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I’m a relatively short girl. To make myself feel better, I have a lovely collection of heels, I only hang out with people shorter than me (5′2″ and under) and I write lists and lists of famous short people. OK, I’m lying. I do have lots of pretty shoes, but this is my first short people list.
Disclaimer: I’m not including people who were actually diagnosed with dwarfism or growth hormone deficiency, just short people.
10 Famous Short People
1. James Madison, 5′4″ (Shortest President ever. He only weighed about 100 pounds.)
2. Charlotte Bronte – 4′9″
3. Charlie Manson – 5′2″ (Who knew such a little guy could be so terrifying?)
4. Danny DeVito – 5′0″
5. John Keats – 5′ and ¾ an inch
6. Edith Piaf – 4′8″
7. St. Francis of Assisi – 5′1″
8. Pablo Picasso – 5′4″
9. Alexander Pope – 4′6″ (Pope had tuberculosis which stunted his growth.)
10. Martin Scorsese – 5′3″ or 5′4″ (Sources vary.)
Comments (27)
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I’m glad to know that I’m as short as Danny DeVito. :)
posted by Alex on 7-16-2008 at 3:17 pm
It’d be nice to know I’d look these people in the eye or actually be taller than them. Danny DeVito and I could be buddies.
And Alex, it’s nice to see other short people who love the floss.
posted by Tricia on 7-16-2008 at 3:22 pm
What about Davy Jones? He’s 5′3 and I’m probably one of the few women who literally look up to him! ;-)
posted by beth on 7-16-2008 at 3:34 pm
What we short people lack in being able to see at concerts (does anyone else get stuck behind a basketball team EVERY TIME?), we make up for in panache!
posted by Kate on 7-16-2008 at 3:36 pm
Wow. I’m 5′4″…and now I feel like a giant. Thanks, Stacy! :)
posted by Ashley on 7-16-2008 at 3:38 pm
Don’t forget Prince… He’s only 5′2″.
posted by stuart on 7-16-2008 at 3:47 pm
my mom is 4′10″ and my dad is 5′3″…how I ended up being 5′4″ is baffling to me.
What they lack in height, they make up in pure spunk though.
Huzzah for short people!
posted by Laura on 7-16-2008 at 3:51 pm
Oh yeah… And Kylie Minogue is 5′1/4″
posted by stuart on 7-16-2008 at 3:53 pm
I don’t feel tall – but feel in great company at 5′1 when I stretch!
posted by Sara on 7-16-2008 at 4:11 pm
Shirley Temple, 5′2″
Emmanuel Lewis (Webster) 4′3″
Gary Coleman 4′8″
posted by Dave on 7-16-2008 at 4:34 pm
Dynamite comes in small packages! ;)
posted by Dawn on 7-16-2008 at 4:38 pm
Silly English System… I don´t get any of the measurements, to me it all sounds short when you say “I’m 8″… Well, I’m 176, what about it!
posted by Carlos Mal on 7-16-2008 at 5:04 pm
I feel tall. %’6″ baby!
posted by Alice on 7-16-2008 at 5:45 pm
No Napoleon or Hitler? Where’s the love for the despots?
posted by Jamie on 7-16-2008 at 5:57 pm
Wow! I feel better about my height – or lack thereof – knowing that:
I am taller than both Alexander Pope and Edith Piaf (if it it’s only by 1/2 an in of the latter)
and that Charlotte Bronte only beats me by said 1/2 in.
Let us also not forget Paul Williams – 5′ 2″!
posted by Amy on 7-16-2008 at 7:22 pm
everyone knows Spud Webb, how is he not on this list?
posted by bill gates on 7-16-2008 at 9:11 pm
Add every one of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts to that list. They picked small guys to go in those capsules. I saw a display of one of the suits that had been worn to walk on the moon, on a raised platform with boots and helmet it was still a bit shorter than me (6′3″)
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 7-16-2008 at 11:23 pm
Now I feel tall! And at 5′3″, that doesn’t happen often.
posted by Miss Cellania on 7-17-2008 at 1:35 am
Beethoven was 5′2″.
“score rental”
posted by Emily S S on 7-17-2008 at 1:35 am
Concerning height, I hold two rather unusual records in my high school graduating class. I was the shortest person at graduation, at 5′8″.
I was a rather late bloomer, so I got my growth spurt after I graduated high school. At the reunion, I was the tallest person there – 6′3″ (OK, there were 3 of us who were 6′3″, but still . . .). Yeah, that shocked a few people.
posted by gmsc on 7-17-2008 at 2:57 am
I’m pretty sure Dolly Parton is 5′0″ (that’s why she always wears heels).
Pope also had that hunchback, so who knows how tall he really would be.
I’ve also heard that Napoleon was average height for a man of his time; can anyone else confirm that?
Oh, and I’m a happy 5′3″. I was the tallest girl in my class in 7th grade–that didn’t last long!
posted by Lynn on 7-17-2008 at 8:34 am
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: 5′1″
posted by airship on 7-17-2008 at 9:36 am
I read Latrec was 4′11″. Also read that Napoleon was 5′ 6 1/2″
posted by Adam on 7-17-2008 at 12:40 pm
Napoleon was average height for a French-man of the time and he was 5′7″
posted by Emily on 7-17-2008 at 12:51 pm
I think Danny DeVito is exaggerating. I’m 5′ tall, and I think he must be shorter.
posted by Sally on 7-17-2008 at 12:52 pm
I’v heard that Napoleon was about 5′7″ and yes that was about average for then.
As for the Mercury astronauts, they weren’t reall short. Most of them were about 5′9″. I’m 5′4″ so I don’t think they are short. They were all test pilots so you needed to be of a average stature to fit in the aircraft.
posted by Bill on 7-17-2008 at 2:26 pm
Great list, Stacy. I’m 5′4″ and have grown used to most adults being at least somewhat taller than I am. When I pass someone shorter,[WARNING: SEXIST REMARK AHEAD] particularly another guy, it throws off my orientation, my sense of how the world is. I mean, what if we were to converse — am I supposed to look DOWN at him???
Anyway, to add to the club, I believe Paul Simon and Al Pacino are about 5′4″ also.
And for our metric friends, 1 inch = 2.54 cm…. I foot = 30.48 cm…
And I, apparently, am 1.62 meters tall.
posted by David H. on 7-23-2008 at 10:57 am