5'7 and a fraction said on 17/Sep/23
Lol at the average guess.
Sandy Cowell said on 16/Sep/23
Mel didn’t mess about when he directed The Passion of the Christ. It’s such a hard film to watch, so imagine what Jesus went through? I honestly didn’t blame disciple Peter for cutting the ear off one of the violent swines who came to arrest Chrst, and then Jesus put it back on again, warning Peter, “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.”
Yes, the details in Mel Gibson’s movie are very true to the Bible. I’ve shown this film to even non-religious people and they were filled with admiration for Christ’s bravery. You can’t be unaffected by this film.
Mel gets 5ft9.5 for his peak and 5ft9 for today’s height.
RichardSpain said on 20/Apr/23
176cm peak,
174/175 cm nowadays
400R said on 24/Feb/23
Hey how Rob, how can you determine if they lost 1/2 inch? Seems like a very small noticeable difference to see.
I think Mel today is 5’8 3/4 today.
Editor Rob
Getting into 60's the odds increase of natural losses and I think with Mel, he's not suffered a big amount, but a cm or so.
Rising174cm said on 13/Jan/23
Previous post might have not gone through due to an error I made so here it is again:
Click Here At 13:19 there's a wide shot of Mel and a pro-lift 172 cm Robert Downey Jr. walking on a runway and you see them walking on a runway again at 1:19:58 and Gibson is taller, but not much. Looks like 3 cm max and certainly closer to an inch than 2 inches. 175 cm peak looks right there. I assume Gibson was not wearing lifts in that film.
Rising174cm said on 14/Sep/22
Never 5'9.5". 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis was clearly taller than Mel in both The Man Without a Face and Maverick. 5'9.25" Kurt Russell also looked about 2 cm taller in Tequila Sunrise. 5'9.25" is the most Mel ever was as he was definitely closer to 5'9" than 5'10". 5'9.75" Chris Cooper was visibly taller in The Patriot and 5'10" Chris Rock had at least an inch on Mel in The Behind the Scenes clip for Lethal Weapon 4. Really, he was just 5'9" as Sigourney Weaver said. I'd give Don Johnson a better chance of 5'9.25" as I haven't seen him wear the thick footwear Mel has nearly as much.
@Leighton Tang: Well it makes sense since Anthony Hopkins is listed 5'9" peak and looked a bit taller than Mel in The Bounty while wearing the same footwear and less footwear at times. But it also shows that Mel probably hasn't shrunk much. You can see him in dress shoes at the Lethal Weapon 4 premiere and he looks maybe 5'9" flat. You can also see how he looked offscreen and in dress shoes as opposed to cowboy boots next to Danny Glover at the 1988 Oscars and when Glover stood tall he had an easy 6" on Mel, but would drop a couple of inches in posture often because the difference was so large. Mel still looks about 5'9", but there's a lot to suggest Mel wasn't taller than 5'9" and that's about what he looked with 5'10" Michael Parkinson when you consider Mel's thick heeled dress shoes gave about a half inch more than Parkinson's loafers. Certainly nothing over 5'9.25" max with Parkinson or he would have looked at least as tall with his footwear advantage.
Most Legit 6'3 said on 13/Aug/22
5’9.5 peak, a weaker 5’9 today.
Leighton Tang said on 6/Aug/22
Funny how the average guess for Mel's peak height is lower than Rob's listing for his current height.
Leighton Tang said on 3/Aug/22
Hi Rob, what height would you put his son Milo Gibson at?
Editor Rob
Looks a bit shorter than Mel
Vibram said on 14/Jun/22
Gibson & 193cm Jason Momoa.
Click Here
Go to Robs page on Momoa:
Click Here and you see Robs top of head is no higher than Mamoa's lower nose. I'd say Gibson is a bit higher than Mamoa's lower nose so, depending on footwear, Gibson is clearly a bit taller than 173.3cm Rob Paul by about 1.6 to 2cm. I'd say 175cm for Gibson today, 174cm night. 176cm at his day peak and 175cm night peak. He's not lost much height.
Rising174cm said on 8/May/22
Speaking of Mel and Van Damme, both were a bit shorter than 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis in the early 90s. Here's a still of Mel and Lewis from Man Without a Face(1993)
Click Here Mel also looked a bit shorter in Maverick. At 46 seconds in this video we see JCVD and Lewis in Double Impact(1991)
Click Here
You can also see Lewis alongside Stallone in Tango and Cash(1989) at 2:56 here
Click Here but Stallone had boots with at least 2" heels which is why he looks an inch or more taller than Lewis.
But based on all 3 next to Lewis, they must have been very close.
Okidoki said on 8/May/22
@Rising174cm There is a picture of Stallone in boxing shoes with Nielsen, which Rob has in his video. You have probably seen it, but i think it's a good representation of Stallone's peak height, he is standing at his best there in normal footwear, Nielsen slouching though. An interesting comment on Stallone's page that he would easily pass as 5'10 to most people without a second thought, with his posture, build and hair. But he was obviously not quite that tall.
Average guess has Regis at 5'6.5, Rob has him at 5'6. Van Damme really stood at his absolute best in some of the instances at that show, i think you can see his real height there well, especially if we know Regis height accurately.
As for Mel, well, you could argue around 174 cm for him based on the pictures with those people you mentioned, i think he was atleast 5'9 though.
All 3 of them had really good posture honestly and Van Damme's at his peak was probably one of the best i have ever seen.
Rising174cm said on 7/May/22
@Okidoki: I agree that they're all within 1 cm. think the best confirmation of Stallone's peak comes from Brigitte Nielsen. While they were married, she insisted he was the 5'10"-5'10.5" he claimed, but around 2003 she gave a more realistic 174-175 cm for Stallone. Stallone still looks 174 cm to me so maybe he was 175 peak. And yes, I think Mel was just 5'9" flat as Sigourney Weaver said very matter of factly. If he were taller then Mel would not have struggled in 3" lifts to look the same height as 5'11" Sigourney in flats. If he were taller, I also don't see how Mel with a footwear advantage would have been shorter than Anthony Hopkins or how Mel looked near 2 cm shorter than Kurt Russell with maybe 1/4" less footwear(Mel in Reeboks vs Kurt in dress shoes).
But like Stallone, Mel can manage to look taller as well. JCVD had the best proportions with his long legs, but I don't think he really wore lifts in general.
Okidoki said on 6/May/22
@Rising174cm I guess it's a matter of opinion, but if any of them is taller or shorter, it's not more than a cm difference. All 3 look very similar to each other i would say.
Van Damme was barefoot on the show with Regis for a long time, he always had very good posture in his prime like all these 3, but maybe if we knew Regis height very accurately we could atleast accurately get his height too. Rob already has a picture of Stallone with Glenn, so we could forsure say how tall he was at that time, now, how much he has lost from his prime there is the question. For Gibson, maybe it's slightly more difficult to get it right. Rob has him at 5'9.5, but many here seem to believe he was closer to 5'9.
Rising174cm said on 4/May/22
@Okidoki: Yeah, Stallone, Gibson and Van Damme are all roughly 5'9", but usually claim 5'10". I think we can determine their height based on a few things. Brigitte Nielsen said Stallone was 174-175 cm, Sigourney Weaver said Mel was 5'9" and indicated other times he was definitely not above that and Van Damme himself admitted he was 5'9". Van Damme was also not taller than Sly during Expendables 2 era, even in dress shoes. But Sly and Mel also wore thick footwear and have been more height conscious than Van Damme. I'd give Mel the best chance of 176 cm(max) but I don't think he was that tall since Kurt Russell looked 2 cm taller in Tequila Sunrise. Oddly, Stallone looked like he could have been taller than Kurt in Tango and Cash, but I don't think he was. I'd say 174.5 to 175 cm max for Sly and Van Damme and probably 175 to 175.5 cm for Mel. Statham hasn't even seemed taller than Sly in Sly's 60s and 70s so I'd definitely say he's the shortest at 174 cm. Van Damme also edged him in 2012.
@Hong: It's possible I underestimated the difference since everyone can still see Parkinson winds up taller. I just guessed half an inch because it's a small, but still visible difference on video. However, there's the other half inch footwear difference so Mel still comes out about 5'9" flat considering thicker heeled dress shoes vs loafers.
Okidoki said on 2/May/22
@Rising174cm Statham's proportions and posture doesn't exactly help him in looking taller. I wouldn't have been surprised that some people thought Mel was 2 inches taller, but there isn't that much between them in reality. Mel is generally lean looking and has good posture, sometimes millitary-like stances too. You definitely can argue 175 range when comparing with others though.
Sly, Van Damme and Mel should all be pretty close in height, i guess it's touch and go as to who is taller and a bit opinion based. Peak, i think not much under 175 and not much over 176 for all 3 in my opinion.
Rising174cm said on 30/Apr/22
@Hong: I'd say Mel is about half an inch shorter there, but Rob also estimated Parkinson's loafers at 0.6"-0.7" and Mel's heeled dress shoes at 1.1"-1.2" so about a half inch footwear difference making Mel 5'9" flat if Parkinson was still 5'10" aged 67. I'd only say Mel could look 5'9.5" there if we didn't consider footwear. If Mel were really 5'9.5", he'd look as tall there.
@Okidoki: According to Mel, he always had the ability to put on a lot of muscle when he worked out which leads me to believe he's a guy who would train hard if he needed to for a role(Expendables 3), but not outside of that. I agree he was probably 1 cm taller than Statham(175 vs 174 cm) but Mel also wears thick footwear and stands with good posture while Statham does not and slouches. I agree that 174 cm is too low for Mel, but he did look that short with Kurt Russell in Tequila Sunrise. Russell was oddly clearly taller face to face, and so was an apparently 5'9" flat Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty. Both scenes were indoors.
Hong said on 6/Apr/22
Click Here Here's Mel back to back with Parkinson,he looks a bit shorter although he insisted they were the same height,given Parkinson is older and maybe slightly down on peak Mel is looking no more than 5ft9 here,it's at around 39 min mark on video.
Okidoki said on 1/Apr/22
@Rising174cm Did he work out a lot when going up that many pounds during those periods? If he did, it's typical for people to look taller after working out a lot in my opinion, the shoulders get wider and the posture becomes better usually. If you have some big back issues you can gain a good chunk of height, but i doubt that was Mel's case.
Maybe he could have squeezed out a quarter of an inch possibly with that lifestyle, if that's the case.
Yeah, based on evidence, pictures, events etc you could argue 175 cm for Mel, but i don't think it's realistic he was just in the 174 range. He looks visibly taller than a guy like Statham for example, who still could be 5'8.75 or 8.5, but i don't think he quite reached 175 even when young, although could have been pretty close. For me, i feel peak Mel could be over 1 cm taller in my opinion.
Rising174cm said on 27/Mar/22
In the 80s, a 160 pound Mel came across as having the proportions of a weak 5'9" guy to me at best, but an older 185-190 pound Mel did come across taller. Part of that may be that Mel became more height conscious as his behavior with Michael Parkinson and Barry Norman showed. And yes, Pitt could pass for 182 cm with good posture and slight heel, but was 180 cm at best, if that. Mel is or was taller than Statham who is closer to 5'8.5", but probably not by much. Wesley Snipes is almost identical to Statham and Snipes in 0.6" Converse was only slightly shorter than Mel in 1.25" New Balance while promoting The Expendables 3.
Speaking of Brad Pitt, there use to be a video of Brad and Mel here:
Click Here That was 2009 so both at peak height, but Brad looked at least 1.5"-2" taller and footwear shows Mel's cowboy boots were at least 1 cm or 0.5" thicker than Brad's boots:
Click Here Photos are imperfect, but this at least gives an idea:
Click Here
Okidoki said on 28/Feb/22
Proportions do not always give away height precisely, there are some people who can make it more difficult for one to guess, but in my opinion, with most people, based on proportions you can see how tall they are in a 1 cm range difference for me. ¨
For example, Efron can look 175 cm sometimes, but looking at him enough on his own and in pictures, one can see he is in the 5'8 range, just based on his build. Can't be more than 174, is probably between 173-173.5. Another example is Denzel Washington, the last few years he really looks very 182 if i can say it like that, heheh. has the build of a typical 182 guy, could be slightly shorter the last 3-4 years maybe though. He was taller in his prime.
An example of a guy making it more difficult to see it is maybe Brad Pitt, who really can trick people into thinking he is 181, maybe even close to 182 at times. With his very good posture and build, he can pull it off, but evidence points to him being most likely between 179.5-180 cm really.
Ofcourse, seeing people beside other people is the most accurate. Still, i can personally now often know the height range of many even when not comparing too much.
Rising174cm said on 28/Feb/22
5'8.5" is a bit lower than I'd guess, but not unreasonable. He did often look that without boots in the 80s and it would make sense with Weaver, but I think Sigourney was spot on with 5'9" for Mel and 5'11" for herself. You're correct that he struggled to reach her height so there had to be a minimum 2" between them. Watch at 1:30 in this clip:
Click Here That is a close up indoors and they're the same height and here's a still from another scene:
Click Here
Since Mel wore 3" footwear in that film by his own admission and Sigourney was in flats, they should not have been about the same height in close ups unless she was at least a solid 2" taller. Although Mel himself suggested there was a 3" difference by claiming she was 6'1" and he was 5'10". But Sigourney was never 6'0". Rob met her at age 65 and guessed she was no more than 5'10.5" with a chance she dropped below that. Based on the height difference between them, Mel at a weak 5'9" and Sigourney at a strong 5'11" seems most likely. Overall, I still think 5'9" flat for Mel.
Jared Tyler said on 25/Feb/22
5'8 1/2
Struggles to be as tall as Weaver (who I think is 6'0 and not 5'11 like this site claims) while in platforms. Weaver obviously miscalculated his height a little bit.
Rising174cm said on 5/Feb/22
Although it's much more accurate to compare someone to other known heights than go based on proportions. We can safely rule out a strong 177 cm(5'9.75") because Chris Cooper was that height and clearly taller than a peak Mel in The Patriot:
Click Here Click Here Honestly, Mel struggles with 175 next to Cooper, though I don't think he was less than that.
Mel is/was definitely taller than Statham, but Statham is closer to 174 cm. But Mel is still much more height-aware as well. Interestingly, Wesley Snipes is probably more of a weak 5'9" range and he was barely shorter in 0.6" Converse than Mel was in 1.25" New Balance on video promoting The Expendables 3 in 2014. It's not at all clear if Mel had even lost a fraction by 2014. 176 cm peak for Mel is possible if you go by the minimum footwear difference between Parkinson's 0.6"-0.7" loafers and Mel's 1.1"-1.2" dress shoes and if you estimate the remaining difference at 1 cm as opposed to the 0.5" difference most originally saw. That is reasonable, but the range of their footwear was most likely a half inch apart and a half inch remaining height difference seems right, particularly since it was still clear on camera that Parkinson was taller. So I'd still say 5'9" flat was most likely with Parkinson, but 176 cm is possible in that comparison, albeit not with Kurt Russell, Anthony Hopkins, Chris Cooper, Geoffrey Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris Rock and Sigourney Weaver.
Rising174cm said on 15/Jan/22
I think it's reasonable to say he couldn't have been much higher or lower than 5'9" flat compared to others that height. Imo, Mel's proportions could make him look shorter without his cowboy boots because he had a proportionately long torso and short legs, but he was taller than an honest 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix, albeit an inch max. When you consider footwear, he was either 5'9" or 5'9.25" with a presumably 5'10" Michael Parkinson. Oddly, he gave a shorter impression to me when he only weighed 160 in the 80s as opposed to 185-190 in later films.
For what it's worth, Mel's character was listed 5'9" and 185 in Get The Gringo, which was filmed when he was about 54. I have doubts the height figure came from him as he's always claimed 5'10", but the weight seems spot on. However, the troubles his height caused with Sigourney Weaver suggest he was much more 5'9" than 5'10". If they were 5'9" and 5'11", respectively as Sigourney claimed then this makes sense. But if the difference were barely over an inch then it does not make sense that they'd struggle with Mel in 3" lifts or a box in close ups and Sigourney in flats. It also doesn't make sense why Mel would suggest she was 3" taller by boosting her to 6'1" to fit his 5'10" claim.
Okidoki said on 13/Jan/22
@Rob Would you say that there is a zero chance that Mel was 5'9 flat peak? Many people look at how one compares to people to guess height, i do too to a certain degree. But i really think that body proportions are usually the biggest giveaway of one's height. Take for example Zac Efron, when you look at him beside some people, he can sometimes appear 175 cm, but looking at his proportions, he always looks like a 5'8 range guy. I think body proportions wise, Mel looked a strong 5'9 at his peak, could sometimes appear close to 177, but was probably a bit below that. 176 range it seems to me. Just by looking at Statham and Mel's proportions for example, i think Mel looked noticeably a bit taller, not just a half cm-1cm.
Editor Rob
5ft 9 would be lowest I would try to argue...I think 9.25 isn't exactly impossible for him. However a full 5ft 10 to me seems less likely than 5ft 9 and change.
Rising174cm said on 10/Dec/21
Good to see Mel looking fit and healthy:
Click Here He definitely seems up for Lethal Weapon 5, which I hope will be the best since the 2nd, if not the 1st film. I don't think he's really lost height. His posture has remained strong, he's fit and is able to get in shape quickly as he's proven multiple times now since the Expendables 3.
At most, he might have shrunk from 5'9" flat to 5'8.75" or an absolute max of 5'9.25" to 5'9" flat.
Like Stallone, Mel has worn thick boots and big heels his entire career. 1983:
Click Here 2000:
Click Here They're both well-suited for this due to their relatively long torsos and proportionately shorter legs.
In films, he wore cowboy-type boots in the first 3 LW films and Bird on a Wire plus a similar heeled boot in Hamlet. He looked shorter(even 174 cm range) in Tequila Sunrise because he wore Reeboks and The Bounty because he wore the same thin shoes as Anthony Hopkins in some scenes and boots in others, but without a bigger, cowboy or Cuban-type heel.
Rising174cm said on 7/Dec/21
175 cm peak is accurate. There are wide shots of Gibson and 172 cm Robert Downey Jr. walking on the runway in Air America and I suppose there could be a maximum of 3 cm between them, but certainly no more in the scenes. It's still far from clear that Mel has actually lost anything noticeable since the shortest he looked was in the 1980s.
Btw, for those interested in his weight, he was described as 5'10" and 160 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Volume 132, Number 284, 27 November 1988 in a profile for Tequila Sunrise. A 1985 Rolling Stone profile for Thunderdome also described Mel as "160 pounds appealingly arranged on a five-foot-10-inch frame." Similarly, the book titled Classic Movie Fight Scenes: 75 Years of Bare Knuckle Brawls, 1914-1989 writes the following about the fight scene at the end of the first Lethal Weapon: "The 5'8", 160-pound Gibson uses flashier elbows, kicks and leg sweeps. The six-foot, 185-pound Busey takes advantage of his size and strength."
I thought Gibson looked a bit leaner and more muscular in the first Lethal Weapon compared to these others 80s roles so my guess was about 165, but he was by no means a big guy so 160 is still possible. He was more like 190 in The Expendables 3.
Wehrmacht180 said on 1/Dec/21
Young 175 cm
Today 174 cm
Rising174cm said on 12/Nov/21
I'm also not sure Mel measured up any better to Geoffrey Lewis than Van Damme did in Double Impact. Mel might have been a more solid 5'9" than JCVD, but mainly because I leave open the possibility of Mel being a small fraction over while Van Damme could have always been a weaker 5'9", but around others in the 5'9"-5'9.5" range, Gibson could struggle to look a full 5'9" a lot in the 80s and even into the 90s when he was more height conscious.
Rising174cm said on 6/Nov/21
I'd bet f1 would be identical with prime Mel. Remember how Mel looked with solid 5'9" Anthony Hopkins and Kurt Russell face to face indoors back in the 80s. He was shorter. The Sigourney thing only makes sense if Sigourney was right that Mel is 5'9" and she's 5'11". Otherwise, Mel in 3" lifts would have no problem looking taller than her in ballet slippers and he wouldn't need to upgrade her to 6'1" for his own 5'10" claim.
Typical 5'9" actor claiming 5'10", which isn't that bad. But also a longtime wearer of cowboy boots and documented to wear lifts or tip toe at times.
Now, he's probably a weak 5'9" at best or headed towards 5'8.5" at 65, though he has good posture. Very similar to a guy like Eric Roberts.
f1 said on 9/Oct/21
ı am really confused.When ı wake up my height is 176.6 but at the night it downs to 5 feet 9.Rob,what do you think about? Am ı taller than Mel's prime?
Editor Rob
I would give Mel an edge over you, but today you might look very similar
Rising174cm said on 24/Jun/21
Nah, Geoffrey Lewis was 176.5 cm and as you can see from my post on 24/Apr/21, Mel was clearly at least 1 cm shorter. Lewis was 57 at that time and you can see Lewis 4 years earlier with Stallone at the beginning of Tango and Cash and Stallone in Cuban-type heels looks more than just an inch taller so Lewis wasn't taller than listed. Mel was pretty much right around the 5'9" mark and could be just under it today, but not much.
