How tall was W. C. Fields

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 5/May/21
There was a question on The Chase just now which went as follows:-

Who is reputed to have said, "I'm free of all prejudice. I hate everyone equally!"

It was W.C. Fields, of course, and the Beastie Boy got it right, saying it wasn't the sort of thing someone like Oscar Wilde would have said; he was too 'nice'!

I got it right as well, knowing what a rude, but funny guy 🚾 Fields 🚽 was! With initials such as his, it would have been a bit of a waste if he hadn't been so crude....😜

Lovely guy! 😂😂😂

5ft7. 😆🥃🥃🥃

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 20/Apr/20
Slight Correction:-

There should have been a question mark after the inverted commas closed after the quotation.

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 20/Apr/20
There was a funny question on 'The Chase' this morning as to which comedian was reputed to have said, "It was a woman who drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her."

The answer, of course, was WC Fields. I got it straight off, but Mark Labbett said Groucho Marx! 😝

Five Seven.

Sandy Cowell said on 10/Mar/18
An afterthought perhaps would be that, with a name like that, was it inbred into him to have a lavatorial sense of humour?

🚾 Fields!

Sandy Cowell said on 10/Mar/18
"When I was a boy of nine I stumbled across a crate of Bourbon and stumbled around for the next week!"

Actually, I believe him! No wonder he didn't grow terribly tall! 5ft11? My eye! 5ft7 and very funny!

Arch Stanton said on 5/Jan/16
I mean look at his legs here Click Here Very long legs for a 5 ft 7 guy, though his tendency to pull trousers or shorts high accentuated it. He had the legs of a guy near 5 ft 10 and shorter upper body.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Jan/16
He can actually give a bigger impression on screen than Harold Lloyd, but I think his robust build and presence accounted for that. As I say though he looked a bit too long in the leg to have only been 5'7 flat peak IMO.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Jan/16
@Rob I got this guy wrong. I got a 5 ft 6 impression in The Bank Dick but I've seen a lot of his early 30s films of late and he looks too long in the leg IMO to only be 5 ft 7 flat. I've looked at him with some of the actresses and some of the other guys and he could often look comfortable average range actually. I think in younger years he'd have been solid average for his generation. He can look 172 in some films, perhaps 5'7.5 might be reasonable. He did look a bit more than an inch taller than Groucho Click Here I think 5'7.5 might be fairer overall.

rob said on 30/Sep/15
I viewed the big broadcast of 1938,and fields stand,s almost the same height as bob hope,perhaps bob hope is about 5feet eight or five feet nine?

rob said on 21/Mar/15
I say that w.c.fields is about over 5feet 8 inches for I viewed him and jack benny of a photo,for they both stand the exact same height

chief said on 18/Feb/15
reguardless of tall those two happens to be, theyre both comic guiessess

Arch Stanton said on 28/Jan/15
Groucho Marx was 5'5.5-5'6" range Chief, Fields at an inch taller is about right.

Arch Stanton said on 28/Jan/15
5'9 is a joke!

al said on 26/Jan/15
i agree with chief,and viewing w c fields and Margaret Dumont in tales of they both appear the same height. so i say fields is a good 5 feet nine inches

chief said on 25/Jan/15
i view groucho marx and w c fields at a dinner party. I believe fields being about an inch taller than groucho, I think fields stood over 5 feet 8 and not 5 feet seven.

Arch Stanton said on 13/Nov/14
Rob I've found a mention of his height and weight in the Reading Times (Reading, Pennsylvania) dated Friday, October 23, 1936 - Height, 5 feet, 11 inches; weight, 161 pounds; brown hair, blue eyes. LOL 5 ft 11!!!!

Ray said on 5/Nov/14
Fair listing, perhaps a bit above it in his peak (he looks quite a bit taller than 5'6" Groucho Marx in one picture), but around 1940, 5'7" is good.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
Actually you might be right. He actually looks tallish next to some of the people in Pool Shark Click Here LOL. How short is that guy at 8:33 sheesh!! A great little silent that. Can you squeeze it in here Rob? Started watching You're Telling Me! and standing barefoot he's got a good 4 inches on Joan Marsh in boots which probably give 1.5 inches; she was listed at 5 ft 2. Probably a bit less. And he's about 4 inches shorter than Buster Crabbe who was listed at 6ft 1 LOL!! He looks taller in the leg in You're Telling Me than I remembered him in The Bank Dick and Never Give a Sucker.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
Actually you might be right. He actually looks tallish next to some of the people in Pool Shark Click Here LOL. How short is that guy at 8:33 sheesh!! A great little silent that. Can you squeeze it in here Rob? Started watching You're Telling Me! and he's got a good 4 inches on Joan Marsh in boots which probably give 1.5 inches; she was listed at 5 ft 2. Probably a bit less. And he's about 4 inches shorter than Buster Crabbe who was listed at 6ft 1 LOL!! He looks taller in the leg in You're Telling Me than I remembered him in The Bank Dick and Never Give a Sucker.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
Rob can you find a quote for Edmund Breese's height anywhere? In International House he looked a bit taller than Fields. I'm going to try to see a couple more of his films over the next week or two, I might be wrong but I always thought he looked about as a good an example of a stocky 5 ft 6 guy as you can get.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
It's difficult to see Harold Lloyd half an inch taller put it that way. On screen Lloyd looked 1.5- 2inches taller than Fields. I must check out some more Fields comparisons, maybe he was near 5 ft 7 as a young man, by 1940 odd I doubt he'd be near it barefeet.

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
I mean The Bank Dick LOL, W.C. Statham was in The Bank Job :-) You mention You Can't Cheat an Honest Man twice, was that a hidden message related to you and G ;-)?

Arch Stanton said on 5/Nov/14
Rob you've forgotten what I think is his best known film, The Bank Job! I'd be very surprised if he was taller than Balsam!

Sam said on 5/Nov/14
Yeah, he can look a little short like in Arch's photos with Mae West but I think he could have passed for 5'7" with good posture.

Sam said on 5/Nov/14
Thanks, Rob! Could you also add The Bank Dick, The Man on The Flying Trapeze and It's a Gift?

I thought Bank Dick was overrated but Trapeze & Gift were great...maybe his best vehicles.