her career. "It did at first, I had a aterrible time getting parts. But women are much taller these days; Maggie Leighton is 6 feet 1 ½ If I encounter a leading man who is shorter than I am, I wear flat shoes and he wears lifts."
- 1957
I'm five-foot-nine. When I rose up on my toes I was ten-foot-six.
Allie said on 8/Apr/21
Interesting that she claims that “Maggie Leighton” was 6’1.5. Unless its a different one, the only “Maggie” or “Margaret Leighton” here is listed as being 5’8.25!
Beau Dare said on 23/Jul/20
As an American actor/screenwriter living in London in 2000, I wrote a screenplay on Kay Kendall and Rex Harrison's life. In doing research, I traveled to Withernsea, England to visit Kay's relatives on two occations. All of them mentioned a quote from Kay where she said, "I am 5'9 1/2" tall in my stocking feet, and with heels I'm 10 feet 6 inches. Kay was truly one of a kind.
Kyle 5'11 said on 2/Apr/17
@sTaCeY it depends on the guy, I'm typically most attracted to girls in the 5'4 to 5'10 range
sTaCeY said on 21/Dec/11
Do boys prefer short or tall girls?
Frank2 said on 31/Mar/06
Somehow I doubt she was that tall. Here she is with 5'7" Yul Brynner:
Click Here Of course Brynner could be standing on a box.
Here's Kay next to her husband 6' Rex Harrison:
Click Here And no, Harrison wasn't 6'1" as he claimed. He was an inch shorter than 6'1" Martin Landau in Cleopatra. He had to wear lifts when he appeared with Heston in The Agony and the Ecstasy. He even admitted it in his autobiography.
Here's another shot with Rex:
Click HereAnd finally, Kay actually did an episode of the old TV series Sergeant Bilko with Phil Silvers. In it she was more than just an inch shorter than 5'10 Silvers. I'd say she was closer to 5'7-1/2".
CelebHeights Editor said on 10/Feb/06
From book, 'Brief madcap life of Kay', she is quoted: "I'm five foot nine"