Slim 6'1.5 said on 1/Jun/21
He’s in 5’8” territory now
176.5 peak
174-174.5 current
Rising174cm said on 24/Apr/21
He could honestly *look* a weak 5'9" as far back as the 80s as evidenced by how he looked with Kurt Russell, Anthony Hopkins and others, or here with 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis:
Click Here Imo, the evidence that Mel was just about 5'9" give or take no more than 1/8" to 1/4" is truly overwhelming. 176 is literally the absolute most he could have been, otherwise we have to start talking about a near 5'10" Kurt Russell and it wouldn't make sense why he would have struggled in 3" lifts to look Sigourney's height in flats. Sigourney's figures of 5'11" and 5'9", respectively make perfect sense.
If Mel has lost height, it's probably 1/4" to 1/2" at the absolute most since it's not entirely clear, especially given his penchant for going up on one foot and/or wearing lifts and heels. He still maintains excellent posture.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 17/Apr/21
Can look a weak 5ft9 these days
Slim 6'1.5 said on 15/Apr/21
176 is spot on for peak
174 is likely now for current
Rising174cm said on 4/Mar/21
@berta: That's more of an argument for Mel not losing much height since he was 59 at the time, but he was wearing cowboy boots so it's best not to read too much into Mel's height in cowboy boots. Here's 57 year old Mel only looking about 5'9" flat also *in cowboy boots* with Danny Trejo, whom Rob has met:
Click Here Click Here
Also, if we're going to compare Mel to 5'9" guys then we have better comparisons without cowboy boots to consider. Solid 5'9" Kurt Russell was very clearly taller:
Click Here and 5'9" Anthony Hopkins really did edge him:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here At best, you can argue they were the same height, but in these particular scenes Mel had a footwear advantage as well.
I'd go just slightly over the average guess at 5'9" flat peak and 5'8.75" current, but it is possible he is still 5'9" flat and hasn't lost any height. However, his height in cowboy boots or when his feet aren't visible must be taken with a grain of salt. Fixed a link from my post on on 4/Feb/21 and you see him in dress shoes with 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix:
Click Here Phoenix is a great reference as honest 5'8". You see Mel with M. Night Shyamalan at the same event in that post and 5'9" is the most Mel looked without boots that night when he wasn't going up on one foot. As I've shown in the past, he was not less than 2 cm shorter than 177 cm peak listed Chris Cooper in The Patriot and clearly shorter than 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis in Man Without a Face. I can't find the video anymore, but you can see stills from a behind the scenes clip of Lethal Weapon 4 in my post on 13/Jan/21 and 5'10" Chris Rock definitely looked a full inch taller than Mel.
@Roby Italy: I always had Mel pegged at about 165 pounds in the first Lethal Weapon and more recently, I did see a 1985 article for Thunderdome that referred to him as 160 so definitely 160-165 range in the 80s. He did get noticeably bigger in the 90s and 2000s, though and his booking sheet from 2011 had him at 190, which I believe. When Mel got jacked for the Expendables 3, he said his weight was the same, but the difference was that his pants fit. So a bulkier Mel at about 190 is about right and young 80s Mel at 160-165 range.
berta said on 4/Mar/21
he is a big boned guy he have a easy time putting on muscles. the average guess seems very low. he edged out legit 5´9 tom hardy with over 1 inch when he had boots on. so there is zero chanse that he is shorter than hardy.
Roby Italy said on 15/Feb/21
Rob, what do you think of his weight in recent years, looks more muscular, i think near 200 lbs?
Editor Rob
190's I'd have thought was possible in recent years yeah.
I went from 155 before this pandemic to now sitting on 165, I'll need to do more walking 😎
Rising174cm said on 4/Feb/21
I compared Mel's height to Eric Roberts, but they share height tricks as well. If you look at Mel's back foot, he was doing the tip toe thing at least as far back as 2002: tinyurl.com/1aryh7qk
Of course, standing flat-footed with M. Night Shyamalan, Mel was clearly shorter at that event:
Click Here Click Here And if you look at the full pictures I've posted of M. Night on his page with 5'8"
Mark Wahlberg and 5'11" max 60+ year old Bruce Willis, M. Night is maybe 5'9.5" himself, but not a full 5'10".
He was also doing the Eric Roberts arm on shoulder trick at the same event with Joaquin Phoenix: tinyurl.com/1stve9ik tinyurl.com/7sjwczdn Again, standing normally, he struggled to look an inch taller than self-proclaimed 5'8" Phoenix: tinyurl.com/3u4c642u And that's more consistent with how they looked in the film in which the difference was about an inch, but not more. This is a pretty representative still: tinyurl.com/1rp23zik
So yeah, Mel became pretty Sly and has an impressive array of height tricks. On the subject of height loss, well if you believe Phoenix and Wahlberg are the same height, it's worth mentioning that Mel in his 60s measured up visibly better next to Wahlberg than a mid 40s Mel measured up to Phoenix.
Rising174cm said on 1/Feb/21
@Slim: I don't see either that peak height or that amount of height loss possible. Mel was possibly 176 cm peak at the most, but even that is a stretch as it would require obvious upgrades for Kurt Russell and Anthony Hopkins among others. Costa is right - Sigourney said she's "sure she's a couple of inches taller than Mel" and I'm sure of that as well. Keep in mind in Mel is in about 3" footwear and Sigourney is in flats in this clip:
Click Here Yet they're still only about the same height in that close up. If you look at Rob's video, he measured 5'11.4" in boots and 3" lifts so even he could've looked at least as tall as Sigourney is flats. As Costa said, Mel at 5'9.5" would make Sigourney nearer 6' than 5'11".
Having seen just about all of Mel's films, it's surprising how often he could look barely 5'9" even on screen. Here's Mel at only 52 with 6'1.5" Danny Huston in Edge of Darkness: tinyurl.com/1ua1t1h1 and in 2009, there was video of him backstage with Brad Pitt and Mel in cowboy boots looked at least 1.5"-2" shorter than Pitt in more 3 cm boots and we know Pitt is 5'11" at the absolute most. In 2019, Stallone pulled off looking easily taller than that. Just as Stallone in big heels had about 1.5" on Geoffrey Lewis, who was himself, clearly taller than Mel. Really, Mel has never pulled off a height than Eric Roberts didn't.
As for height loss, Mel's posture is still excellent and he has no curvature in his spine so I'm unsure of anything more than maybe 1/4" loss. Only reason I'll give him that much is he did look 174 range with Danny Trejo in 2012-13, with Stallone at Cannes in 2014 and accounting for footwear, Andrew Garfield in 2016, but then he could look that short in the 80s as well. Really, much higher chance of 174.5 peak than 176.5. Only reason I give him a full 5'9" is Sigourney said it matter of factly and he did look only 1/2" shorter than Parkinson with 1/2" more footwear.
Rising174cm said on 31/Jan/21
@Costa: True, that's why Mel had to upgrade 5'11" Sigourney Weaver to 6'1" to fit his 5'10" claim and also why Mel in near 3" footwear struggled to look the same height at times with Sigourney in 1/4" type flats. Certainly a solid 2" between them barefoot. Even if you remove 2 degrees of tilt and compare eye level to account for the camera, Mel was still not taller than 5'9" listed Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty:
Click Here and really Hopkins had less footwear as he wore these shoes the entire film:
Click Here while Mel wore these brown boots in that scene and others:
Click Here In other scenes, they wore the same shoes:
Click Here
Here's that scene from another perspective:
Click Here And here's stills from two more scenes:
Click Here Click Here At best, they were the same height, but really, Hopkins did edge Mel, especially when you consider Mel had the advantage in the scenes he wore boots. Granted, Hopkins could look 176 cm in his 70s and 80s films so if you want to push it, you could argue Mel might have scraped 176 at the absolute most, but really, the average guesses right now for Mel at basically 175 cm peak and Hopkins at 175.5 peak add up much better.
slim 6'1 said on 31/Jan/21
176.5 for peak
174 for current
Costa said on 30/Jan/21
I think at the very most, Mel was never any taller than 5’9”. If he were, that would put Sigourney Weaver over 6 ft which she wasn’t.
Rising174cm said on 24/Jan/21
Imo, Mel was confident with his 5'9" height in the 80s like Sigourney said, but like Tom Cruise, I think the press constantly calling him short made him more conscious by the early 90s. You can see Mel clearly tip-toeing on one foot here:
Click Here Click Here These shoes from the Oscars look to have the extra material and angle much more typical of a moderate elevator shoe than a typical dress shoe:
Click Here You can see that he definitely put lifts in his
New Balance here on set as well:
Click Here Click Here Considering the angle, you can find small elevator boots online that look like these:
Click Here Click Here Of course, he mostly favored cowboy boots and similar thick heeled styles dating back to the 80s, though he wore thick
Vin Diesel-type boots in this 2000 photoshoot:
Click Here
There's nothing wrong with lifts, elevators, thick heels etc., but imo, it's always silly when an actor gets caught tip-toeing in a photo. Seeing Mel put lifts in
New Balance sneakers made me wonder about scenes where his shoes are in frame since he obviously can't wear
New Balance in a period piece! Indeed, you can see he wore other boots for that film:
Click Here Click Here Whether there's anything inside those boots, too, I don't know. The
New Balance was much more blatant as those aren't designed for lifts and thus, the bulge at the laces became extremely noticeable.
Rising174cm said on 24/Jan/21
Yes, although comparing to tall men, when Mel stands up with a supposedly 6'5" Mark McCracken in this "We Were Soldiers" clip, Mel looks nearly a full head shorter:
Click Here A 6'5" man's head would likely be around 10" so I'm not sure Mel even looks a full 5'9" with him. Although later on, Mel looks just a bit shorter than 5'9.5" Greg Kinnear walking on the runway so I'd say he looks 5'9" with him, although definitely shorter than an aged Jack Nicholson looked with Kinnear. 6'1" Chris Kline did look to have a good 4" on Mel in this scene as well:
Click Here
Philip Gaskell said on 22/Jan/21
Lol don't know if you're trying to get a reaction but in MM2 the gyro captain is played by Bruce Spence who is 6 foot 6, anybody of average height looks small compared to that.
Rising174cm said on 22/Jan/21
He could look legitimately look 5'8" range in the 80s - even as short as 5'8" flat in the 1988 Oscars pic with Danny Glover - though I'm sticking to 5'9" flat. Rob rightfully downgraded Ron Howard to 5'8.5" flat, which is really the most he could have been with Robin Williams, Henry Winkler and an aged John Wayne and Mel was slightly taller in a series of pics from 1995, though not much:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
Rob did agree Mel could look as short as 5'8.5" with Danny Trejo at age 56 when they did Machete Kills, but speculated this may have been footwear. However, premiere photos suggest this wasn't the case:
Click Here Click Here Note that Danny has normal shoes around 1" and Mel has cowboy boots giving him a minimum 1/2" to 2 cm advantage yet a 69 year old Danny reaches Mel's eyebrows. Compare that to how a 65 year old Danny looked next to Rob while Danny had a fraction more footwear. It's doubtful Mel had lost more than 1/4" by 56-57 and you really wouldn't guess taller than 5'8.75" or so overall with the roughly 5'5.5" Trejo.
Bill Savage said on 20/Jan/21
I never thought he even looked 5'8 in the Mad Max films and for instance he gets called a 'sneaky little man' in MM2 by the gyro captain and in Thunderdome the kids say 'he's not much bigger than us'. Also in the far shot of the GC and Max walking to his car later on in the film the Gyro captain absolutely towers over him.
Rising174cm said on 13/Jan/21
@Philip Gaskell: Check out peak Mel with another 5'10" man, Chris Rock:
Click Here Click Here That was behind the scenes for Lethal Weapon 4. There certainly looks to be at least an inch between them, no?
On Parkinson, I think he claimed 5'11" or got listed at that so he was definitely not over 5'11" peak, but of course what matters here is his height in his late 60s and 5'10" looks about right since he was shorter than a roughly 5'10.5" George Clooney and certainly did not look above 5'10" with a self-proclaimed 5'11" David Beckham in an episode still up on YouTube.
My final word on the Parkinson video is most likely a half inch difference in footwear since the range was half an inch(1.1"-1.2" range dress shoes vs 0.6"-0.7" loafers) so most likely bang on 5'9", the max would be 0.6" shoe difference(1.2" dress shoes vs 0.6" loafers) plus half inch height difference which would make Mel pretty much exactly 175 cm or 5'8.9" and the minimum difference would be 1 cm footwear difference(1.1" dress shoes vs 0.7" loafers) and 1 cm height difference making Mel just about 176 cm or 5'9.2" max.
Rising174cm said on 13/Jan/21
@Philip Gaskell: Thanks, I appreciate you clearing up the misunderstanding and keeping the discussion friendly.
In Tequila Sunrise, Mel wore Reebok sneakers, which I believe add about an inch while Kurt seemed to have a heeled dress shoe that should add a fraction more, but the difference there can look near an inch or at least 2 cm and the footwear difference shouldn't have been as much as 2 cm. If Kurt was wearing lifts, you'd expect more of an angle in the front of his shoe near the lace area:
Click Here This is a very good comparison, imo because both are face to face indoors. Both men have often worn cowboy boots, but I've never seen evidence Kurt has worn lifts with the possible exception of a film like Tombstone. Mel on the other hand, seemed to become height conscious in the early 90s after it seemed like he didn't care in the 80s, much like Tom Cruise. Mel still gets photographed wearing elevators/lifts and even tip-toeing for photos. You're right that Kurt is closer to the camera, but the difference in their eye levels and chin is noticeable and when Kurt is taller every time they're photographed together, I think it's reasonable to conclude he edges Mel:
Click Here
Philip Gaskell said on 12/Jan/21
I apologize did not mean anything against you personally, but those two shots you posted first one Mel is in trainors and Kurt is in shoes, lifts? who knows, second one Mel is wearing flat shoes Kurt is in Cowboy boots he has lived in them for the last 35 years, and he is also closer to the camera.
Rising174cm said on 10/Jan/21
Parkinson is listed here at 5'10" and nobody is saying Mel is short. I'm saying he was 5'9", just like Sigourney Weaver said and that's average. In fact, these shots with 5'9.25" listed Kurt Russell had me thinking he wasn't even 5'9":
Click Here Click Here But after seeing the Parkinson video again, I think a full 5'9" peak is the best overall guess.
Btw, Mel has been among my 5 favorite actors and filmmakers for years, believing he's an inch shorter than he claims is not a slight against him. In fact, as a longtime Mel Gibson defender I can tell you that defending Mel doesn't always win you friends!
Philip Gaskell said on 8/Jan/21
Parky was 5'11 to 6'0 when we was younger Mel is not short get over it.
Rising174cm said on 4/Jan/21
@Rob: Yeah, Gibson has a manic energy that makes interviews like this entertaining. Not including the external heel difference, I say about a half inch because you still can see a height difference, but it's pretty small. It's rare for Mel to wear a normal dress shoe as opposed to a boot, albeit a thicker model that probably isn't much less than the Chelsea boots he wears now. But he wasn't going to go through all the trouble only to have some still say he's a 5'6"-5'7" man in lifts!
Rising174cm said on 3/Jan/21
The Parkinson video reappeared:
Click Here (timestamp included)
I took a screenshot in case the video disappears again:
Click Here
Pretty much how I remembered it. Mel is still not quite as tall as Parkinson -- I'd say half an inch shorter -- and does look more determined than Parkinson to squeeze out every mm. However -- and here's the key -- Rob guessed Parkinson's loafers to be about 0.6"-0.7" and Mel's dress shoes to be about 1.1"-1.2" so a minimum half inch difference in footwear:
Click Here
So assuming Parkinson was still 5'10" at 67 and guessing the minimum footwear a difference, without trying to get too precise, subtracting a half inch height difference and a half inch footwear difference puts Mel right around 5'9" flat. You could probably argue 1/8" to 1/4" under or over, but I can't see anything beyond that. Mel might be positioned slightly more on the side of the camera, but I don't think this is a major factor here.
Editor Rob
they were reasonably close, but definitely no lifts from Gibson 😆
Rising174cm said on 26/Dec/20
As for Robert Downey Jr., the above pic is due to Downey's thicker heels, however I'm not convinced Mel's shoes are completely normal. Also, there's a great wide shot in Air America on the runway that shows no more than 3 cm between Mel and 172 cm listed Robert Downey Jr. You can see part of this scene in this trailer @ 27 seconds:
Click Here Note, there's zero evidence Downey wore lifts in 1990 and this still shows their footwear looks similar:
Click Here
Rising174cm said on 23/Dec/20
With an honest 5'8" man Joaquin Phoenix, 46 year old Mel looked 5'8.5" in similar dress shoes:
Click Here Click Here Click Here In fairness, the difference was about an inch in the film so I'll give Mel the flat 5'9" with Joaquin, but no more.
@Tunman: I have to disagree. I remember the video with Parkinson and Parkinson still came out at least half an inch taller. I'd need to see the video again to be more precise, but if you consider Rob's estimate of Mel's heeled dress shoes at 1.1"-1.2" and Parkinson's loafers at 0.7" range max, you wind up with Mel at about 5'9" flat again. Others agreed with me that Mel busted a gut while Parkinson didn't, but we can even disregard that. The average guesses are as close as you'll get, imo, though I could believe Mel is 2" shorter than Andrew Garfield barefoot so 5'9" peak and 5'8.5" current is highly possible, imo.
Terry said on 6/Dec/20
5'10 with the Lethal Weapon hair. In the photo with Robert Downey Jr Mel looks about 5'7 and 3/4 or 5'8.
Tunman said on 30/Nov/20
@Rising
Sorry for the late reply,I thought 2cm max of total difference.The fact that he said they were about the same could have meant there was hardly any visible difference...of course there was 0.5" more footwear to which we could possibly add anything from 0.25 to 0.5"(when taking into consideration that Parkinson may have been up to 1/4 taller and the fact that Gibson was breathing in)so in the end 0.75 or 1" max difference which could make him only 5'9 indeed.Rob gives him the benefit of doubt,like could he get near 5'9.5 if
Busting a Gut?More chances he's closer to 5'9 indeed maybe 5'9.25 is better...
Jani said on 24/Nov/20
Peak maybe 177cm tops but most likely a little under. Now about 174-175cm.
Slim 6'1" said on 31/Oct/20
174 current
176.5 peak
Arch Stanton said on 29/Sep/20
Guessing Christian won't be borrowing any of Mel Gibson's suits any time soon eh Sandy? :-)
TheDon1528 said on 24/Sep/20
around 5'9"
Rising174cm said on 23/Sep/20
For those who prefer images to video, here's a couple of screenshots:
Click Here Click Here Even with Gibson wearing what I believe are elevator boots - and Gibson has at least a fraction footwear advantage even if they're not elevators - the difference is visibly larger than the 5" difference between Rob and Glover in Rob's picture.
And for a reminder of what Gibson looked like in dress shoes when Glover stood tall:
Click Here Definitely a full 6", imo.
For something different, here's video of Mel and 5'1.5" Sissy Spacek in 1985:
Click Here I don't think Mel is standing tall enough to judge early on, but you can see him standing tall around 2:31 and I don't think there's even a 6" difference(I'm assuming Spacek is about 5'4.5" range in heels). As best as I can tell, Gibson appears to be wearing some sort of dress boot:
Click Here Certainly, the difference doesn't look near 6" there. I do see a full 6" difference here, but Spacek appears to be bending a knee and slouching:
Click Here Crucially, the front of Spacek's shoes don't look thick enough for, say, a 4" heel.
Rising174cm said on 18/Sep/20
@Rob: I've seen Gibson look more like 5'10" give or take, but the only way I can make sense of the comparisons between Mel and Kurt Russell(both onscreen and off), Hopkins, Phoenix(both onscreen and off), Geoffrey Lewis, Chris Cooper, Chris Rock, Sigourney Weaver, Parkinson etc. is for Gibson to have been 5'9" flat and footwear or the occasional tip-toeing(as he was caught doing promoting Daddy's Home) to be the explanation for the taller appearances. I'm honestly still a bit shocked by how he looked with Kurt offscreen in addition to Tequila Sunrise.
Here's another video with Glover that I don't believe has been posted, this one from the '93 MTV awards:
Click Here Rob can correct me if I'm wrong, but based on his photo with Glover when it had the mugshot, Glover's eye level to head looked 5" and when Glover stands tall throughout the first minute of the video, Mel is quite clearly below his eye level. To add to this, Mel's boots gave him an advantage and I suspect they may have been some sort of elevator boots, though his long pants make it difficult to say for sure:
Click Here Click Here Moreover, even if Glover was a full 6'3" peak, it's highly likely he was no more than, say, 6'2.75" by age 47.
Rising174cm said on 13/Sep/20
@Rob: I remember his style being an obviously thick elevator boot with a pretty thick external heel - perhaps 1.5" - here's a shot that shows them:
Click Here. But if Mel was getting near 3" then even my 5'9" flat peak guess is looking questionable. In addition to that scene I posted, here's a still from another scene:
Click Here Surely, Sigourney in flats wouldn't measure taller than the 5'11.4" you measured in
Cat Boots + 3" lifts and Mel managed about the same height as her. This makes sense as Mel suggested Sigourney was 3" taller than he was. If Mel was only 1.5" shorter then a simple pair of cowboy boots would have evened him up with her in flats as opposed to 3" elevators, let alone 3" lifts.
There really are multiple times in the 80s when he could seem 5'8" range or sub-5'9". For instance, Rob estimated Mel at 7" shorter than Glover in this pic:
Click Here Granted, I thought the difference was more like 6" in the video, but the pic is not totally worth dismissing because it's rare to see Glover stand that tall, it's equally rare to see Mel without heeled boots next to Danny and it's also rare to see wide shots.
Editor Rob
It might actually have been a custom made shoe for the film. In some scenes it was obvious he looked taller than he should. The most I do go for Mel is about 5ft 9.5, it would not be a shock if he came in just shy of it, but I was never so sure just a flat 5ft 9.
Rising174cm said on 10/Sep/20
I use to think 176 was possible as a max, but above it? There's zero chance of it. Here's the video of a scene where he's face to face with Anthony Hopkins, who is only listed at 175 peak himself:
Click Here Gibson doesn't look over 174 there, just as he didn't with Kurt Russell. Btw, as far as footwear, Mel and Hopkins wore the same footwear in some scenes, but Mel actually even had a boot advantage in others. Despite this, Hopkins is consistently as tall or taller than Mel throughout the film.
Remember Mel's admission that he wore "3 inch lifts" and that 5'11" Sigourney wore flat ballet type slippers:
Click Here Mel just manages to be about even with Sigourney. I suspect Mel meant 3" elevator boots, in which case he was getting about 2.5" to 2.75" in actual height, which would still give him easily over 2" more footwear than Sigourney's 0.25" type slippers. However, if Mel really did put 3" lifts in his boots then he was only about Rob's height(see Rob's video in link above). I suspect it's the former, which would make Mel perhaps a weak 5'9", which adds up with Sigourney's claim that Mel is 5'9" and she's sure she's a couple of inches taller. However, the other quote seemed like she was going to suggest she's 3" taller. Either way, there's no way the difference was less than 2".
Finally, does Mel look anywhere near 1.5" taller than Joaquin Phoenix?
Click Here No, Mel looks 174-175 range max with Phoenix, whose height we can be fairly sure of.
Editor Rob
Mel might have got near 3 inches with boots+lifts in some scenes with Sigourney.
Slim 6'1" said on 7/Sep/20
176-177 young
Rising174cm said on 5/Sep/20
@Tunman: I don't think it was more than 2 cm, but that's because Mel had a visible footwear advantage. Parkinson had loafers, which Rob estimated at 0.6"-0.7" while Mel had heeled dress shoes, which Rob estimated at 1.1"-1.2". Therefore, we must add 1 to 1.5 cm to whatever the difference appeared even without considering Mel was
Busting a Gut. And yeah, I'd agree with Mel at about an inch taller than Sinise, but I don't see why we would assume Sinise had more footwear considering Mel has long worn heels and lifts himself and he was the star of the film. Incidentally, Sinise actually said Mel was the same height as he was at 5'8". I don't believe he's that short, of course, but Mel did look closer to 5'8" than 5'9" with Kurt Russell and Anthony Hopkins in the 80s, both of whom were about 5'9" themselves. I can agree with a flat 5'9" peak for Mel, but not a mm over that. The evidence of Mel with people of similar height is frankly overwhelming.
Tunman said on 4/Sep/20
Well,Rising perhaps Parkinson managed to keep extremely close to his peak like 5'9.75-10.A 2cm difference is possible but I'm not sure it would more than that.I rewatched Ransom and felt a full inch between him and Sinise was likely,so 5'9 but no less maybe just over that assuming a slight shoe advantage for Gary
Rising174cm said on 1/Sep/20
For reference, here's what Mel looked like at 190 pounds:
Click Here If Mel has ever been 200 pounds, it was when he was out of shape. 185 range for We Were Soldiers is possible, but 190 absolute max.
By the way, we can really put to rest the possibility of 5'9.5" after those additional Kurt Russell pics. I now have to be persuaded Mel was even a full 5'9" as opposed to 5'8.5"-5'8.75". I may still give him the benefit of the doubt because he looked 5'9" flat accounting for the minimum 1 cm advantage his dress shoes provided over Michael Parkinson's loafers IF Parkinson was still a full 5'10" at 67 and assuming Mel gained a negligible advantage by
Busting a Gut compared to Parkinson's straight, but more relaxed posture.
Animus said on 29/Aug/20
Here Mel Gibson is during the production of We Were Soldiers:
Click Here
Is that what a 200lb, 5'9½ man looks like? It's obviously difficult to tell whether seeing his lower-half. I myself have a large lower body, large thighs, hamstrings, glutes, even calves, whereas my upper-body is less pronounced. So even though I weigh 195-200lbs, my upper-body can be found on maybe a 175lb body.
Leaving that aside, based on above picture of Gibson, I don't quite see 200lbs. At least 185lbs for sure, maybe somewhere in the 190s, but 200lbs might be a bit much.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 27/Aug/20
In We Were Soldiers he looked jacked up, easily 200lbs+
Rising174cm said on 21/Aug/20
As a follow up to the post by Keith 5'10 on 21/May/20, here's Mel and 5'9.25" Kurt in Tequila Sunrise:
Click Here I can't see any possible way Mel was taller than Kurt, unless we start assuming Kurt wore lifts and Mel didn't, which there's no evidence of. In fact, it's pretty safe to say Kurt was taller. Remember, Rob agreed that Mel could look more 5'8.75" with Danny Trejo, whom he's met, possibly even 5'8.5", and Mel was only 56-57 then. I'm a huge fan of Mel, but he was at best, the 5'9" Sigourney Weaver said he was at his peak. Now, he could be 5'8.5"-5'8.75", which he could already frankly look a fair amount in the 80s!
Rising174cm said on 16/Aug/20
@Keith 5'10: Great finds! Remember, he was clearly shorter than Kurt Russell in Tequila Sunrise as well and they were face to face and indoors. If Kurt was 5'9.25" then this further shows Mel was never any taller than 5'9" flat. He doesn't even look that tall next to Goldie Hawn in that wide shot and she seems to be in more of a cowboy heel than a high heel. Mel honestly looked more 5'8" range both on screen and off screen with Kurt.
Slim 6'1" said on 7/Aug/20
bruce willis can drink booze like water yet no one labels him like mel gibson
Slim 6'1" said on 7/Aug/20
peak height is good but current since hes an old man would be 174.5 now
Jkiller said on 4/Aug/20
I do believe peak was 5'9.25 (176cm), nowadays probably 5'9.
Man in Black said on 21/Jul/20
I reckon peak height 173-4 (sock height). I saw him in the flesh in '93. I didn't think about height then but seeing a movie star in person, I was struck by the fact he looked about my height. Of course his bodyguards were all taller. A good movie to look at for Mel and RDJ is Air America, which they both starred in. In the first three Lethal Weapons he had big hair and wore a cowboy boot.
Ronaldo 185.5cm said on 16/Jun/20
Average guesses have gone very unrealistic, 4mm shirnkage at that age is not unrealistic, also peak height is too low.
FiveEightJake said on 4/May/20
It’s funny how some actors like Cruise, Gibson get incessantly mocked for there perfectly normal stature and then you have others who are in similar range and they get no comments at all.
I think with them both working with/dating tall women it puts this image in people’s heads, and maybe the fact these guys are HUGE in terms of their brand but are just average in stature.
Height perception from common people is one of them things that really grinds my gears, you’ll have a 5’9 man standing next to a 6’3 one and people will comment on how short the smaller man is without actually contextualising each individual situation.
Adam777 said on 4/Apr/20
Rob, look at pictures of Mel with Andrew Garfield at the Venice Film Festival. Mel has big heeled shoes and is still shorter than Andrew who is in flat soles. I say 5’8.
James B 172c, said on 18/Mar/20
WOW 190-200 in braveheart I never would have fussed him that heavy in the film
LIar Girl said on 21/Feb/20
Erm look at Roberts heels lol.
Camitori said on 12/Feb/20
First of all excuse my english cuz im spanish, second, how much do you think mel gibson's weight in Braveheart?
Editor Rob
He could have been 190-200
Johan123 said on 11/Feb/20
Has never ever looked over 5’8”, even peak.
That he’s no taller than Robert Downey Jr. in the pic above should be a giveaway.
Nik Ashton said on 8/Dec/19
It’s unusual that people claim he is shorter than what he is.
MJKoP said on 20/Nov/19
HELL FREEZES OVER!!!!!!
Click Here
Editor Rob
Show the man some respect, he's just been robbed, they took everything!
Nik J Ashton said on 1/Nov/19
He's above average for his age!
179cm guy said on 16/Aug/19
Peak: 5'9.25-9.5
Current: 5'8.75-9
TheBat said on 31/Jul/19
Mel looked to be 5'9.25" peak. Still could be 5'9" even today.
Fabrizio said on 3/Jul/19
Gibson oggi e'175 cm, anni fa 176
cmillzz said on 6/Jun/19
He’s always been 5’8 range. Maybe a very strong 5’8, bordering on weak 5’9 peak.
c-mo said on 11/May/19
cmillzz said on 9/May/19
@c-mo
lol come on man. You can’t be serious saying he’s 5’11-6’0 because of one pic. and
Joe Rogan is 5’6 range, not 5’7.
-----------------------------------------
well I am being sarcastic . I want to say that joe rogan is no way 5'7 . he is 5'6 max . I wouldnt even rule out 5'5.5
check out joe rogans site I said some more things there
Rising174cm said on 11/May/19
That Rogan picture supports what I've been saying -- that Gibson hasn't lost much, if any, height yet. Granted, it's probable he has some kind of lifts, but if Rogan is really 5'7" as Rob lists him then Mel looks at least 5'10.5" there, if not 5'11" and that's as tall as he's ever pulled off. Of course, I personally doubt Rogan is over 5'6.5", but that still means Mel pulled off at least a solid 5'10", if not 5'10.5" at 62. But only Glenn could think Mel is 5'11", much less an absurd 6'0" considering the man has consistently claimed to be 5'10", a 5'9" flat Anthony Hopkins edged out Mel in the same or less footwear back in 1984's The Bounty, including face to face and solid 5'9" Kurt Russell had an inch on Mel back in 1988's Tequila Sunrise and while Mel is a known lift wearer, there's no evidence either Russell or Hopkins wear lifts. Then we have the comparison to 5'11" Sigourney Weaver in 1983's The Year of Living Dangerously where Mel looked no taller in admitted 3" elevator boots than Sigourney did in ballet-type flats and Mel also suggested Sigourney was 3" taller than he is. So anything over Rob's 5'9.5" listing is not worth discussing and as I've said, I think there's overwhelming evidence that suggests Mel was never taller than 5'9". For one more, I remind everyone that 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis was taller than Mel face to face in both The Man Without a Face(1993) and Maverick(1994) and not only was Lewis in his late 50's at the time, but 5'9" max Sly Stallone with the help of 2"+ heels looked more than an inch taller than Lewis in 1989's Tango and Cash and 5'9" max Jean-Claude Van Damme measured up as well to Lewis in Double Impact(1991) as Mel did in either film, in fact, unlike Mel, Van Damme even looked as tall as Lewis in their first scene, though like Mel, Van Damme was generally shorter than Lewis. I'll also add that all of these Gibson comparisons were indoors and I could cite more than a half dozen other examples such as Mel with a footwear advantage of about half an inch going back to back on video with a 67 year old 5'10" Michael Parkinson and looking at least half an inch shorter.
I will say Rob stating that he believes Mel has lost height in the last 2 or 3 years is very helpful, but I think the Rogan pic is just one example that contradicts this as do Mel looking 5'9" max with Danny Trejo in 2012-2013 and Brad Pitt in 2009. But I'll also add that I watched Conspiracy Theory for the first time in about a decade and imo, the metal detector scene shows Mel wore a thick elevator-type boot while Julia Roberts wore a medium woman's heel of maybe 2.5" yet Mel could look just an inch taller in some scenes so while this does suggest Mel pulled off looking like a solid 5'10"-5'10.5" man in lifts if Julia is 5'8", I suspect Julia is probably more like 5'7.5" and even a 5'8.5" guy like
Kiefer Sutherland could look comparably tall with Julia.
cmillzz said on 9/May/19
@c-mo
lol come on man. You can’t be serious saying he’s 5’11-6’0 because of one pic. and
Joe Rogan is 5’6 range, not 5’7.
MJKoP said on 21/Apr/19
Editor Rob said on 17/Apr/19
I have not met Mel, our old friend 'Big G' did and thought he was over 5ft 9 mostly. Mel is doing an event in UK but he's too expensive - this site doesn't earn anywhere near enough to justify it, which is unfortunate!
Three words: Crowd Funding Campaign
Be worth it just to look him in the face and say, "This is what a REAL Scottish accent sounds like, laddie!"
'Annonymous' said on 21/Apr/19
Thanks for your answer Rob! I wonder when Mel could lost his first fraction... I remember that you admitted that while Mel met Wahlberg and Ferrell he could still be 5'9.25" and today he probably reached the point when he looks more and more flat 5'9". The question is, was Mel in 61-62 still at his peak height or lost already then 1/4 inch? You can look at Mel, next to Julia Roberts and Sean Penn:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
These photos are from 2012, at this event Julia wore large heels and Mel's shoes looked suspicious, only Penn's shoes looked like ordinary shoes:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
Mel met Samuel L. Jackson in 1997:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
Interestingly, Mel had thicker boots than Samuel:
Click Here Click Here
I've been watching Mel for a while and I think he's a tricky guy who does the same tricks as Sylvester Stallone to look taller than he really is. If Mel was 5'9.5" then Samuel had to be 6'2.25" at least, because of Mel's hair and footwear helped him, to tell the truth I could even believe in the full five inches between them. Rob, how do you think when Mel could lost his first fraction?
Editor Rob
I don't think by early 50's Mel had lost anything noticeable, but in last 2-3 years I do feel he has hit the area in which he has lost some height. Some might argue it's only 1/4 or so, but I feel it could be closer to a full cm.
Jtm said on 20/Apr/19
looks shorter than phoenix in the second picture to me.
Rising174cm said on 19/Apr/19
@'Annonymous': Yeah, Mel generally looks at least 4 cm taller than Wahlberg at that event and I agree with you that this demonstrates Mel hasn't lost height or at least not an amount worth mentioning, but look at Mel's boots:
Click Here Click Here Click Here You can zoom in on the first and 3rd pic to get a good look and those look like they could be a small to moderate elevator boot and even if they're not, a chelsea boot with a 1.5" Cuban heel like that will give Mel at least a good cm advantage over Wahlberg's dress shoes, which are flatter with a visibly smaller heel. If you look at the UK premiere, Mel wore the same boots:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here but Mark wore Timberlands so if there's no lifts involved, they should both have footwear in that 1.4"-1.5" range and the difference is now more like an inch:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Btw, you can zoom in on all the footwear pics from both events and get a good look. Incidentally, Rob brought up these boots being consistent with how elevator boots look, though rightfully noted it's difficult to say for sure with Chelsea-type boots.
Now look at them at the Irish premiere where their footwear is pretty close assuming no lifts since Mel is wearing roughly 1 1/4"
New Balance sneakers while Mark is wearing about 1 3/8" Timberland boots:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Now the difference is considerably smaller. More like 2 cm, maybe 3 cm absolute max.
Beyond Mel's boots bringing into question how representative this is of his barefoot height, we should keep in mind that 5'8" is simply an estimate for Wahlberg, which I find pretty accurate, but like Mel, it's open to question. I think many would agree Joaquin Phoenix is a more certain 5'8" since he's admitted as much unlike Wahlberg who inflates his height to a laughable 5'10" so as a rebuttal, I'll re-post the premiere pic of Mel and Joaquin:
Click Here Click Here Height loss was not a question in 2002 and footwear isn't much of a question with both in dress shoes yet I'm not even sure Mel looks a full 5'9" with Joaquin. Is that a full inch? It's certainly not more than that, but you could say Mel looks anywhere from 174 to 175 cm with Joaquin. So again, Mel's shortest appearances tend to be from before he was old enough to have lost height. If we're going to determine his height by comparing him to a 5'8" man, I certainly think it's better to use the 2002 pics with Joaquin, especially since Mel didn't wear boots, though you can also see Mel only had about an inch on Joaquin in Signs and he did wear boots in that film, albeit not heeled boots.
'Annonymous' said on 17/Apr/19
Hi Rob! Thanks for to your answers my comments and questions, you're a nice person😉. I think Mel deserved to be in the category of "Directors" because he has already directed a lot of movies. I read some comments earlier that you have already seen Mel. Did you really meet him in person? What Mel was in person and did you manage to take a picture with him?
Editor Rob
I have not met Mel, our old friend 'Big G' did and thought he was over 5ft 9 mostly. Mel is doing an event in UK but he's too expensive - this site doesn't earn anywhere near enough to justify it, which is unfortunate!
CDS said on 15/Apr/19
And look at the basic common sense. Think about it. If Mel is really 5'9.5", that's 5'10.5" in a basic pair of shoes, almost 5'11"! Now add the hair, which back in the day, Mel had that 80s-90s puffy hair thing going on, so easily between 5'11" and 6' with the shoes and hair,, and THAT s excluding lifts, cowboy boots, or any sorta special footwear. And since when has ANY guy ever, THAT tall, ever had short jokes made about him?? Again, common sense...
Rising174cm said on 14/Apr/19
@CDS: Yeah and this is yet another compelling comparison because even if we remember Mel wore normal 1" Reeboks in Tequila Sunrise and assume Tom wore lifts in Vanilla Sky, this still suggests a barefoot difference of more like 1" or 3 cm range between Mel and Tom rather than 4-5 cm, as does the actual series of photos of Mel and Tom from Showest in '94, especially since Mel was wearing cowboy boots. This is consistent with that first runway scene in Air America where Mel looked just an inch or 3 cm max taller than Robert Downey Jr. I will say this suggests Tom may be more of the 172 cm/5'7.75" guy Rob lists him as opposed to the 5'7.5" I've long guessed him at. Also, Jason Scott Lee is listed 5'9.5" yet looked taller than Kurt in Soldier and both Andy Garcia and Sly Stallone are listed just 5'9" flat peak and both measured up better to Kurt in the 80's than Mel did since Kurt just edged Garcia by a small fraction in The Mean Season and Stallone never looked shorter than Kurt in Tango and Cash or promo appearances for the film and in fact could look as much as 1.5"-2" taller at times including a wide shot walking to their cells in the film and off screen in an interview casting doubt on whether Kurt was taller than Stallone, whom we know was never taller than 5'9" flat. Considering this as well as Kurt's 5'9.25" listing, we can say without hesitation that Mel looked shorter than 5'9" with Kurt. I think you and I can both agree that Mel was absolutely no taller peak than both Kurt and 5'9" peak listed Anthony Hopkins since Hopkins seemed to edge Mel overall in The Bounty and was certainly never shorter. Granted, I don't recall Hopkins ever looking under 5'9" in the 70's and 80's films I've seen and he could look 176 range at times, but Rob used to have him listed at only 174 and Brad Pitt had a good 2.5"-3" on a 60 year old Hopkins throughout Meet Joe Black. Certainly, Mel at half an inch taller than Hopkins peak seems untenable, imho since if there were a half inch difference, it seems more possible Hopkins was half an inch taller! Speaking of Tango and Cash, you can see at the very beginning of the film that Stallone(in 2"+ heels) has more than an inch on a 54 year old Geoffrey Lewis more or less confirming the 57-58 year old Lewis that was taller than Mel in both Man Without a Face and Maverick was no more than 5'9.5" himself, which suggests both that Mel was never taller than 5'9" and casts further doubt on whether Mel was taller than Stallone. Finally, if Mel were only 1.5" shorter than Sigourney Weaver, it wouldn't have been a problem to make him taller than her since his elevator boots -- which he called "3 inch lifts" -- gave him a minimum 2" footwear advantage over Sigourney's flats yet he still struggled to look her height, which he admitted when he said "it still didn't work." Just compare this to how Rob looked in 2.4" elevators with Jenny in some kind of thin sneaker. And if Mel were just half an inch shorter than he claimed then it would have been superfluous for him to inflate her height to 6'1" while claiming to be 5'10" himself, which also shows Mel implied she was 3" taller than he is and Sigourney herself not only confirmed Mel was 5'9" and she's 5'11", but reaffirmed this by saying she's sure she's a couple of inches taller than Mel on another occasion. So the two of them agree the difference was at least 2" and this is supported by the visual evidence. So I agree 100% that Mel at no more than 5'9" peak fits with Rob's other listings and for even 5'9.25" to fit would require both Sigourney and Hopkins to be upgraded at least 1/4" peak, imo. I'd also add that the fact Sigourney has apparently only lost half an inch as a woman more than half a dozen years older than Mel also makes it extremely tough for me to believe Mel has shrunk that much. Seems we agree 100% on Mel now.
Lkkss said on 14/Apr/19
Cool actor,
Out of bed 178cm
Before bed 176.5cm(peak)
Rising174cm said on 14/Apr/19
@Rob: Oh yeah, I know you're not at the point where you agree with my position, but I'm just saying IF Mel was 5'8.5"-5'8.75" by age 56-57 as you agreed he could look with Trejo, that would definitely suggest more 5'9" flat peak than above because surely Mel hadn't lost more than a small fraction by 56 and even today, a half inch seems like the absolute most Mel could have shrunk assuming he's shrunk at all. But taking aside the reasons I'm convinced Mel peaked at 5'9" flat and that Mel generally looks taller to me today than in the 80's, the other reason I have difficulty believing he's lost more than 1/4" is I can't identify when he lost height. When do you believe he started shrinking and during what period do you think he lost most of his height? The tallest Mel ever looked to me was early 2010 when he was wearing custom cowboy boots such as with Jimmy Kimmel and Jeremy Renner so imo, that rules out height loss by 2010 so if I were to accept a half inch height loss, I'd have to guess his first fraction between 2011-2012 due to him struggling with 5'9" next to Trejo and Menounos and because Mel(in cowboy boots) was still looking clearly taller than Tom Hardy in mid 2015 so I'd have to guess the other fraction must have been lost sometime between then and now except that's a year after Mel was looking no taller than Stallone in the Expendables 3 premiere video with both in dress shoes so as with Trejo a year or two earlier, Mel was looking more 174 range at 2014 Cannes. And this still leaves too many other inconsistencies for me to believe Mel has shrunk that much regardless of what his peak height was. For instance, after filming Machete Kills and before Expendables 3, Mel in 2013 seemingly edged Richard Gere:
Click Here Click Here Click Here and like at Cannes, that seems to be a rare instance of Mel in normal dress shoes. In fact, that's about as tall as I've seen Mel look in normal shoes and these pictures are why I still believed the 5'9.5" figure for Mel myself as recent as a few years ago, though I've since come to believe Gere has shrunk closer to 174 range in his 60's and Mel generally has excellent posture while Gere's posture often isn't good the last decade or so. And we've seen more of the "tall Mel" much more recently such as looking at least 5'10" in 2016 with Luke Bracey and Vince Vaughn, at least 5'9.5"+ with
Mark Wahlberg in the premiere pic featured at the top of Wahlberg's page as well as others from that event and an easy 3"+ taller than
Joe Rogan just last year. Such varying footwear makes it very difficult to estimate height loss since Mel wore
New Balance that I thought had lifts in them with Vaughn and Bracey, albeit less obvious than the lifts he had in them on set of the Professor and the Madman and Mel wore the heeled Chelsea-type boot you said could be a small elevator boot at that event with Wahlberg while his footwear with Rogan is unknown. While I'm not convinced Mel is as short as 5'8.5" today or was ever as tall as 5'9.25", if Mel came out and confirmed he'd lost half an inch, I could see both an Eric Roberts peak/current listing or a 5'9.25" peak and 5'8.75" current.
CDS said on 10/Apr/19
Watching, "vanilla sky", and the height difference I'm seeing between Kurt Russell and Tom cruise, very similar to the difference between Kurt and Mel, in, tequila sunrise. Yet,Mel is listed here at nearly TWO inches taller than Tom??!
Rising174cm said on 6/Apr/19
@Rob: Not to beat a dead horse, but if Gibson is looking more 5'8.5"-5'8.75" with Trejo at 56-57 then doesn't that further support my point that Mel was never more than 5'9"? Surely, Mel hadn't lost more than 1/4" by then, but it's highly possible Trejo shrunk another fraction between age 65 when you met him and 68-69 in the photos with Gibson. And this is not an anomaly because that 5'8.5"-5'8.75" range was Sly's height in 2014 and we've seen Mel was not a mm taller than Sly on video at Cannes that year with both in dress shoes. 5'8.5"-5'8.75" is also the probable range for Snipes in 2014 and we also saw Gibson in thick
New Balance just slightly taller than Snipes in Converse on video. It seems to me that footwear has always been the key to Gibson looking over 5'9".
@Canson: I agree and I'd throw Michael Douglas in that mix. I think Douglas also peaked at 5'9" flat, but unlike Gibson, I can see a decent enough chance of 176 cm, though absolutely never taller than that. Same with DJ, though DJ himself could look 174-175 cm range on Miami Vice with Bruce Willis and Edward James Olmos and like Douglas, DJ never managed to look taller than Stallone, though he did pull off the same height in 2014 while Douglas has never been as tall as Stallone when they've posed. But in Gibson's case, I wholeheartedly agree. If he were 5'9.5" then why was he shorter than men in the 5'9"-5'9.5" range themselves in the 80's and early 90's such as Russell, Hopkins and Geoffrey Lewis? There's really no explanation for that other than Mel peaking at 5'9" flat, possibly even just below.
Editor Rob
5ft 9.25 is a figure I wouldn't rule out, but a flat 5ft 9 I just am not sure on that.
Canson said on 4/Apr/19
@Rising: well said as always. DJ May have been a stronger 5’9”. Maybe at their peaks it’s close but today I would have him taller than Gibson. Gibson at 5’9.5 got my attention tho because I never saw him that tall
Rising174cm said on 30/Mar/19
@Canson: I actually have both at 5'9" flat peak, but I can see a much better chance DJ was 176 cm than Mel and the 69 year old DJ also seems much more likely to have lost half an inch than Mel, imo. In Mel's case, I see a better chance of 5'8.75" than 5'9.25" and peak Mel actually looked more 5'8.5" in Tequila Sunrise and The Bounty and Hopkins and Russell are the best height to compare Mel to. If you notice, in my last post on 25/Mar/19, I added lines to their chins and eye level to show Hopkins was taller regardless of whether his head was a little closer and while there are many more scenes showing Hopkins taller or at least as tall, this was face to face indoors with Hopkins looking about 2 cm taller, much like the Kurt Russell scene was and Kurt looked at least an inch taller! So I just don't see it as possible that Mel was taller than Hopkins or Russell. As it is many of the comparisons I've cited have already been upgraded with Hopkins going from 5'8.5" to 5'9", Russell from 5'9" to 5'9.25", Chris Cooper from 5'9.5" to 5'9.75" and M. Night Shyamalan from 5'9.5" to 5'10" and while I tend to agree with most of these upgrades or at least view them all as plausible aside from M. Night, this makes it all the more likely that Mel peaking at 5'9" flat is the answer rather than these guys still being underlisted. The anecdotal evidence also points to no more than 5'9" flat since Sigourney working with Mel on a film where they had to focus a lot on their heights to shoot it puts her in an ideal position to know his height and her quotes suggest certainty since she said matter of factly "Mel is five nine" without any "about" or "like" and she also said "I'm sure I'm a couple of inches taller than Mel" while Mel himself implied a 3" difference when he claimed to be 5'10" while upgrading her to 6'1"! And if there wasn't at least a 2" difference then why did they have so much trouble making Mel in elevator boots look as tall/taller than Sigourney in flats? Also, Barry Norman went back to back with Mel and apparently thought 5'8"-5'9" range and Gary Sinise told Glenn, "Mel is my height, five eight". While I don't believe that, Mel did look an inch max taller than admitted 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix both on and especially off screen and then only about an inch taller than Robert Downey Jr.(who isn't even 5'8") in that first runway scene in Air America so it is understandable that an honest 5'8" man could think Mel was about their height when he wasn't wearing lifts or heels.
It's also worth mentioning that back when the Parkinson video was still online, I estimated not less than half an inch difference and this is back when I still thought Mel was 5'9.5" or even 5'10", but this was also without considering footwear and Rob estimated 0.6"-0.7" for Parkinson's loafers and agreed that Mel's dress shoes looked 1.1"-1.2" range or at least over an inch. So considering half an inch footwear difference or at worst, more than 1/4", this puts Mel 5'9"-5'9.25" at best, but other posters and myself thought Mel was
Busting a Gut more than Parkinson. It's annoying that this video hasn't been online for years now, I'm halfway tempted to contact the BBC and see if I can purchase the full episode. It's also annoying that Danny Glover didn't stand decently in a single photo from the Lethal Weapon 4 premiere or in the short footage. I suspect the result would have been similar to the '88 Oscars when Glover straightened up to 6" taller on video and even looked 7" taller in a full pic on one of the rare occasions Mel wore normal dress shoes with Glover. It's also worth noting that Mel only had 5" on 5'3" Joe Pesci had this premiere and while I suspect Pesci wore lifts, the same can be said for many of Mel's taller appearances and Mel only had 3.5" max on 5'5.5" listed Jet LI at this same premiere. Aside from 80's Mel looking barely 5'9" aside from when he wore cowboy boots, a big problem I have with the height loss theory is that I can't tell when Mel would have started losing height or when he would have lost most of his height. But as I've told you before, this is one of the rare cases I think Rob is at least half an inch off(on peak height) because it seems my estimates are within 1/4" of his listings in most other cases.
Rising174cm said on 30/Mar/19
@Rob: I did wonder about Trejo's footwear as well, but I think the premiere suggests their footwear was similar in the film since we can see how they looked with Danny in normal roughly 1" footwear and Mel in cowboy boots:
Click Here Click Here Click Here I can see maybe 4" between them since Trejo, which is consistent with them looking 3" or a little more apart in the film with similar footwear since the heel on Mel's cowboy boots at the premiere certainly looks as big as a standard 1.75":
Click Here so he had about 2 cm more footwear and you had a fraction less than Danny in your photo so at least a 1" disadvantage compared to Mel at the premiere with Danny yet Mel only looks about 1" taller than you did, possibly 1.5" absolute max.
Also, speaking of Machete Kills, you can see how Mel looked on set with 5'7" Maria Menounos in flats from about 3:10 to 3:37:
Click Here Considering Maria's footwear will only be 1/4" to maybe 1 cm max, Mel looks much more of a weak 5'9" guy than above. Also, there's a pretty good shot of Mel's footwear from 1:51 to 2:18 or so and I'm not at all sure he doesn't have a small lift, but either way, we can also see Mel standing with Maria(still in flats) on set at 0:15 in this video:
Click Here and I'm frankly surprised he doesn't look a little taller with her. Imo, 5'8.75"-5'9" makes perfect sense with Danny and for Machete Kills in general considering this footage with Maria.
But I do appreciate all your replies on this page, Rob. It's made for a very good discussion and always appreciate your responses.
Editor Rob
I don't rule out the chance Mel could look 5ft 8.5-8.75 range with Trejo, who may have managed to remain about the same height since I met him (or at worse lost another fraction).
Canson said on 28/Mar/19
@Rising: yea Rob has him taller than he is. I think Don Johnson is taller than he is
Rising174cm said on 25/Mar/19
@berta: I generally find your estimates quite accurate and your posts thoughtful so I'm curious about your thoughts on the 80's comparisons to Anthony Hopkins and Kurt Russell since Mel being shorter than both is much more compelling, imo than looking 1.5" taller than Wahlberg as opposed to 1", especially since footwear is a non-issue in the Hopkins comparison and much less of one with Kurt since Mel still wears lifts/elevators and heeled boots to this day and Wahlberg himself is known to wear elevators at least occasionally. Here's the original video of perhaps the best scene of Mel and Hopkins:
Click Here They're face to face around 30 seconds. Now check this out:
Click Here I added lines to compare not only the top of their heads, but their chins and eye level. Anyway you compare, Hopkins is taller and Mel is even standing better! As I've said, this is one of the things that makes it almost impossible for me to see anything over 5'9" flat peak for Mel and impossible for me to see anything over 176 and that's assuming Hopkins was at least 176 instead of his current(accurate, imo) peak listing of 5'9" flat because I'm certain Mel was not taller than Hopkins or Kurt Russell for that matter. And I'm by no means certain Kurt was over 5'9" flat, though I do think Rob's 5'9.25" listing is fair with even a small chance of 5'9.5" peak, albeit not a good chance.
Also of note is this wide shot of Mel and 172 cm Robert Downey Jr. at the beginning of Air America:
Click Here Watch from 14:33 through about 15:10. That looks like no more than an inch difference to me and absolutely no more than 3 cm. It's a wide shot too and this is a good 15 years before Downey started wearing lifts. I'm not sure whether Mel was regularly wearing them yet by 1990 as I've generally pinpointed 1992/Lethal Weapon 3 as when Mel began wearing lifts, though the press already reported he wore lifts, he did often wear cowboy boots and similar heels in the 80's and obviously wore elevators in Year of Living Dangerously. And to your point about Wahlberg, you could say that if Mel was 5'9.5" then admitted 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix was 5'8.5"-5'9":
Click Here Click Here
You do make good points, though. Yes, Mel is apparently on both TRT and HGH and he has more muscle mass than he did in his 20's with this being especially noticeable in his arms. You also make a good point about Wahlberg, which shows that "tall Mel" continues to this day since as mentioned, Mel can still look 5'9.5" next to Wahlberg, much like he looked 5'10"+ next to
Joe Rogan just last year. Other recent examples of Mel looking as tall as ever include looking Mel in cowboy boots looking about an inch taller than Tom Hardy in 2015, looking 5'10"+ with both Luke Bracey and Vince Vaughn just 2.5 years ago(albeit with what appeared to be lifts in his
New Balance), Mel was also about an inch taller than 5'9" listed Mario Lopez at the 2017 Oscars, though Mel did have obvious elevator shoes in this case and I personally believe Mario is only 5'8.5" and Mel looked taller than Richard Gere in full pics in 2013 and this time with what looked like normal shoes to me, though I believe Gere has shrunk below 5'9" himself. But overall, I believe this supports my position that Mel was never taller than 5'9" as Sigourney Weaver said and the taller Mel is a result of height-enhancing footwear and consistently excellent posture since imo, Rob has correctly identified Mel as currently being no taller than 5'9" flat.
Rising174cm said on 25/Mar/19
@Rob: Fair enough. You see him taller than I do, though I did find it interesting that you thought Mel looked more 5'9" flat in Machete Kills next to Danny Trejo, whom you've met since I'd definitely think height loss was negligible or non-existent for Mel at age 56. Personally, I just can't see how Mel was taller than Anthony Hopkins and especially Kurt Russell and of course you know my thoughts on comparisons to Sigourney, Geoffrey Lewis, Chris Rock, Chris Cooper, Danny Glover, Michael Parkinson, Joaquin Phoenix, M. Night Shyamalan etc. I do agree he could seem taller than a flat 5'9" guy from '92 on, but considering 80's Mel honestly looks more like a weak 5'9" to me and a weak 5'10" when he wore cowboy boots, the fact I've personally seen no more indication Mel has lost height than I did with Sly, Kurt, Bronson and Norris when they were 63 and Mel's penchant for lifts, cowboy boots, elevators, cubans, thick sneakers etc. as well as tip-toeing, I'd say the tipping point, to borrow your phrase, for 5'9" flat peak was passed long ago, though 5'9.25" would be much better, imho.
One analogy I think is particularly apt is Eric Roberts. Like Mel, Roberts was quite fond of big heels(though unlike Mel, I don't recall seeing Eric in actual elevators or lifts), is even more fond of tip-toeing and you had him listed at 5'9.5" for years before concluding he peaked at 5'9" flat after meeting him, which I now agree with though I thought peak Roberts gave at least as tall of an impression as 90's/2000's Mel and a taller impression than 80's Mel. While this is obviously conjecture, I'm convinced you'd have reached a similar conclusion with Mel had you met him without any internal lift. One more comparison I'd make to someone you've met is Casper Van Dien since Casper is one of the absolute best references. Imo, Casper looks like a stronger 5'10" in simple 1.75" cowboy boots(sans lifts or extra 2"+ heel) than Mel ever did and gives a taller impression than Mel(especially 80's Mel) and possibly even Kurt Russell for that matter, though I do believe Kurt could be as tall as Casper. Of course, these are purely my own subjective observations.
Editor Rob
9.25 would be the lowest I'd have gone for a peak Mel, but with Trejo he did seem arguably more 5ft 8.75-9 range, although what Danny wears is another matter.
CDS said on 25/Mar/19
@berta: over on Mark wahkbergs page, a lot do indeed think he's shorter than 5'8". Some even have him pegged as low as 5'6.5". I would give him one inch shorter than Mel, 5'7.75", spot on!
berta said on 23/Mar/19
If he is 5 foot 9 then wahlberg must be shorter than 5 foot 8. But wahlberg really could be 1/4. I Believe he could have lost 0,5 mm but not half inch. He is on testosterone replacement therapy and that keep the bones healty.
Rising174cm said on 22/Mar/19
@Rob: You know I think you do a fantastic job on the site and listings, but I don't understand this one at all as opposed to just giving Mel a 5'9" peak height. I think the evidence is rather overwhelming that Mel's peak was only 5'9" flat and I also don't see much evidence to suggest he was ever taller than that or significantly taller than he currently is. In fact, if I watch Tequila Sunrise or The Bounty, I'd find it almost impossible to believe Mel was taller when he made those films than he is now. I don't see Mel looking shorter than he use to. Just check out this 2018 photo with
Joe Rogan:
Click Here Incidentally, I'd bet on Rogan losing a half inch before Gibson based on how they stand and carry themselves. It's true that a 1 cm loss by 63 is common, but you haven't given peak heights to Carl Weathers and Mel's Attack Forze Z co-star Sam Neill at 71, nor Kurt Russell who is turning 68, Mickey Rourke at 66, Ray Liotta at 64 etc. and Mel has maintained better posture than all of them. So he's not at the age where a 1 cm loss is guaranteed either. Wasn't your father still 5'10" at 63? Mel also hasn't been looking consistently shorter. His height has gone up and down, but look at his footwear way back in 1983:
Click Here or 1981:
Click Here It's tougher to estimate height loss with footwear like Mel's, but imo, it would have made more sense to revisit his peak height because just a 5'9" flat listing or at least a 5'9.25" peak and 5'8.75" current would leave a lot less questions, imo.
Editor Rob
I still feel he was a bit over 5ft 9, although 9.25 isn't exactly discounted as a peak, 9.5 is the most I would go with though.
Rising174cm said on 22/Mar/19
@CDS: Yeah, I've settled on about 5'8.75" at his low during his peak and maybe 5'9" flat peak midday and I also agree that he's held up well and hasn't lost more than maybe 1/4", imo. I just don't see how he could have been taller because as you mention, 5'9.25" Kurt Russell was clearly about an inch taller in 1988. Perhaps even more convincing is 5'9" Anthony Hopkins looking as much as 2 cm TALLER in 1984. If we just go by their first scene together where they were the same height then that would put Mel 5'9" flat peak and that's already a bit generous, imo to ignore the rest of the film where Hopkins edges Mel. Finally, Geoffrey Lewis being 5'9.5" and taller than Mel in both Man Without a Face(1993) and Maverick(1994) would suggest that the absolute tallest Mel could have been was 5'9.25" peak. So did Kurt wear lifts in Tequila Sunrise? Personally, I don't believe Kurt wears lifts, but we can completely rule out the possibility of lifts for Hopkins because he wore modest period shoes for the entire film and Mel wore the exact same shoes for some of the film, but then wore knee-high boots for other scenes, which may have even given him an advantage. And it'd be silly to suggest Lewis was wearing lifts, particularly in both films. On the subject of height loss, it's worth noting that Lewis was 57-58, but I'm disregarding the good possibility Lewis was 5'9"-5'9.25" by then for arguments sake. It's really these 3 comparisons that sealed it for me beyond any doubt because while the comparisons to Chris Cooper, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris Rock, Sigourney Weaver, M. Night Shyamalan, Michael Parkinson etc. are almost as compelling, you can at least argue differences can be minimized or enhanced, but when you have guys listed 5'9", 5'9.25" and 5'9.5" looking taller than Mel, I can't think of any explanation for that other than Mel being 5'9" flat peak, possibly even shorter. Here's a still from Mel and Anthony Hopkins' first scene in The Bounty:
Click Here I've posted the face to face scene and others before, but never this one. Actually, if they have the same amount of hair then Hopkins is still taller, but I guessed the same height in this particular scene, though I don't see any chance Mel was taller. I see a slim possibility of 5'9.25" peak for Mel if Hopkins were upgraded to at least 5'9.25" himself and Kurt Russell upgraded to 5'9.5".
But I disagree on Costner. Mel in cowboy boots was still 3"+ shorter in 1994:
Click Here Mel is also standing better and a little closer yet is still looking at Costner's mouth and another 300 pound gorilla in the room is Mel at that event compared to Tom Cruise:
Click Here Click Here 5'7.5" has long been my guess for Cruise, but he looks 5'8" enough that I sometimes think Rob's 172 cm listing is closer. Interestingly, I just checked how Cruise measured up to Kurt Russell again in Vanilla Sky and Tom actually measures up at least as well to Kurt as Mel did in Tequila Sunrise, if not better at times! The Costner example isn't the only time Mel has looked 5'10" max in cowboy boots either. Look at this scene from Lethal Weapon 2:
Click Here A few seconds in we see a wide shot of 5'3" Joe Pesci in slippers and Mel in cowboy boots. If Mel were really 5'9.5" peak, we'd expect him to be close to 8" taller than Pesci there since he has more than an inch footwear advantage, yet I'm not sure I see more than 6" between them! Also, note the difference between Mel and Danny Glover at the very beginning when they're outside the door. That's at least a 5" difference despite Mel's cowboy boots. Similarly, here's a rare wide shot from the first film where you can see a significant difference of about 5" again despite Mel's baseball cap and cowboy boots:
Click Here So in the first 2 Lethal Weapon films, Mel only managed to pass for about 5'10" and perhaps not even that at times though he wore cowboy boots the entirety of both films. Actually, if you consider Sigourney Weaver in ballet-type flats will be about 5'11.25" range, that's the equivalent of how a solid 5'10" or just over 5'10" person will look in sneakers/normal shoes or just over and Mel in elevator boots was about the same height:
Click Here That'd be almost identical to how Casper Van Dien looked in cowboy boots next to Rob. So even in cowboy boots, elevators etc., I'd say Mel more often pulled off about 5'10", maybe 5'10.5" occasionally.
CDS said on 19/Mar/19
I think I've finally settled on Mel being 5'8.75", end of day, barefoot. Not sure if he needs a peak/current height, he seems to have held up well. But this would make all around sense. His 5'10" claims work since that would make him close to that in shoes. It would make sense why he looked shorter than 5'9.25" Kurt Russell in, tequila sunrise. It would work, with him being very close to 5'11" in cowboy boots, how he didn't look much shorter than 6'-6'1" guys like Kevin Costner or Harrison Ford. And yes, it does appear he's been a lift wearer in recent years, so could explain him looking more in the 5'10"-5'11" zone more recently. 5'8.75", barefoot, end of day, so maybe closer to robs listing barefoot, out of bed height?
Rising174cm said on 19/Mar/19
@Rob: Well, the video with Pitt was already a decade ago so I definitely don't think it was a case of height loss 10 years ago since he was 2-3 years younger than Pitt currently is. Similarly, I remember you saying Mel looked about 5'9" flat next to Danny Trejo in Machete Kills and that was filmed 7 years ago when Mel was only 56. I actually think Mel may be 5'8.75" barefoot the last 4-5 years because I don't think Stallone was taller than that by 2014 yet he looked at least as tall as Mel in the video I posted at Cannes on 17/Feb/19 with both in dress shoes. Also, here's Sly and Mel at a different event in 2014:
Click Here Click Here I have to find pictures of footwear for that one, but I didn't see Sly wear anything other than dress shoes at formal events in 2014. Although I think there's a good chance Mel would look 5'9.5", even 5'10" to you and/or your friends in person and photos because of footwear.
Editor Rob
I think today giving him 5ft 9 now is probably fair. At 63 a 1cm loss would be believable and generally can look it, though I'll have to start the current guess at 8.75.
billionaireslayer said on 19/Mar/19
5'8 n half prime
Current 5'8
Rising174cm said on 16/Mar/19
@Rob: Considering a 72 year old Stallone in Hogan sneakers or a similar elevator sneaker measured up noticeably better to Brad Pitt than a 53 year old Mel did in cowboy boots, don't you think that's more evidence Mel was more like 5'9" flat? It just seems much more probable to me at this point that he was 5'9" flat and could look 5'10" in cowboy boots because everyone agrees Stallone isn't more than 5'8.5" these days. I had some doubts Mel was taller than peak Stallone after seeing them both with Kurt Russell in the late 80's. Imo, Sly, Mel and Michael Douglas were all 5'9" flat peak guys who claimed 5'10". Kurt maybe more 176.
Editor Rob
He may now be getting closer to 5ft 9 flat.
Rising174cm said on 19/Feb/19
@Rob: That'd be very interesting. I hope he does something similar in the US. I'd love a photo with Mel regardless of whether it showed his height. It would certainly be helpful to see him with someone you know, though still not conclusive because while I believe the aforementioned comparisons settle the height loss questions, others are still on the fence and footwear is always a big question with Mel.
@berta: Here are the other comparisons you may or may not have seen. Again, I'm exclusively comparing Mel to Rob's other listings and he still winds up no taller than 5'9" flat.
Face to face and Mel looks slightly(perhaps 2 cm) shorter than 5'9" flat listed Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty(1984):
Click Here Click Here and this is not the only scene where Hopkins appears taller as you can see here:
Click Here and here:
Click Here And remember, Mel and Hopkins wore the same period shoes except when Mel was wearing brown boots, which could have even added slightly more.
Full pic where 6'3" peak listed Danny Glover towered Mel by about 7" at the 1988 Oscars!
Click Here I don't think the difference was THAT big, but when Danny stood tall, he had a good 6" on Mel in the video as well:
Click Here Click Here Also, I found 2 other pics from this night that support a 6" difference between the two:
Click Here Click Here Notice Mel consistently only reaches the bottom of Danny's nose and we know that's 6"+ from the mugshot on Rob's photo with Danny
5'9.75" peak listed Chris Cooper looked about an inch taller than Mel in The Patriot(2000):
Click Here Click Here
Mel looked at least an inch shorter than 5'10" flat listed Chris Rock behind the scenes during Lethal Weapon 4(1998):
Click Here Click Here
At the very least, 176 cm can't be the minimum for Mel with all of this evidence showing him convincingly shorter. There's definitely a case for 5'9" flat peak as Rob has acknowledged more than once and imho, by far the strongest case can be made for 5'9" flat. On the other hand, the pics and video from the '88 Oscars have also convinced me more that Danny Glover was a full 6'3". That's the one comparison showing them both in similar dress shoes where Danny sometimes stood tall. We might have seen something similar had Danny stood tall for even one shot at the Lethal Weapon 4 premiere.
Lkkss said on 17/Feb/19
Cool actor,
Out of bed -178cm
Before bed- 176.5cm
Rising174cm said on 17/Feb/19
Also, Mel is taller than Statham, but I have serious doubts he's taller than Stallone and Snipes. Look at this footage of Mel and Snipes:
Click Here Watch from timestamp to about 4:10. Mel just edges Snipes by maybe 2 cm, but Mel had 1.25"
New Balance while Snipes had just 0.6" Converse:
Click Here and Sly and Mel at Cannes 2014:
Click Here You also see them face to face at 1:30 and another good comparison around 1:36. Clearly, Mel is not taller in that footage and both wore dress shoes:
Click Here So how do we explain 68 year old Sly looking at least as tall as 58 year old Mel and on video no less? They were also about the same height with both in cowboy boots back in 1993 at the London Planet Hollywood opening:
Click Here Click Here
Also, 176 cm Kurt Russell was about an inch taller than Mel in 1988:
Click Here Compare that to how Sly looked with Kurt in 1989:
Click Here There were times in Tango and Cash and Behind the Scenes where Sly looked as much as 2" taller. Geoffrey Lewis was actually 5'9.5" and at 57 years old, he still looked more than half an inch:
Click Here yet Stallone(in big heels) pulled off more than an inch taller than a 54 year old Lewis as you can see here:
Click Here
This is just a small sample of the evidence showing Mel no more than 5'9" flat. How can he be any taller unless Russell and Lewis are underlisted? In general, I tend to think Mel is/was more 175-175.5 range, Sly more 174.5-175 range and Snipes maybe 174.5, but now I think Gibson is/was at most 1/4" taller than Snipes with equal footwear and after seeing Sly and Mel in '93 and 2014 plus comparing both to Lewis and Russell, I have a hard time seeing Mel any taller, though I'll stick to Mel at 5'9" flat and Sly more of a weak 5'9". I don't know if you've seen all the evidence, but Mel was edged by 5'9" flat Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty and 5'9.5" Greg Kinnear in We Were Soldiers, about an inch shorter than 177 cm Chris Cooper in The Patriot, at least an inch shorter than 5'10" max Chris Rock behind the scenes for Lethal Weapon 4, struggled to look as tall in elevator boots as 5'11" Sigourney Weaver in flats in The Year of Living Dangerously and 6'3" max Danny Glover towered Mel by 6" at the '88 Oscars when both wore dress shoes. 5'9" flat has to be the most likely guess with all of that.
Editor Rob
I saw recently Mel later this year is doing a couple of those 'meet and greet' dinner events. I will ask a friend who has the £300 to buy a photo just how tall they think he is.
Rising174cm said on 17/Feb/19
@berta: I agree he's still at his peak height or within a few mm, but you're being too generous. Don't be fooled by footwear(cowboy boots, cuban heels, lifts, elevators), we've seen Mel with too many others in that same range. The final nail in the coffin for Mel being over 5'9" was confirming Mel had about half an inch thicker footwear than 5'10"(max at 67) Michael Parkinson's loafers yet Mel was
Busting a Gut and still at least half an inch shorter.
Look at Mel with M. Night Shyamalan, who Rob lists at a generous(imo) 5'10":
Click Here Click Here Now look at M. Night with 5'8"
Mark Wahlberg:
Click Here a 5'11" max(at 62 years old) Bruce Willis:
Click Here and admitted 5'7"
James McAvoy:
Click Here Click Here Rob's old 5'9.5" listing looks more plausible for M. Night. Now look at Mel at that same Signs premiere struggling to look a full inch taller than 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Mel was also only about an inch taller in the film too, not as much as 1.5".
57 year old Mel in cowboy boots with 69 year old Danny Trejo:
Click Here Click Here Compare that to Rob with a 65 year old Trejo, who also had a fraction more footwear than Rob as opposed to at least 2 cm less than Mel. Despite this, Mel looks around an inch, maybe 1.5" taller max than Rob did with Trejo. If you watch Machete Kills(filmed when Mel was only 56), Mel didn't look taller than 5'9" flat with Danny:
Click Here Click Here
berta said on 16/Feb/19
I think he was and actually still is at his peak ( maybe 3 mm under) 176-177,5 peak. With Biggest chanse of the current listing. Average guess is to low. He was and is taller than guys like Stallone statham and Wesley snipes
Rising - 174 cm said on 29/Jan/19
@CDS: Yeah, though Warren Beatty was already in his late 50's and past his time as a top box office draw. Mel made a big comeback as a director with Hacksaw Ridge, though time will tell if he has a sustained comeback in him. I hope he does. Interestingly, 1994 was probably still a time when Gibson was targeted more by the press for a perceived lack of height than Cruise. But yeah, the superhero/comic book genre isn't quite as dependent on a specific star as the old school action films.
Speaking of 90's stars, I've posted this before, but a pretty good full pic of Mel and 5'11.5" listed Bruce Willis in 1997:
Click Here I see at least 2.5" in the pic. Bruce might have a slight camera advantage, but their head length looks fairly close. A 9.75" head for Bruce would mean a 9.25"-9.5" head for Mel and I doubt his head is longer than that. Granted, his teeth being apart would make his head longer, but Bruce looks to have his head tilted down, which would extend his and he's slouching in general. I'd say that's another pic where Mel looks maybe 5'9" flat as opposed to above it.
CDS said on 25/Jan/19
Those pics rising posted below,, taken at the showest 1994 convention, really say a lot about the heights of the stars of the time, and how the industry has moved away from being a star driven industry. I would say in that photo, 5'7.75" (listed here) tom cruise, the shortest male star in that pic, is actually the only remaining bankable movie star left, and THAT s, ever so barely,, like if the film has the, "mission, impossible", logo on it? Says something about height,, that you don't always have to be the tallest guy in the room...
Rising - 174 cm said on 24/Jan/19
@CDS: I hadn't noticed Quaid much in the photos since they're not directly next to each other. For instance, Quaid also has only 3 cm or so on Cruise in the 2nd photo and Mel himself doesn't look more than maybe 2 cm taller than Cruise in those pics, though in that case, Cruise probably has the camera advantage. I've wondered if Quaid was a full 6'0" too, but it's really the Costner comparison in the 1st photo that intrigued me because Mel is struggling to even pass for 5'10" in cowboy boots with Kevin in that full pic even before considering posture and camera advantage. I don't think Mel had additional lifts inside his boots that day, but he didn't need them since his heels alone look to be close to 2". I definitely wouldn't put Mel above 5'9" flat peak at this point since there's really a mountain of evidence with the most compelling being the 5'9"-5'9.5" range guys who edged him. I can't think of someone who needs a downgrade more to be honest and 5'9.25" would be a good start, but even then we'd be asking why he was clearly shorter than 5'9.25" Kurt Russell and edged by 5'9" flat Anthony Hopkins.
CDS said on 21/Jan/19
Thanks, rising. I think I posted a pic from that same set over on Kevin's page. Yeah, the definite biggest surprise is Mel's height. We all know Kevin is a sloucher, but even with the boots I would not have expected Mel to look about as tall as 6' (listed here) Dennis quaid, although I would guess, at his peak, quaid was actually more, 5'11.5" at best? Certainly would be an argument for robs listing for Mel, although still not sure I'd go any higher than 5'9".
Rising - 174 cm said on 19/Jan/19
@CDS: I was just saying the difference winds up looking about 1.5", but I tend to agree that Jerry is dropping a little height leaning and based on where they're standing and where the camera is, there's a good chance Mel gets a little advantage. I've always thought Seinfeld was right around 5'11" in his prime, but there's a better chance of 1/4" under rather than over. Not sure he was as short as 5'10.5", but it's possible if that 6'2.5" figure was accurate for Michael Richards rather than 6'3". Btw, you may find this interesting if you haven't seen it. Mel in cowboy boots back in 1994 with 6'1" guys Kevin Costner and Warren Beatty:
Click Here Click Here It looks to me like Mel was still over 3" shorter. In that first full pic, Costner looks like he may not be standing as straight and further from the camera. Beatty is standing better than Mel if anything, though, but he was 57 so there's a good chance he was 185 like Costner rather than 186. I'd say Mel passes for maybe 177-178 range there with his boots.
CDS said on 17/Jan/19
As far as the pic below with, Seinfeld, look at the feet, Mel is clearly closer to the camera, and as rising pointed out, jerry is leaning, and its a low camera angle, giving Mel the advantage. And I honestly wouldn't give jerry a solid 5'11", maybe more 5'10.5".
Rising - 174 cm said on 14/Jan/19
FrankR1: None of those guys are listed 5'9.5" here. Sly, JCVD, Landon and Rudd are all listed at 5'9" flat, Eddie Murphy is listed at 5'9.25" and Norris is only listed 5'8.5". I think most of Rob's listings are right there(Rudd most likely falls short of 5'9", imo), but here's Mel with Geoffrey Lewis, who actually is listed here at 5'9.5":
Click Here and Kurt Russell, who is only listed at 5'9.25" himself:
Click Here 5'9" flat looks much more plausible, imo, otherwise he should be taller with both.
@Dhouser: Yeah, he's been stocky and in the 190 range in recent years, but Mel weighed only 160 range in the 80's and wasn't stocky at all yet looked shorter than he does now. 177 is too high. That's what Chris Cooper is listed at and he was clearly at least 2 cm taller than Mel:
Click Here Click Here 176 max. You can see from Rob's pic with Casper Van Dien how easy it is for a 176 cm man to look solid 178 range with a simple pair of cowboy boots.
FrankR1 said on 13/Jan/19
The 5’9”-and-a-half club includes: Mel Gibson, Sly Stallone, Chuck Norris, JCVD, Michael Landon, Eddie Murphy, and Paul Rudd.
Dhouser said on 13/Jan/19
I think his stocky build can be deceiving, 176-177 seems right. He also lost quite a bit of weight recently do that will probably help.
Rising - 174 cm said on 9/Jan/19
@Rob: I agree with Mel looking around 176 range in that pic if Seinfeld was indeed 180 range. Of course, if Mel was getting a little camera or posture advantage then the solid 175 I usually guess Mel at would also make sense there, but he holds up better either way than a 5'8" man would.
Rising - 174 cm said on 6/Jan/19
So what to make of this '96 photo with 5'11" listed Jerry Seinfeld?
Click Here I'd say Mel pulls off just about 5'9.5" if Seinfeld was 5'11", but Seinfeld appears to be leaning a bit and wouldn't a low angle like that give Gibson the advantage being closer?
Editor Rob
176 range I think is possible
mgreco12 said on 3/Jan/19
Always looked 5'9" to me. Average height. Not tall, not short.
Rising - 174 cm said on 31/Dec/18
@Camile C.: I'm glad you don't judge anyone on their height. That's good, but that's not what the site is about. The site is more trivia or information. If people weren't curious about height and if it didn't matter for casting, then it wouldn't be included in an actor's bio. Mel is certainly very talented and most would agree good looking, but tall? Mel would be the first to admit he's not exactly tall and that can cause problems when cast with a tall leading lady like Sigourney Weaver. She was in slipper flats and he was in big elevator boots and they still merely wound up eye to eye:
Click Here That's why Mel said himself, "it still didn't work." The same way, actors or especially actresses lose roles for being too tall. Thankfully, Mel didn't lose that role, but you can see that heights do cause problems at times framing shots.
Camile C. said on 25/Dec/18
height to me dosen't matter.....their ability to act does.Is he tall & good looking? yes......but can he act? some can some can't act their way out of a paper bag!
Rising - 174 cm said on 14/Dec/18
@Rob: Yeah, posture alone doesn't always tell you if someone wants to be taller or not. I had also guessed them roughly the same height. I wouldn't guess either as short as 174 cm, which also means Mel is now taller than Chris Cooper despite looking an inch shorter in The Patriot and Cooper is only 5 years older!
Rising - 174 cm said on 13/Dec/18
@Rob: I didn't know much about Luna before Blood Father and Mel will typically look taller than a flat 5'9" man when he's in boots for a premiere like with Tom Hardy a year earlier, but Mel and Luna wind up looking close. This is one of the rare shots with Luna's feet on the ground:
Click Here The funny thing is Mel has excellent posture while Luna is a sloucher yet Luna tip-toes more:
Click Here Click Here My guess is that's due to Mel having a stronger back due to weight training. There's also some decent footage of the premiere for a couple of minutes from the timestamp:
Click Here and of the photocall first couple of minutes here:
Click Here Both have also claimed 5'10" and complained that people think they're shorter.
btw, Mel will be a shooting a film "War Pigs" with Colin Farrell next year so aside from really looking forward to the film as a Gibson fan, it will be very interesting to see how they look together.
Editor Rob
It seems to be in Diego's nature to rise up a bit at times, they may well measure very close barefoot.
Rising - 174 cm said on 11/Dec/18
@Rob: Yeah and if we believe Barry Norman, he's been doing tricks like that for years, though one foot is a lot more subtle than what Jeremy Piven does! Funny thing is Mel's Blood Father co-star Diego Luna does the same thing. Imagine those two trying to outdo the other in the same shot! I think Mel is like Milo Ventimiglia and became more height aware over his career. Along with typically excellent posture and a little extra footwear, those fractions can easily add up to looking what he claims. Seeing how much closer he is to Glover's height compared to 15 years ago, it'd be interesting to see Mel with Kurt or even Anthony Hopkins now compared to the 80's.
Btw, I once compared Cruise and Gibson's shoes, but it's interesting how similar they look seeing these shots of each in the same stride from the 2016 BAFTAS and 2016 Venice Film Festival, respectively
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here I suppose that's because what they're wearing is very typical of a moderate elevator as far as that angle/bluge at the laces. Although Mel favors the Cuban heel Chelsea type boot from earlier at Venice more often these days as opposed to Cruise who always seems to wear those shoes or very similar ones now.
Editor Rob
yeah I remember looking at Luna and he really does it a lot more than I realised...he can look 5ft 10-10.5 at times because of it.
Rising - 174 cm said on 10/Dec/18
Mel(admittedly with questionable boots) still pulls off at least 5'9.5"-5'10" in this video if Wahlberg is 5'8" as listed:
Click Here and he doesn't measure up too badly to 6'2.5" Will Ferrell in these pics from the same premiere:
Click Here Click Here Even with Ferrell, leaning, I have trouble picturing a more than 5" difference. Remember, he can still pull off 5'10" in those same boots with 6'4.5" listed Vince Vaughn:
Click Here Click Here And is he looking any less than that here with Vaughn and 5'10.75" Luke Bracey?
Click Here Click Here Granted, it looks like Mel did the same he did on the set of The Professor and the Madman and put lifts in his
New Balance again:
Click Here but it's not like he's going to get near 3" doing that and Rob said those boots might be a small elevator boot so that doesn't sound like a 3" boost either.
I also rewatched Lethal Weapon 4 recently and Mel really didn't seem more than 6" taller than Pesci in that either. Also interesting is that the difference between Gibson and Glover hadn't shrunk yet since it could still look near 5" in wider shots, though Mel was often placed closer to the camera. Imo, the evidence for Mel losing even a half inch is virtually nonexistent or at least lacking.
Editor Rob
Gibson still seems a height aware man. There are some shots from that Daddy's Home premiere and it's subtle, but
Click Here....he's doing a slight trick pushing up with one foot and shifting weight onto the other so it's as if he's standing on one foot.
every fraction counts for Mel!
Rising - 174 cm said on 28/Nov/18
@Michael: You're right that Mel was never more than 5'9", but he's definitely not lost an inch. Actually, he still looks about as tall as he ever did and he actually really looked tall next to Pesci in the 3rd Lethal Weapon(which he seemed to "grow" in), but not so much in the 2nd or at the premiere for the 4th film when he was oddly only 5" taller than Pesci. The half inch footwear difference with Parkinson pretty much seals his peak height for me since I remember Mel about half an inch or so shorter, but that was when I thought Mel was 5'9.5"-5'10" and before considering the footwear. He really should just have a 5'9" overall listing after all of the stuff posted, especially with other 5'9" range men.
Michael, 5'10" 178 cm said on 27/Nov/18
Mel Gibson was 5’9” max at peak, he never looked taller than that or as tall as 5’10” in movies. In the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon films, he looked like an average height dude, he was like a half foot shorter than Glover, but he looked unusually tall next to Pesci, but that’s because he is extremely short. 5’9” peak, 5’8” now.
Rising - 174 cm said on 6/Nov/18
@Rob: Thanks. I guess that'd have to be about a half inch advantage then. I wish the height comparison was one of the clips BBC Studios uploaded online. It was memorable enough for the papers to report on. Good to know my guess was pretty much accurate for Mel's shoes at least since I only wear boots or sneakers myself. I was figuring loafers like that with a small heel and small insole would be about 0.5", maybe 0.6".
Rising - 174 cm said on 6/Nov/18
@Rob: Can you estimate roughly how much height their shoes add?
Click Here I figure Mel's shoes are at least an inch based on the heel size and thickness of the front, but didn't know if it was 1.1"-1.2" and particularly how much Parkinson's loafers likely add with what look like maybe a 1/4" heel. Here's a higher quality shot of the same type of loafer:
Click Here
Editor Rob
It doesn't look less than 1 inch for certain...it might be a 1.1-1.2 model, depends how much insole there is.
Rising - 174 cm said on 21/Oct/18
The question is how much longer? ;) We Were Soldiers is another film where 5'9" flat looks more plausible to me. Granted, he pulls off taller with Sam Elliott if Elliott was around 6'2" then as he never looked more than 4" shorter, but they aren't wide shots and Gibson is usually closer. Here's one of the rare wide shots on solid ground with 6'1" listed Chris Klein:
Click Here It may be a camera disadvantage, but Mel winds up looking more 5'8" range or 5'8.5" when they shake hands. I think 5'9.5" Greg Kinnear looked a bit taller walking on the runway:
Click Here Though you can see when they stop walking that Mel looks to step up onto something. Fwiw, Mark McCracken has 6'5" listings on the internet and looks to have close to a full head on Gibson in their scene:
Click Here Though his character is named "Too Tall" so it's possible they made the difference even greater for effect.
Patrick|1.76m said on 17/Oct/18
What changed your mind rob? You used to have him at 5foot10, 1.78m peak.
Editor Rob
He's been at his current mark for a very long time.
Rising - 174 cm said on 3/Oct/18
These look like the style of Chelsea boot Mel wears:
Click Here I don't think it's the same brand, but same basic style and size heel:
Click Here Although I'm not sure if he's always wearing the exact same
Chelsea Boots. These might be the same boot or a small elevator boot in that style:
Click Here Click Here The boots on Colbert's show look like normal 1.5" Cuban heel Chelsea boots, though his ankle honestly looks a bit high to me. Of course that could just mean he slipped in a small lift himself. The funny thing is after Mel looked just 6" taller than Pesci at times in LW2, he was towering him by perhaps 8" in LW3, but then looked just 5" taller at the premiere for LW4:
Click Here Click Here Funny enough, I suspect the situation was reversed that time with Mel in normal shoes and Pesci in lifts! He was a bit taller than 5'8"-5'9" Cherry Jones in Signs, though he did have fairly thick boots:
Click Here
Rising - 174 cm said on 20/Sep/18
There's no doubt he can look 5'10", but then it looks like he borrowed
Vin Diesel's boots for this What Women Want photoshoot:
Click Here I heard he wore lifts for some scenes in that film, but it's surprising how often he can appear just 5'9". There's a good scene in Scenes where Mel and 5'8" Joaquin Phoenix are standing in front of the door before going outside and Joaquin is only an inch shorter:
Click Here Lethal Weapon 3 is where he really started looking taller to me at 5'10", possibly 5'11" at times. Aside from the cowboy boots, you can see the shoes he wears in uniform when he sits down in the locker room could easily have a lift. Oddly, he can look just slightly taller than Russo when they first meet like this:
Click Here yet looks 2" taller shortly after in the same clothes and that's the difference most of the film. The difference between Mel and Pesci was also bigger in the 3rd film than 2nd.
Arthur! said on 16/Sep/18
Rob is there a chance he ever was a full 5'10 at his peak?
Editor Rob
I couldn't see him that tall, the highest I'll go is 9.5
Rising - 174 cm said on 3/Sep/18
@CDS: I agree with you. Nothing over 5'9" barefoot. Well, Mel was claiming 5'10" at least as far back as 1990 and as quoted above, studio publicity was listing him 5'10" in 1987 and I did find the Thunderdome article from 1985 that had him at 5'10" and 160 lbs., but Rob does quote publicity handouts from Year of Living Dangerously as giving his height "between 5-9 and 5-10" suggesting he wouldn't be above 5'9" otherwise any studio is going to give their leading man 5'10". We've seen others who give their height 5'9" early and up it to 5'10" with increased fame like Jonathan Rhys Meyers and I thought that might be the case with Mel based on how matter of fact Sigourney was saying he's 5'9". As for Downey, I always assumed he claimed 5'9", though I have seen some 5'10" listings for him incredibly enough. Btw, I forgot to mention if Joss Ackland was still 6'0" at 61 in Lethal Weapon 2 then Mel in cowboy boots again looked maybe 5'10" with him face to face.
@Arthur: Those photos certainly didn't prove Mel has lost a half inch, especially since he looked shorter back in '88 with Kurt Russell than he does now with Garfield. Just compare that to how 5'9.5" listed Jason Scott Lee looked with Kurt a decade later. Again, even in the same shoes, he wasn't a mm taller than 5'9" peak Anthony Hopkins in The Bounty(1984):
Click Here Both pics illustrate well Mel was certainly not taller as do other scenes in the film even though Mel looked to have a small footwear advantage when he wore those brown boots in the film. The photo I posted of Mel with
Joe Rogan this year shows Mel can STILL look tall.
Here's Mel looking pretty tall in cowboy boots with 5'9" Tom Hardy as recent as 2015:
Click Here
Yet here he is in 2014 looking the same height as a 68 year old Stallone with both in dress shoes:
Click Here Watch from timestamp through about 1:40.
And here's Mel at the same festival in 1.2"-1.3"
New Balance with 5'9" listed Wesley Snipes in 0.6" Converse:
Click Here Rob has said Snipes can look 5'8.5", but he doesn't know if he was always a weak 5'9" or lost a fraction. Most would agree Tom Hardy is a more solid 5'9" than both yet Mel looks taller the following year with Hardy than he did with Snipes the previous year and a
New Balance to Converse advantage is pretty similar to a cowboy boot to dress shoe advantage.
Finally, Mel with 5'9" listed Mario Lopez in 2017:
Click Here and late 2014/early 2015:
Click Here You can compare again around 1:46. I think Lopez is 5'8.5", but either way he's in the same range as Snipes, Stallone and Hardy showing how Mel can still easily look taller than 5'9".
I hate to repeat myself like this, but most of the posts don't explain why they think Mel is noticeably shorter than he use to be, they just act like his peak height is a settled issue despite how disputed Mel's height always was and completely ignore footwear as a factor. The possibility Mel's peak was shorter than what they think doesn't cross some poster's minds even though it's much easier to establish someone's height from the 2000's on with Getty Images, YouTube etc.
Rising - 174 cm said on 2/Sep/18
@tree: He doesn't need a current/peak, he's not that old. 5'9" flat would be best, but that's because that's what he always was. Slight correction, but he actually wore big heels going back to at least 1981:
Click Here Look at Mel with Kurt Russell and Geoffrey Lewis and then look at Stallone with those same two. Even accounting for Sly's heels in Tango and Cash, it's almost impossible to imagine Mel taller compared to those two. I just watched Lethal Weapon 2 again and Mel isn't looking taller than 5'10" even with cowboy boots. You can see a wide shot inside the police station when Glover is describing the home invasion and he's got a good 5" on Mel in boots. You can see 5'3" Pesci is in slippers and Mel in cowboys again when they go to his hotel room in the beginning of this clip:
Click Here Mel certainly doesn't look 5'11" even with a near 1.5" footwear advantage. He's about 6" taller than Pesci. Most who worked with him say he wasn't taller than 5'9". Sigourney said she's sure she's a couple of inches taller and this is supported by Mel's admission he struggled to look her height even with a 2"+ footwear advantage(2.5"-2.7" elevator boots vs slipper type flats) and Mel upgrading her to 6'1" to fit his 5'10" claim. M. Night's comment to Glenn made it clear he's confident he's taller than Mel was and he's only 5'9.5"-5'10" himself. Similarly, Gary Sinise believing Mel is his height makes more sense if Mel was 5'9" flat.
tree said on 1/Sep/18
He is 5ft9 nowadays needs to get the current 5ft9 back.
Arthur! said on 31/Aug/18
Rob, isn't it time to give him a current height of 5'9? The photos with Andrew Garfield have proved it.
CDS said on 31/Aug/18
Thanks for the video, rising, I was curious about that myself. One reason I wouldn't go any higher than 5'9" for Mel is since that was what he was listed at back in the 80s and early 90s, and like a lot of leading men, with bigger stardom comes a sudden boost in height! Lol so when either himself or his publicist says he's 5'9" (I realize since about the mud 90s he's been claiming 5'10"), I just can't imagine he's over that. And you gotta consider a lot of guys even shorter than that claim 5'10"(case in point, Robert Downey, Jr), so Mel at 5'10" in shoes, is actually more honest than most!?? Lol
Rising - 174 cm said on 29/Aug/18
The full 5'9" is easier to buy if you've seen the Parkinson interview. Mel looked about a half inch shorter so he pulled off near 5'9.5" or 176 range, but the footwear discussion centered solely on whether Mel had lifts. He didn't have lifts, but you can see he had a visibly thicker shoe and bigger heel @ 11 seconds in this clip:
Click Here Parkinson's loafers have just a small heel so I'd think maybe around 0.7" while Mel has the thicker type of normal dress shoe so near 1.2" range? Absolute minimum would be 1.1", imo. Mel also stood like he was getting measured(he sort of was) so he may have gained a small fraction that way. I was arguing for a 5'9.5"-5'10" Mel when I viewed the clip, but came away thinking he looked 5'9"-5'9.5" range if Parky was 5'10" and that didn't consider footwear. I had foolishly overlooked This is the only image of them back to back I could still find online:
Click Here The angle they used on the show was better. Actually, the full episode does now come up on a Google video search, but the site looks suspicious to me. As for whether Parkinson was still 5'10" at 67, I think he was still close enough. He was definitely shorter than Clooney, but about 1", maybe 1.5" max shorter than David Beckham:
Click Here 177 would be the lowest I'd argue for Parky in his late 60's as he often wore loafers like he did with Gibson. Here's a good look of the same style he had with Gibson:
Click Here I think Mel at 5'9" and Parky at 5'10" makes sense.
Rising - 174 cm said on 27/Aug/18
@CDS: I agree that height is possible since that was around what he looked with Russell and Hopkins. I also agree height loss isn't much of a factor yet seeing how he could still look in cowboy boots with Tom Hardy in 2015. I doubt Rob would downgrade him below 5'9", though. A 5'9" flat listing would probably be the best middle ground because you wouldn't have almost anyone thinking he needed an upgrade, but most who thought he needed more of a downgrade would probably be talking a relatively minor amount as evidenced by the average guess. The key is footwear. The boots Mel was wearing at least as far back as 1983 remind me of what Stallone wore in Rocky:
Click Here Click Here Those will definitely make a 5'9" flat man look at least 5'10":
Click Here
CDS said on 25/Aug/18
Again, as many have done already, referring to "tequila sunrise", I'm now thinking the Kurt Russell listing is fine -- 5'9.25", but Mel could be downgraded to 5'8.5"-5'8.75"? I really don't see any sign of Mel having lost any height?? Those other actors rising mentioned, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris cooper, Chris rock, etc.. I agree with all those listings, and Mel's height would work alongside those, I agree.
Rising - 174 cm said on 24/Aug/18
@CDS: I remembered someone uploading it a few years ago so thank that guy lol. Now if only someone could upload that Parkinson interview again! And yeah, my position is 5'8.5" absolute minimum, but 5'9.25" is my absolute max. I think once you get down to 5'8" flat too many others like Joaquin Phoenix, Sinise, Wahlberg, Renner and RDJ would have to be downgraded, but on the other hand, 5'9" seems like the most accurate compared to other listings on this site like Kurt Russell(5'9.25"), Anthony Hopkins(5'9"), Geoffrey Lewis(5'9.5"), Chris Cooper(5'9.75") and Chris Rock(5'10"). In fact, Cooper, Russell and Hopkins have already gotten upgrades and while Rob did wonder if Lewis could be 5'10", I don't see that since Lewis looks minimum 1"-1.5" shorter than Stallone(in big heels) at the beginning of Tango & Cash and Rob said Rock looked 5'9.5"-5'10" to him rather than 5'10"+. The reason the Gere comparison from 2013 is significant is because Rob pegged Mel 5'9" flat by Machete Kills(filmed in 2012) since as you can see he has a photo with Danny Trejo. The only real mystery for me with Mel is if he's shrunk a tiny bit the last 4 years, but at least in 2013 his torso doesn't look like somebody who has lost anything. His height reminds me of Eric Roberts in that Roberts was believed to be 5'9.5", but he always wore cowboys and cubans a lot and when Rob finally met him he found out Roberts is only 5'8.5" and wound up giving him a 5'9" flat peak.
And here's screenshots of what I was talking about earlier with his foot hanging out of the boot in the '04 interview:
Click Here Click Here You can also see his foot against the lace area:
Click Here As you probably know, the more above the heel, the less your foot reaches the toe.
CDS said on 22/Aug/18
Wow, rising, now YOU are badass to me for finding that 1995 footage of Mel on letterman, when "braveheart" came out. Now I think you may have me convinced. Not sure I agree with this site's listing, but may agree on the 5'9" listing. Yes, he is closer to lettermans height than I recall. And certainly would be an argument for him being no lower than 5'8.5"??😁
Rising - 174 cm said on 21/Aug/18
Now the thing that really settles the debate for me over whether Mel was always 5'9" flat or whether he lost height is the 2013 comparison to Richard Gere:
Click Here Mel looks slightly taller to me that night. Gere can manage to look taller or the same height in some pics, but Mel has the edge overall, imo. And his shoes look like normal dress shoes to me:
Click Here Perhaps a bit thicker in the front and heel than Gere's, but not unlike what Mel wore to the Signs premiere. That confirms for me that Mel held his height until at least 2013. He may have dropped 1/4" or so in the last 3 years. I think Gere was more 5'9.5" in his prime, which basically fits with what Cindy Crawford said and I'd say he's around an inch shorter in his 60's seeing how Carey Lowell towered him in heels and how he looked with Wesley Snipes during Brooklyn's Finest.
Rising - 174 cm said on 21/Aug/18
@CDS: I see more of a 3"-3.5" difference:
Click Here Mel might be standing better and standing slightly in front, but he still passes for a 5'10"-5'10.5" guy, imo. Now when Letterman walks over to Mel in socks about 4:30, you can briefly see Letterman is pretty close in height even while bent over so it's clear he'd pretty much tower Mel without his boots. I agree that 5'9.5" is too high barefoot and I'm a huge fan of Mel. Not only is he one of my favorite actors/directors, but he's even entertaining as hell on talk shows like that. Hell, Mel is one of the biggest reasons I began wearing black cowboy boots. I thought he looked badass with them, especially back in Lethal Weapon. Rob did say 5'9.5" is the highest he'd argue and he can see the argument for my position of Mel at 5'9" flat prime and slightly below it today. But I'll concede 5'8"-5'8.5" is arguable and has to be taken seriously in discussions on his page. I just wouldn't go any lower than 5'8.5" personally and I think Sigourney's 5'9" is realistic, but it is clear Sigourney doesn't think he was any taller than 5'9" either. I'd also say that was already well into Mel's "growth spurt." Just look at the shoes he wore to the '96 Oscars from the side:
Click Here The angle looks consistent with an elevator to me. In fact, in the early days of this site, Rob told one newspaper the three guys he'd name as wearing lifts/elevators or outsized heels were Stallone, Simon Cowell and Mel, but said Mel more in the early 90's. So I wouldn't say it was just the last 10 years, though Mel has favored thicker footwear since his Edge of Darkness comeback.
CDS said on 19/Aug/18
Oops my bad, yes in the later pics Mel did a little taller than Howard. I know I've mentioned this somewhere on here before, but in a movie magazine from 1996, it had the height listings if all the major male stars of the time -- both what they, themselves claimed AND a "best guess" as to the height they really are. For Mel it had his at 5'10", and a best guess of 5'8.5" ..in shoes! Now that would make him only 5'7.5" barefoot, and while I don't think he's that low, I did find it interesting on a letterman episode close to this time. You may recall the one when he and Paul Schaeffer cut off the bottom half of Mel's pants? Lol they accidentally nicked him, caused him to bleed lol. Well anyway, Mel and Dave are both standing there, both with perfect posture, leading to the next commercial. Dave has regular flat dress shoes on and Mel his usual cowboy boots at the time. I recall about a 5" height spread. Now assuming Dave was around 6'1.5" at the time (which he himself claimed on the show), that would make him around 6'2.5" in shoes, hence Mel only 5'9.5" in the cowboy boots with the 1.75" heels, so only 5'7.75" barefoot, which would be pretty darn close to what that movie magazine said. Now I'm not saying he's that low, but certainly would be an argument for him being 5'8" to 5'8.5" barefoot, end if day . a lot lower than this site's listing for him, which again id say is more his recent height since the "growth spurt"??
Rising - 174 cm said on 18/Aug/18
@CDS: You can see the angle his foot goes into the boot from this side view:
Click Here Here's video:
Click Here Click Here Mel seems kind of hopped up in interviews and in that case he's moving his foot around a lot and you can see it's almost hanging out of the boot. That and the
New Balance on set are the most obvious I've seen from him. The '97 appearance is also online:
Click Here though you can't see where his ankle is:
Click Here
And I see Mel slightly taller in the final pic and because I think Howard has a slight camera advantage in the others. Interestingly, you can see them at Brian Grazer's Walk of Fame ceremony a few years later and Mel in boots without unusual heels looks convincingly taller making it possible he had lifts then. Btw, small correction for my last post but Mel was still wearing cowboys in '96 on Letterman.
CDS said on 17/Aug/18
Wow those are some sci fi looking shoes at the 2016 Cannes festival alright. And I completely agree on Howard's height, but to me, Mel looks about dead even with him, and that's even with the hair!?? LMAO
Rising - 174 cm said on 17/Aug/18
@CDS: And Mel does appear to have an extensive(and expensive!) pair of custom cowboy boots. Tonight Show 2010:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Jimmy Kimmel 2010:
Click Here Click Here Along with my post on 13/Aug/18, that's 4 different pairs of cowboy boots on 4 different occasions in early 2010 and none of them are cheap boots! Even looks like he's pointing to them in the 2nd Leno pic. He can certainly afford them, but then you have him often wearing
New Balance like an average Joe lol. His '09-'10 comeback was actually the first time he was regularly wearing cowboy boots since about '95. The ankle boots on Leno could very well be custom too. I saw Sly with lifts in the same style at the Expendables 3 press conference in Cannes. You can find most elevators offered in most styles of boots. Some might prefer to be able to remove lifts at times and still wear the shoes, but you can see where the top of his foot is, unless Mel's shins are abnormally flexible lol. There's some video as Prince was the other guest.
Rising - 174 cm said on 17/Aug/18
@CDS: Often they do wear custom elevators, but not always. I think Mel's footwear at the Venice Hacksaw Ridge premiere were custom elevators. Oddly, Downey will buy a pair of $2k designer high tops and then insert his own lifts into them. That was the time I saw Mel with obvious lifts in
New Balance, though most other times it doesn't look to me like he has anything in them. Now I'm not so sure about those Chelsea-type boots. Blood Father premiere @ Cannes 2016:
Click Here Click Here
Btw, check out this series of pics with Ron Howard back in '95:
Click Here Mel is a taller at that event, but not much. I doubt Howard was ever taller than 5'8"-5'8.5" range seeing him in The Shootist and on Happy Days.
CDS said on 16/Aug/18
Ok rising, I managed to find the pic of Mel in the
New Balance sneakers , and his legs are actually bending as he's walking in them!??😂 it looks more like he's walking ON the shoes, rather than IN them!?? LMAO
CDS said on 16/Aug/18
@rising: you'd think too, with the money, power, etc.. These superstars have, that they would arrange to have their designer shoes, boots, etc.. Made custom by the designer themselves, with the lifts built in?
Rising - 174 cm said on 15/Aug/18
@CDS: It depends, imo. Whatever is going on with Mel's hiking boots on set for Daddy's Home 2 makes his lower legs look disproportionately long:
Click Here I suppose Mel might have a fairly big head, but I never thought of him as having short arms. Here's a candid shot coming from the gym:
Click Here But he always did look to have relatively short legs to me and this is apparent wearing shorts and regular
New Balance. I think he was successful with cowboy boots in 2010 and LW3 premiere in '92, though. Sly is a bit different as I definitely wouldn't say his head is big and while I'm not sure his claim of a 73 inch reach was truthful, he did strike me as having proportionately long arms. I always thought of him as having short legs too, but I was surprised that his legs didn't look as short as I'd expect barefoot next to his roughly 5'9" model wife:
Click Here Sly during his constant lift days from 2003-2008 was among the most successful I've seen as lifts help you look more in proportion if your legs are on the short side and his bulked up upper body helped him give a big impression both on and off screen. His favorite shoes during that time were Hogan Interactive Sneakers, which have a 3.5 cm outersole and 2 cm removable insole, though I suspect he supplemented that at times because he often looked too tall for just a 2" boost and was regularly passing for 5'11". Here he looks pretty well proportioned in '08 with his Hogans:
Click Here A guy like
Vin Diesel apparently has legs too long to really pull this off as his boots sometimes make it look like he's standing on a box! I've never seen Leo or Timberlake wear lifts, but Timberlake should consider it if he's going to keep claiming 6'1"-6'2"! I have to laugh at
Mark Wahlberg's gf saying he looks 6'2" on screen because I've never seen him look anything other than short or shortish and Jeremy Piven has pretty much the worst proportions imaginable for a man at least 5'7". Anthony Hopkins was at least as tall as Mel back in the 80's yet had a bigger head and was stocky, which is probably why many thought he was 5'7" as opposed to an average 5'9".
I put Pitt in a different category as I've not seen him with a clear high ankle, bulge or angle around the laces or classic elevator shoe shape. He likes boots and bigger than average heels, but if he is regularly wearing lifts too then I'd say he is the best. I don't see him as pulling off 6'1", though. Without camera tricks, I'd say he legitimately pulls off 182 cm or 6'0" regularly and convincingly. It's too bad the video of Mel and Pitt backstage in '09 is down because Pitt was possibly 2" taller than Mel in his cowboy boots! Oddly, Mel still gave a taller impression in The Patriot, Man Without a Face and Maverick than the 80's despite looking barely 5'9" next to Chris Cooper and Geoffrey Lewis.
Rising - 174 cm said on 14/Aug/18
@CDS: We're in good company admitting to our lifts along with Burt Reynolds and Robert Downey Jr. lol. You're about Burt's height and we've seen how tall he could look with lifts. And yeah, the difference between the two got smaller than the 6" at the '88 Oscars and has gotten much smaller since as Glover has shrunk, though Glover was towering Mel at the LW4 premiere even while slouching in every pic and video. That coincides with Mel's "growth spurt." Similarly, Mel was a good inch shorter than Chris Rock in Lethal Weapon 4 Behind the Scenes, but I think about the same in the film. I'd imagine the built in lifts are more effective. But check this out and see what you think:
Click Here I'm sure you'll notice how visible his ankle bone is above the boots, but notice he's wearing the same boots here except with matching dark socks:
Click Here It's much more difficult to see where his ankle is. I wouldn't say lifts are unlikely there, but the uncertainty as opposed to with the white socks made me wonder if he inserted lifts in that time or if they're custom boots. You'd think most celebs would favor custom boots, but you can see my post on Celebs Wearing Elevators page with Mel on set of The Professor and the Madman wearing a bulging pair of
New Balance. He wore those same boots on The Tonight Show in '97 in addition to those 2000 and '04 appearances, but I'm 50/50 on whether it's a normal boot he slipped 1" lifts to for '04 or if he had lifts all 3 times and it's a custom boot. On a side note, I've thought about getting a pair of boots with built in lifts and I like the Dons D'etna.
CDS said on 14/Aug/18
As for guys like Mel and Stallone, I think its more obvious of the lift wearing sometimes since they're both built like short guys, the big head, big upper torso, short arms, etc.. Now, on the other hand, you've got guys like
Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Timberlake, who have the small head, small upper torso and long lakes, the lifts make them look awkward. They seem to work best on a guy like brad Pitt, who's got the medium head, long upper torso, and shorter legs and small feet. The lifts, and hence larger shoes, actually make his overall appearance look more proportionate. Maybe this should go on his page? Lol I still say he's a 5'10" guy who pulls off 6'1".
Rising - 174 cm said on 13/Aug/18
@Robby Harris: Yeah, it really is a striking difference. Basically from slightly short to fairly tall and the difference feels pretty dramatic. My friends in the 5'3"-5'5" range seem to accept their height better and it's a good thing because lifts aren't as effective at that height. I'm a huge Pacino fan, but even being 5'5"-5'6" range and wearing big heels and even lifts for roles has never even made him look average. But as an elevator shoemaker said, once you get the height, it's hard to go back. I mentioned Mel as an example. I don't know how tall Oksana Grigorieva is other than her 5'8" internet listings and how she looks with Timothy Dalton, but look at Mel at this event:
Click Here Pics aren't great, but Mel was looking pretty tall at that event and this one assuming she's wearing heels again:
Click Here Mel easily looks his 5'10" claim, which is supported by his pics with Jeremy Renner at the first event. Same thing with 5'8" listed Rene Russo(in low to medium heels) at the Lethal Weapon 3 premiere:
Click Here She's slouching a lot, but just compare that to how Mel looked in seemingly normal shoes with Rene at the Lethal Weapon 4 premiere when she was also slouching. It's a shame there aren't better pics, but I'd bet Mel was looking around 5'10.5" at the 3 premiere and some of these other events. His boots were bigger by the time of the 3rd film as well:
Click Here He's a lot like Stallone in that he can actually look pretty tall at times with big footwear and good posture, but could give that shortish 5'8"-5'9" range impression at times, especially earlier in his career, though not exclusively. In fact, Gary Sinise apparently told Glenn Mel was 5'8" and as late as The Patriot(2000), Mel could oddly look near an inch shorter than Chris Cooper, who Rob lists 177 cm peak and 174 current. That's pretty difficult to believe looking at how tall he looks in those pics.
As for limb-lengthening, that's still crazy to me. It's not surprising considering what people do nowadays, but I'd never think of doing that. It doesn't make any sense at almost any height given the risks and limitations. If you're 5'8", that's a decent enough height to make it not worth it simply to be 5'10"-5'11" If you're say 5'2", would you really want to go through that and still be well below average? I wound up on the short end for my family, which also affected how I view my height and ideal male height is 6'2", imo, but anything between 6'0"-6'2" would be great.
CDS said on 13/Aug/18
@Robbie Harris: I've worn lifts regularly myself over the years. I'm barefoot out of bed height, 5'11.5", end of day, 5'10.75", can dip as low as 5'10.5" after heavy activity. I've found the footwear with the lifts built in to be much more effective than the inserted lifts or wedge. Have been surprised actually when seen myself in photos looking taller than my legitimate 6' father, or as tall as my 6'2.5" cousin. I didn't realize I was getting THAT much benefit from them, but they do work! Lol
CDS said on 13/Aug/18
@rising: thanks for the video, I see what you mean. The earlier video there is a greater gap between Glover and Mel, 6 or 7 inches, while maybe 4.5 to 5 in the later videos. I noticed this myself when Mel and Danny appeared on Rosie O'Donnell s show, I think the same year as your latter video, 1998, the year lw4 came out. I recall thinking there was less of a height difference than the earlier lw films, and was thinking Mel might be wearing lifts, but his shoes looked normal. But I've learned since then, they can be made undetectable.
Robby Harris said on 11/Aug/18
@Rising: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I never thought about it that way, but its quite interesting when you think about it. Lifts would pretty much have the most dramatic effect on average guys, as the jump from 5'8"-5'9" to 5'10"-5'11" would be pretty significant in terms of the impression it'd give off to people, as well as the overall benefit it may have. Though one could argue the same could be said for guys in the 5'7" range, as they'd appear average with a good pair of lifts, but would still struggle to ever look over 5'9" without ridiculous footwear. Leg-lengthening surgery is apparently on the rise! I've heard there's a 50% chance of it going wrong! Anyway, the average height for younger American men these days I believe is right around 5'10" flat, which is probably why you'd feel quite short at 5'8.5" - though its not a height I'd consider short, but maybe lower average in the US/UK. Older men who'd have already lost some height pretty much bring the overall average down, which is why its in the 5'9" range, I presume. I think once a guy is 5'8" he's got nothing to worry about when it comes to height though, as men between 5'8"-5'10" pretty much blend in with the average. Once over 5'10.5", I think it starts to get noticeably clear one is getting to be above average, while 5'11.5" onwards can appear decently tall. What is your idea of an ideal height for a male?
Robby Harris said on 11/Aug/18
@Rising: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I never thought about it that way, but its quite interesting when you think about it. Lifts would pretty much have the most dramatic effect on average guys, as the jump from 5'8"-5'9" to 5'10"-5'11" would be pretty significant in terms of the impression they'd give off to people, as well as the overall benefit it may have. Though one could argue the same could be said for guys in the 5'7" range, as they'd appear average with a good pair of lifts, but would still struggle to ever look over 5'9" without ridiculous footwear. Leg-lengthening surgery is apparently on the rise! I've heard there's a 50% chance of it going wrong! The average height for younger American men these days I believe is right around 5'10" flat, which is probably why you'd feel quite short at 5'8.5" - though its not a height I'd consider short, but maybe lower average in the US/UK. Older men who'd have already lost some height pretty much bring the overall average down, which is why its in the 5'9" range, I presume. I think once a guy is 5'8" he's got nothing to worry about when it comes to height though, as men between 5'8"-5'10" pretty much blend in with the average. Once over 5'10.5", I think it starts to get noticeably clear one is getting to be above average, while 5'11.5" onwards can appear decently tall. What is your idea of an ideal height for a male?
Rising - 174 cm said on 10/Aug/18
@CDS: Here's the video:
Click Here I don't know if links to Getty videos work, but if so I'm sure everyone will agree Glover is still at least 5" taller. That is taller than Mel looked in dress shoes at the '88 Oscars:
Click Here I don't think it was 7" as it looks in that photo, but it did look like a 6" difference on video the rare times Glover stood tall:
Click Here You can watch Glover drop 2" in height at times, which is a good example of how much posture can be a factor with tall men.
Btw, I should have posted this image the first time had I not been too lazy to save it from Getty and upload it lol:
Click Here His front foot gives a perfect side angle and you can see the angle in the lace area similar to what Rob mentions for Cruise on the Celebs wearing elevators page, but if you look closely, you can actually see a bit of a bulge around the laces. More interesting is Cruise's shoes at the Rogue Nation Vienna premiere:
Click Here The design looks very similar if you look at this pic I posted a few days ago.
Click Here Maybe Banderas wears similar ones too, but I see even more of a similarity between Cruise and Gibson at those events. Btw, shots mid-stride in suspect footwear like this are often interesting as it can look like you're walking in heels:
Click Here
Rising - 174 cm said on 8/Aug/18
@Robby Harris: I've worn lifts for different specific reasons at different times over the last decade, but there are quite a few things that contributed to wanting to be taller. One of the more practical reasons is knee and back problems give me looser posture with flat shoes while lifts tend to keep me standing straighter as well. I feel pretty average in some situations, but can feel quite short when I'm in Manhattan or among younger people. I don't think I really drop below 174. Worst case I might hit 173.5 range. It's funny because I thought I was more 172ish than 174 until around 2009-2010 and it's possible that was due to posture and unhealthy habits, but there's also a possibility I grew a small amount between 22-24, though in general, I was close to my final height by early teen, which had is one reason as I went from a little above average to a little below. And don't worry about it, I forget what I post all the time lol. I actually think lifts are much better for people closer to my height. Take Stallone, Gibson and Michael Douglas for example. They can/could all look solidly 5'10.5"-5'11" at times. 5'7.5" guys like Cruise and Downey are a good height for lifts as well since they can look like average 5'9" guys, but the illusion is far less effective for guys below 5'7". In fact, there was a TV commercial for insert lifts I use to see and the example they used was a 5'9" man becoming almost 6 feet.
Robby Harris said on 8/Aug/18
@Rising: May I ask why you occasionally wear lifts? 174 is a solid height, imo. Is that your midday height? My memory is pretty poor, so you probably answered this question a long time ago lol.
Rising - 174 cm said on 8/Aug/18
@CDS: lol, good catch. I could be wrong because in video on Getty Images, I wouldn't guess Glover less than 5" taller, but it looks like that could be the case with the style and long pants. I think when Mel has worn lifts/elevators, they've been 2" give or take rather than 2.5"-3" with a few exceptions like Year of Living Dangerously. He's worn obvious lifts less often than someone like Stallone, but it's also less obvious when he's not wearing lifts as he doesn't wear flat, low cut dress shoes nearly as often. The photo above is an example. Downey's lifts are so outrageous that's all you notice, but what is Mel wearing? Some kind of heeled boots, but I don't know the style:
Click Here Click Here Mel remembers he was at least 3 cm taller than RDJ back in '89-'90 and didn't fail notice Downey miraculously "grew" to his height:
Click Here LOL
CDS said on 8/Aug/18
Thanks for the pic, rising. Even Danny Glover looks suspicious of Mel's shoes??😂
Rising - 174 cm said on 6/Aug/18
@CDS: I still wear cowboy boots a lot and Cuban heels at other times and sometimes I put in extra lifts, but haven't bothered with that lately. What's most surprising about Burt is that he still wears them! Same with Robert Blake, who is actually older, but more mobile. I thought Mel had custom built up custom cowboy boots on Kimmel in 2010 and perhaps in Lethal Weapon 3 or at least a 2" heel rather than the 1.75" he wore in the first film and then other times he looks much taller than usual in cowboy boots such as the Lethal Weapon 3 premiere and the 2010 Oscar Nominee dinner so I do believe he's occasionally had an extra lift inside, but I think he's just worn regular cowboy boots more often than not. However, I suspect the type of boots he wore to the '93 MTV Movie Awards were custom elevators:
Click Here
@Rob: Yeah, James Kyson Lee was an obvious one you've seen and Keith Urban would be another example as I said on the "Celebs wearing elevators" page. The proof lifts/elevators are effective is that they can be tricky to spot even when you know what to look for. I did dismiss the possibility of a lift at the photocall too quickly:
Click Here He seems to wear those at a lot of events now:
Click Here I definitely wouldn't rule it out, but I agree it's inconclusive. Darker socks is a good idea because when Mel wore white socks with Leno in '04, it drew attention to his ankle bone being clearly above the ankle boot while he was sitting down, but when he wore the same boots with matching dark socks 4 years earlier, I couldn't tell for sure.
CDS said on 5/Aug/18
Yeah, I used to wear cowboy boots a lot back in the 90s too, with no lifts in them or anything, and I can testify, yes you are indeed seeing the world from a higher vantage point. Its something. That being said, however, it seems it would be incredibly difficult to wear them with lifts, extremely uncomfortable and difficult to walk. Oh don't know how in the world Burt Reynolds could wear those infamous boots, which he admitted gave him an extra 4 inches!?? -- going from his natural peak height of 5'11" to 6'3"??!
Rising - 174 cm said on 5/Aug/18
@Sandy Cowell: I saw the film when it was new and then once again when it came out on video, but only parts of it on TV since, though it was a good film and one of M. Night's best along with Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Mel is definitely taller than Phoenix, just not a lot taller. M. Night's height is kind of interesting because seeing him with Bruce Willis this year and
Mark Wahlberg a few years back, his 5'10"-5'11" claim seems like it could be a shoe height.
Rising - 174 cm said on 4/Aug/18
@Rob: Yeah, those can look similar too, though the outside heel on the red carpet looks smaller to me. I had guessed the earlier photocall were Chelsea boots with a 1.5" heel, but I did think a lift inside was possible on Colbert:
Click Here but Mel wisely wore darker socks and matched them to his suit making it tougher to tell. As you know, it's more difficult to tell with a boot in general.
@CDS: Yeah, Mel was one of the biggest cowboy boot fans, but the last time I saw him wear them was the Mad Max: Fury Road premiere 3 years ago and he's worn Chelsea boots since. Stallone and Cruise also wore cowboy boots a lot in the early 90's, same with Swayze and occasionally Don Johnson and Van Damme. Kurt Russell still wears them a lot.
Editor Rob
I'm sure with some celebrities, they have just worn a simple boot and it has appeared like it might have a lift. It's definitely at times hard to tell. Out of all the actors I've seen, I would only say less than a handful have ever worn an obvious elevator shoe.
But lifts in a boot...they are definitely harder things to spot. 2cm lifts just give you a solid boost in height, but even in a shoe, you'd struggle unless able to see the actors legs/socks area whether they had them or not.
Sandy Cowell said on 4/Aug/18
@ Rising 174cm - Hello there! I thoroughly recommend the film 'Signs'; like you, I had been meaning to watch it for ages and then it took a viewing on TV before I got round to it. Like any film by M Night Shyamalan, it is original, exciting, moving - and scary! Joaquin Phoenix and Mel Gibson make for convincing brothers in the height department, with Mel having the edge on his younger sibling.
After I saw it, I bought a copy! 📀👍
CDS said on 3/Aug/18
Thanks, rising. Yeah, those are definitely elevators in those photos. Its interesting how so many leading men from the 90s , back when country western wear was all the rage, have swapped their cowboy boots for elevator shoes??😂
Rising - 174 cm said on 2/Aug/18
Here's a close up of his footwear at Venice showing they're bulkier than they initially appear:
Click Here And here's video:
Click Here Watch the first 10 seconds of the video when he stands up. You get a really good view from the side. I'd be surprised if those shoes weren't made to boost his height in some way. Maybe 3 cm on the outside and 2 cm inside.
Editor Rob
Earlier with those boots he had
Click Here, sometimes a chelsea style can look like that, but also a small elevator boot can appear like that too. It's a hard one to tell at times with chelsea type boots.
Rising - 174 cm said on 1/Aug/18
Mel's footwear is still fooling people. I even saw a regular poster who believed Mel is almost as tall as Andrew Garfield. His shoes at the Hacksaw Ridge premiere in Venice look like possible, even probable elevators to me:
Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here They're high cut and you can even see a bulge in the lace area in the last pic. They remind me a bit of elevators I've seen Antonio Banderas in recent years. At the very least, they don't look like the type of shoes where you'd rule it out. Same thing with his shoes at the 2017 Oscars, at least from the side angle:
Click Here
@viper: I'm talking about Glenn so who knows? lol. One thing we do know for sure is Mel being 1.5" taller than M. Night or 1" taller than his own 5'10" claim is impossible. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to shoot Year of Living Dangerously if he really was anywhere 5'11".
viper said on 31/Jul/18
The guy who saw Mel at 5-11 saw him in lifts
Rising - 174 cm said on 31/Jul/18
@CDS: I agree 5'9.5" is too high and he looked shorter in the 80's, even 5'8" range in some scenes in Tequila Sunrise & The Bounty, but Sigourney also said Mel is 5'9". I don't think he wore lifts to that Signs premiere and looked taller than 5'8", but no taller than 5'9" if M. Night Shyamalan is about 5'10":
Click Here Click Here Funny one former poster who insists Mel is 5'11" saw M. Night only 5'9.5" in person! I think many think of Mel right around the 5'9" mark and he's been able to look his 5'10" claim since his Lethal Weapon 3 era "growth spurt."
CDS said on 27/Jul/18
Rob, this 5'9.5" listing is the 2000s Mel. If you go back to the 80s films, you'll notice a shorter Mel, 5'8" max. 5'11" Sigourney weaver said he was 3 inches shorter, I think she nailed it...
Rising - 174 cm said on 24/Jul/18
@Sandy Cowell: No problem. Thanks for reminding me of that film as I've been meaning to watch any of Mel's films I've never seen. I'm actually not sure I even see a full inch in that picture, but Mel does look about an inch taller than Joaquin in general. He does seem to have kept himself in better shape the last few years and I actually don't think he's lost much, if any height yet. He pretty much towered over
Joe Rogan this year:
Click Here Rogan is probably shorter than 5'7", but even if Mel has big footwear, it's difficult to imagine him being much shorter in the 2018 pic than the 2002 pic with Phoenix. Mel has always been tricky since he could look 5'10.5" in big footwear, but could even struggle to look 5'9" at times.
Sandy Cowell said on 22/Jul/18
@ Rising - 174cm:-
The picture with the 5ft8 Joaquin Phoenix shows about an inch difference, wouldn't you agree?
Ah yes, 'Tim' does ring a loud bell as the title of the film he made with Piper Laurie. Had I remembered the name of Mel's gardener, which I didn't, I'd probably have put two and two together!
I reckon Mel could be just a fraction below 5ft9 now, so he is definitely a bit taller than I originally thought him to be. He has kept himself physically in top form, hence his fairly late onset of shrinkage.
Cheers and many thanks, Rising 174cm!
Rising - 174 cm said on 19/Jul/18
@Sandy Cowell: That film was "Tim" and one of the few Mel Gibson films I haven't seen! I don't see Mel as tall as 5'9.5" myself and he looked more of a flat 5'9" guy to me throughout the 80's, but he did look taller from about 1989 on. As for Signs, Mel looked about an inch taller than Joaquin Phoenix, iirc and here's a good pic of the two side by side at the premiere:
Click Here I do think Mel was still at his peak height until at least 2013. It's possible he's lost a fraction of height the last 2 or 3 years, but he still looks closer to 5'9" than 5'8" to me. I think seeing Mel next to 5'8" guys rules out 5'8" for Mel, but at the same time, Mel has looked shorter than quite a few 5'9"-5'10" range co-stars so that's one reason I peg him about 5'9" peak and no more, no less. You mention Danny Glover, well the height difference in the film is only 4"-5" thanks to Mel's cowboy boots and perhaps Glover's posture, but you can see the real difference at the 1988 Oscars when Glover stands straight since they both have dress shoes and Glover appears to tower Mel by about 6".
Sandy Cowell said on 19/Jul/18
@ Rising - 174cm - Hi! That is an interesting argument you put forth there, and an enjoyable one to read. I haven't seen either 'Tequila Sunrise' or 'Attack Force Z', but I am familiar with his 'Lethal Weapon' films and 'Mad Max' ones. I also saw him star in a film with Piper Laurie, when he was very much younger and played a muscle-bound gardener with learning difficulties. Piper falls for him in this film!
I wonder, therefore, if Mel could be 5ft9.5 after all, peak height, and it might be a good idea to research the film 'Signs', in which he stars with Joaquin Phoenix, as his brother. I will definitely take on board what you say and the evidence you sent in. Cheers!
Rising - 174 cm said on 16/Jul/18
@Sandy Cowell: Mel did do a great job in the first Lethal Weapon. I watched Attack Forze Z recently and while I wouldn't guess him near 3" shorter than Sam Neill, the other actor in the film did say they used tricks to make Mel taller and Mel was positioned closer to the camera when they were face to face and the angle was low so you couldn't tell exactly. Mel was wearing pretty flat boots, though and looked proportionately about 5'9" to me. Actually, I always thought Mel always looked similar proportionately in the first Lethal Weapon to Sly around Rocky 3/Rambo 2. Both around the 5'9"/165 pound range. In fact, this 1985 Rolling Stone article on Thunderdome describes him "160 pounds appealingly arranged on a five-foot-10-inch frame"
Click Here The 5'10" seems like a consistent claim from him and I always guessed 160-165 around that time through at least Tequila Sunrise.
Sandy Cowell said on 15/Jul/18
I too have heard numerous times that Mel Gibson is 5ft8, so I am fairly surprised to find he has been chalked up as 5ft9.5! Personally, I don't agree with it and will go and inch below for him.
I saw 'Lethal Weapon' again recently and enjoyed it as much as the first time, when I saw it on the big screen. Mel was really quite a dish, but I didn't take it in at that time because I was so taken aback by his heart wrenchingly sincere performance to think twice about his looks or his height. Not so this time though, as I had a darn good look at him and thought, "What a great actor! If he does wear shoes that add to his height, that's by the way! I don't think he bothers about starring with the considerably taller Danny Glover!"
Why should it bother him? He's ideal exactly the way he is! I'll settle with 5ft8.75 after all that, 5ft8.5 being a little too severe a drop from his 5ft9.5 entry, though I reckon it could easily be his today's height.
Rising - 174 cm said on 13/Jul/18
@Rob: I've seen quite a few do it. Milo Ventimiglia has practically made an art form out of it! Didn't realize the photo with Robbie was so recent until I just looked him up now. There will always be occasions when someone only 5'8.5"-5'9" might want to do that for a photo or even do it without thinking about it. I think athletes that height are often more comfortable with their height than actors. Your height becomes irrelevant if you succeed at your sport since it's more objective, but actors have to sell themselves regardless and this requires illusion. Some will find an action star less believable if they find out he's only 5'9" and 160-165 pounds.
On a different note, I was reminded of this comparison from my recent post on the Sly page. Mel and Tom Jones in 2014.
Video:
Click Here
Full Pics:
Click Here
Good shot of Mel's boots:
Click Here
I don't doubt Jones was once 5'10"-5'10.5", but probably more 5'9"-5'9.5" range by the time he was 73-74 in 2014, especially after seeing how Tom looked with Sly that same night. They look very close in height to me. Mel might edge him out by a hair, but those 1.7" type cowboy boots will give him a half inch advantage or more. This comparison is more interesting than it would normally be since it's relevant to both Sly and Mel.
Rising - 174 cm said on 12/Jul/18
Looks like Mel was going up on his toes for one pic without realizing his feet were in frame of another camera!
Click Here Sometimes it's difficult to spot tip-toeing or it's subtle enough it can look incidental, but that's pretty blatant.
Editor Rob
Sometimes it helps add an extra bit of height, see
Robbie Fowler doing it...though in person he never does such a thing, I've seen a few actors (and actresses) rise up a bit like that.
Rising - 174 cm said on 5/Jul/18
@Rob: Yeah I didn't think Kurt looked short at all in GOTG2 even with Chris Pratt. Same thing with their appearance at Comic Con.
Rising - 174 cm said on 4/Jul/18
@Rob: I only just saw Michael's claim, but I had thought something similar about Gibson and Stallone. I do think all three would have measured right around 5'9" and you could probably throw a few others like Van Damme and Michael Rooker in. Also a guy like Kurt Russell apparently claiming 5'10"-5'10.5" just like Sly, but basically a solid 5'9", very close to Stallone in the 80's and probably also quite close to Gibson back then with equal footwear. You're probably thinking about the pics of Stallone and Douglas on the golf course in 2004:
Click Here That may be a case of Michael dropping a half inch by the time 60 while Stallone hadn't yet at 58. They did pose together recently, but Michael has lost noticeable height the last 5-10 years.
Editor Rob
Kurt is seemingly holding up well, even in GOTG2 he still looked the same range he has for last 30 years.
Rising - 174 cm said on 3/Jul/18
Yeah, I figured 5'9.5" would be a max guess since you said Mel was definitely shorter than Chris Rock when I posted the behind the scenes clip a while back. He can look over it, but the problem is it's difficult to tell when someone has an extra lift in cowboy boots. I saw him promoting Edge Of Darkness on Jimmy Kimmel's show and he looked surprisingly close to Jimmy's height:
Click Here Those are a nice, expensive custom pair of boots, but would an extra lift inside be likely? You can see a tall Mel around the same time with Jeremy Renner:
Click Here Yet he was at least 1.5"-2" shorter than Brad Pitt a year earlier and Pitt's boots had a heel at least 1 cm less than Mel's cowboy boots. Mel also appeared to wear the same boots he had with Renner a few years later:
Click Here Click Here yet looked just 1"-1.5" taller with a 69 year old Danny Trejo than you did with a 65 year old Trejo:
Click Here
I don't know. It just seems bizarre to me that a guy who stands well could go from looking like a 176, maybe 177 cm guy even with cowboy boots to a 179-180 cm guy while wearing what look to be the same boots and in basically the same time period(2009-2013). The Kimmel boots were different, but he looks like the same 5'10.5"-5'11" guy with Renner in the black boots. I don't think height loss is a factor in this short stretch either, otherwise he'd have looked taller with Pitt, whom we can safely say is NOT a 5'9" or even 5'9.5" guy, contrary to the wishes of a few posters.
Editor Rob
It's funny guys like Stallone, Gibson and Michael Douglas all claim 5ft 10...yet arguably could have been very close to each other. Although I remember seeing Stallone looking taller than Douglas.
Rising - 174 cm said on 28/Jun/18
@Rob: That's true, but then I think Sigourney Weaver's claim that Mel was 5'9" back in the 80's is also believable, especially in films like The Bounty and Tequila Sunrise or even a bit later like The Man Without a Face and Signs. He did wear cowboy boots for years, often the standard 1.6"-1.7", but also 2" at times in the 80's and early 90's. If anything, I think he might have been 5'9"-5'9.25" peak and maybe 5'8.75"-5'9" now, but he still wears at least 1.2"-1.5" footwear and stands well.
Editor Rob
5ft 9.5 is probably the most I think I could argue for his peak, I see how people give him 5ft 9 peak and just under it today as well.
Rising - 174 cm said on 27/Jun/18
To estimate Mel's height now, we have to identify the boots he's substituted for his cowboy boots the last few years:
Click Here Click Here Click Here That looks like more of a Chelsea-type boot to me and with a bit smaller heel than a cowboy boot. Do those add similar height to what Brad Pitt wears, maybe 1.4"-1.5"?
@Rob: Yeah, the exceptions seem to get much more rare. In Sly's case, his workout regimen may have helped, but Kurt isn't as much of a fitness fanatic and Joe Mantegna said he doesn't workout much yet appeared to get to 65+ before losing anything noticeable. Carl Weathers is a surprise too because he's a big guy and doesn't always stand straight, but doesn't appear to have lost more than Sly. Sly was able to get through the 3 Expendables films with height loss minimal enough he was able to keep it from being noticeable, but it was visible enough by Creed. Then you have a guy like Charles Bronson whom we've spoken about and Chuck Norris still seems near enough 5'8" at 78! Even a guy as tall as Bill Russell was measuring up well to current NBA big men well into his 70's. In Mel's case, I think people think of him as older than he is because he started so young filming Mad Max at 21(he was 23 when it was released) and he was starring in action films like Lethal Weapon while many of his contemporary action stars like Sly and Arnold were a decade older or even more in the case of Norris and Harrison Ford.
Editor Rob
Overall you can make a case that Mel doesn't really look much over 5ft 9 today.
Rising - 174 cm said on 22/Jun/18
@Rob: Yeah, if Kurt was 176 cm peak then I'd still guess him no shorter than 175. That's one of the reasons I suspect Sly didn't lose anything until around 2013 or 2014 and nothing noticeable until 2015. He'd definitely be the type to do exercises like that. Actually, Mel has seemed to adopt a much healthier lifestyle the last 5 years. He regularly lifts weights and works out as you can tell by the size of his arms and he apparently uses growth hormone. He seems to have his alcoholism more under control as well. You notice none of these guys slouched either and still stand well past 60+ so whether it's a case of not slouching because you've avoided back problems or minimizing back problems because you don't slouch (I think it's a combination), this is undoubtedly beneficial as you age.
Editor Rob
Sly held up well till last 5 years...that's an age range 65-70 in which many men will suffer a noticeable bit of height loss.
Rising - 174 cm said on 21/Jun/18
A half inch loss is certainly common by 62, but it's no guarantee. Kurt Russell is 67 now and it's tough to say if he's lost height. Would anyone really expect Mel to measure up worse to Kurt now than he did in 1988?
Click Here Granted, Kurt had at least 1 cm footwear advantage, but I'd still expect them to look about the same these days so is there any clear evidence of Mel being considerably shorter? He can still look 5'9.5"-5'10" at times, such as one event with Wahlberg and whenever he appears with Mario Lopez(even if I'm right that Lopez is 5'8.5" rather than 5'9"). Actually Mel has measured up at least as well to Wahlberg and Lopez recently as Kurt has despite looking shorter than Kurt in the 80's so I'd say any height loss is inconclusive to say the least. Mel's height could always vary as well with his footwear which makes it that much tougher to say he's definitely lost more than a small fraction.
Editor Rob
Kurt certainly held up well, I think some people will do some exercise which maintains a good posture and they don't end up with that curvature in the upper spine that many have.
tree said on 17/Jun/18
Rob didn't he have a current height,5ft9?
If not will he get one soon?He is 62
Editor Rob
I might.
Rising - 174 cm said on 3/Jun/18
@Micky: That makes sense, but I think the full 5'9". Possibly slightly under now. He looked about 5'10" in Payback and I think slightly taller than 5'9"-5'9.5" Gregg Henry. Certainly not shorter. Funny enough, Jodie Foster describes Mel and James Garner as the same height at the end of Maverick(1994), but Garner is at least a couple of inches taller. Garner was also noticeably shorter than an aged James Coburn by that point and Coburn was still over 3" taller than Mel. Alfred Molina towers Mel so much the size difference is mentioned as part of the dialogue and 5'9.5" Geoffrey Lewis is a bit taller than Mel just as he was in The Man Without a Face from the previous year. So Mel can look a legit 5'10" in some movies and barely 5'9" in others.
Micky said on 9/May/18
Maybe just a little under 5'9" is possible, but he's over 5'8".
Micky said on 9/May/18
In person I thought he looked right around 5'9". Not much under that, if any.
cmillzz said on 23/Apr/18
Lol I always thought he was 6 ft for some reason. But it's clear to me now that he's probably more of a classic 5'9 guy.
EthanCouch said on 22/Apr/18
Do you think he could possibly be 5’8 Rob?
Editor Rob
I can't see him that short. Though in another 15 years he will lose height and who knows what he'll look then.
James B 170.8cm said on 10/Apr/18
Rob saw him with danny glover the other night in leathal weapon and at times there didnt look a huge amount between them.
Granted Mels big hairstyle
Editor Rob
He had bigger footwear, which probabl helped...and a bigger hairdo too.
Rising - 174 cm said on 9/Feb/18
Thanks, Rob. That makes more sense because when I rotate it by a couple of degrees, their eye level becomes almost even yet Hopkins still looks near an inch taller. I always thought Hopkins had a pretty big head for his height, but not THAT big. I can see them at the same height much easier now.
Editor Rob
Yeah, Anthony's head looks a bit too big, which means it's likelier he has a slight advantage being closer.
Rising - 174 cm said on 8/Feb/18
@Rob: Can you even out the tilt in this photo?
Click Here
Editor Rob
There might be 2 degrees favour on Anthony's side, but his head seems nearer the camera.
RACHEL said on 4/Feb/18
I find it interesting that in a movie he did with Rene Russo, Ransom, there was a scene in it where he sits on their bed and His Feet Don't even Touch the floor
Junior Hernandez said on 2/Feb/18
Danny Glover aging badly while Gibson maybe losing half inch now def flat 5'9 or less. Peak 5'9.25-9.5".
John Doe said on 1/Feb/18
5'8" I remember seeing Mel in the Flesh when he put his hand print in the cement on Hollywood Blvd back in '93. Was surprised at his short stature. His footwear in the lethal weapon films was some kind of cowboy style boot that had at least 1.5" heel on it. Not to mention his hair gives him a perceived extra inch.
Beej said on 13/Jan/18
Never ever looked more than 5 '8 (and could be shorter).
Rising - 174 cm said on 10/Jan/18
Glover is one of those guys who looks to have shrunk even more than he has because of his posture, but Mel also has footwear and camera advantage there. You can find a video from that event and when Glover stands decently, you can still see he's somewhere between 3-4 inches taller, but still a far cry from the '88 Oscars where Glover towered Mel by 6", or even 2002 when Glover was still towering Mel by more than 5". I don't think Mel has shrunk honestly, or maybe a quarter inch at most. 5'8" is indeed BS, but I still don't see anything over 5'9" unless Kurt Russell was taller than 5'9.25" or wearing lifts in Tequila Sunrise and Anthony Hopkins did not wear lifts in The Bounty so Hopkins would have to have been taller than 5'9" flat back then, which isn't impossible looking at his early films, but I think all 3 men were around 5'9" even with Kurt the tallest.
zoran said on 8/Jan/18
He's only 5'8 so you can get more average after all.
Sandy Cowell said on 7/Jan/18
I really liked what Sigourney Weaver said about Mel, which I only just read now, and that being with Mel on my TV in the film 'Ransom'! I popped along to this page to see what Mel's height is, and from what I see on my telly, he is about as average as you can get! There are loads upon loads of actors to compare him to; I thought that should be mentioned!
After reading what Sigourney said about him, I am very much doubting that his shoes are build-ups. I will, in fact, give him 5ft9 in his stockinged feet, and you can't get more average than that!
The Shredder said on 4/Jan/18
If he was 5'8 in his prime than Glover was barely 6'2.
Tamberlain said on 1/Jan/18
5'8", max. Even in his prime.
Tamberlain said on 1/Jan/18
Really doubt he's over 5'8", even peak.
Rare big miss by Rob.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 22/Dec/17
5ft7 is plain ridiculous...
Rising - 174 cm said on 16/Dec/17
Not that movie heights mean anything, but his listed height and weight in 'Get the Gringo' were 5'9" and 185 lbs., which imo, seems completely spot on.
As for shoes for Daddy's Home, yeah, he had some pretty thick boots:
Click Here Rob guessed them 1.3" range, but I also believe he has about an inch lift in them. But he's still taller than 5'8". If you look at Mel through the years, he's been consistently taller than guys around 5'8". Whether Downey, Sinise and Joaquin Phoenix years ago or Marky Mark more recently. Not a lot taller, but obviously taller. Mel has good posture, reportedly uses HGH and almost certainly does Testosterone replacement Therapy, so despite some of the hard-drinking over the years, I think he's more fit than many 60 year olds and holds himself better. His arms are a lot bigger than they were in his 20s.
jjj said on 12/Dec/17
Looks a tad taller than Mark Walhberg in Daddy's home 2 give the shoes he wears, so I would probably say a strong 5'8. He was probably 5'9 in his younger days though.
Hijopotamus said on 9/Dec/17
Rob, friends, I brought this up some time ago
Click Here
Is Mel taller than George? Anyone can spot what shoes they wear? Who has an advantage show speaking? Golf shoes?
Editor Rob
I would say Mel looked shorter than George.
Rising - 174 cm said on 22/Nov/17
Depends on how tall you think Wesley Snipes since in 0.6" Converse, Snipes was just barely shorter than Mel in 1.25"
New Balance 3 years ago on video and I mean definitely less than an inch shorter with at least a half inch less footwear. At the same time, Mel was not taller than Sly 3 years ago on video at Cannes red carpet with both in dress shoes. I have Sly at either 5'8.5" or 5'8.75" for 2014, so it's possible for Mel as you can also say Garfield at 2 inches taller isn't impossible at Venice with footwear difference. But even with footwear advantage, he looks taller than that with Tom Hardy and
Mark Wahlberg, unless he had an extra lift inside or both are shorter than believed.
The Shredder said on 21/Nov/17
5'9 peak , 5'8.5 , 5'8.75 now is what I see.
Rising - 174 cm said on 18/Nov/17
In Bird on a Wire, I believe Mel Gibson is barefoot during at least one scene with Goldie Hawn in the bathroom and Goldie had a pretty average sort of woman's heel. There wasn't much difference between the two at that point. Later, Mel changes from hiking boots to cowboy boots, iirc and at that point seems perhaps as much as 2" taller than Goldie in typical woman's heels, but certainly no more. You can tell David Carradine was significantly taller than Gibson(wearing hiking boots) early in the film, but you can't see a precise difference, except for maybe if you pause the film. Going back to Mel's early career, I'd say he was slightly taller than his Gallipoli co-star Mark Lee, but his height is unknown. I would say Mel gives the impression of a fairly thin 5'9" guy in it. It'd seem even more that the 5'8" stuff is BS, but definitely not near 5'10" either. Neither short nor tall.
Grit said on 14/Nov/17
5'9" seems about right
Rising - 174 cm said on 9/Nov/17
@Canson: Agree 100%. Not much less than 5'9" as he's taller than guys around 5'8", but can't ever have been much more than 5'9", imo without cowboy boots or lifts as he was shorter than a number of known 5'9"-5'9.5" guys.
Canson said on 8/Nov/17
I doubt he’s much less than 5’9 today maybe 5’8.75. Peak 5’9
Rising - 174 cm said on 28/Oct/17
He doesn't need one until it can be shown clearly he's shrunk at least a half inch. I don't believe that's been shown at all considering I've yet to see Mel look shorter than he did in the 80's when Anthony Hopkins honestly looked taller to me and Kurt Russell was clearly taller. Rob has said he's not sure if Mel was always just 5'9" or if he was 5'9.5" and dropped a half inch. Personally, I believe Mel may have lost 1/4", but I'd be surprised if he lost any more than that.
Junior said on 27/Oct/17
Gibson need a current height now. 5'9 a shout i guess.
Rising - 174 cm said on 14/Oct/17
@Anonymous: Around that, but just under is possible. Again, I don't think he was ever above 5'9" flat so 1/4" loss is possible. He can look a weak 5'9" with Andrew Garfield in Venice or with Wesley Snipes at Cannes a few years ago.
Anonymous said on 13/Oct/17
Mel is at least 5'9 flat still.
Rising - 174 cm said on 13/Oct/17
Thanks, Rob. Though I should have phrased that better in that I really only meant the one new quote where Sigourney says "I'm sure I'm a couple of inches taller than Mel" in conjunction with the quotes you added a while back to this page with Mel saying he's 5'10" and she's 6'1" and Sigourney saying she's 5'11" and Mel is 5'9". I had deduced that both of them must have been under the impression that the difference was at least 2 inches as the common denominator with the varying figures is both state a difference of at least 2" in all 3 quotes. Of course, you answered my question sufficiently anyway so it's a moot point.
I wasn't referring to Sigourney at 5'10.5", but that is puzzling to me as well because rounding down from say 5'11.5" to 5'11" doesn't seem unusual, but from 5'11" to 5'10.5" does. Is there really a chance she was that?
So if 5'9" flat is your minimum and 5'9.5" is your max, do you think 5'9.25" would be the most probable listing from your standpoint? It's not so much that I'm guessing 5'9.25" as I believe Mel isn't above 5'9" for more or less the same reason I believe Mario Lopez isn't above 5'8.5", but I was curious if when you have someone narrowed down to a half inch range, you list the person at the average, though of course, when you guess someone within a quarter inch range like Renner or Yeun, there isn't an average to choose from. Unless, of course, celebheights will enter into a new era of eighth inches! Ignoring the absurdity of that for a second, it would have been amusing if that were the case as Glenn would have seen himself downgraded from 5'6.6" to 5'6.5" once the stadiometer error was discovered. Naturally, he'd have deduced you were in on the conspiracy to keep important truths from people such as Glenn being 5'8" and Hitler and Big Foot being alive and well in Argentina. ;)