How tall was Melvyn Douglas

Gerald S said on 10/May/23
Rob, could you please add Being There and Hotel to Douglas’ credits?

Douglas looked 5’11” range in Being There, aged 78, making it hard to believe 6’1.5” peak. However, Douglas often did seem to clear 6’1” in his earlier career, until about the time of Hotel. Douglas did have at least 2cm on Cary Grant in the 1940s.

Miss Sandy Cowell said on 17/Jun/22
I remembered Melvyn’s face from his movie called, simply, ‘Ghost Story’, in which he starred with Fred Astaire and Alice Krige. I saw this on the big screen in 1981, and Melvyn was definitely one of the taller gentlemen paying the price for a tragic drunken antic that he and his ghost story obsessed buddies had experienced as youngsters, and tried very hard to wipe from memory, so terrible was the incident.

Tonight I recognized him instantly while watching him star alongside another great actor, the late George C Scott, in the movie ‘The Changeling’. I had a bit of a disturbed viewing because I kept having to pause the film as I was worried about my eldest orange cat, Pixie, but he’s in now, full of food and sitting on my lap! 🐈👌🏼

Furthermore, I’m quite delighted to have discovered that Illeana Douglas is Melvyn’s daughter. It makes sense that she inherited her tall height from her Dad.

6ft1.75. 🕯

Deleven said on 3/Jun/17
Just saw Being There (Melvyn won an oscar for his role in it) where he was in his late 70s and he stood next to 5'8" Peter Sellers and they looked the same height! Did he really lose over 5 inches by then :0

Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 27/Sep/16
Could pull off 6ft2 at times. This looks good

jtm said on 27/Sep/16
he was at least 2 inches shorter than gene Hackman in I never sang for my father. he was in his late 60s so he most likely lost height but this supports the 6'2 for Hackman.

Arch Stanton said on 28/Feb/15
Looks near an inch taller than Bob Mitchum in My Forbidden Past, perhaps 2 cm is OK, but in some scenes I thought he could look the full 6'2" in comparison

Sam said on 3/Nov/14
Still charismatic and compelling as a balding older man in Hud and subsequent films.

Jake: 1.84 m- 1.85 m said on 30/Oct/14
Terrific character actor he was. 6ft 1.5in/1.87 m for sure!

Arch Stanton said on 30/Oct/14
Ah yes Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House that's right, sorry duh!!

Arch Stanton said on 30/Oct/14
Ah I'm getting it mixed up with Gunga Din!! Another "exotic" film from 1939. I could have sworn he and Cary Grant were in something together though.

Gonzalo said on 30/Oct/14
I didn´t see Cary Grant in Ninotchka. They worked together in Mr. Blandings builds his dream house. Douglas was a bit taller than Grant. And Douglas was very close in height to Gregory Peck in The Great Sinner. 1`87 for Douglas seems accurate.

Sam said on 29/Oct/14
Arch, did you know he was Illeana Douglas's grandfather? Like that other famous Douglas family in Hollywood, they were actually Russian Jewish and Douglas is just a pseudonym. The only true Douglas in Hollywood is, wait for it...Michael Keaton.

Sam said on 29/Oct/14
I don't remember Cary Grant being in Ninothcka (although I just read he was the first choice for the part) but they were in Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House together and, it's true, Douglas had an edge on Grant. Click Here

Sam said on 28/Oct/14
Thanks...another excellent picture.

The guy was clearly in the more six foot range. Besides the photos on the request page, with the Old Dark House cast:
w/ Charles Laughton he's clearly got him by several inches:
Click Here
And was close to Raymond Massey's height but may have had a slight edge in even shots:
Click Here

Arch Stanton said on 28/Oct/14
Seems about right, I could believe the full 6'2", he edged Cary Grant out in Ninotchka. He looked pretty tall in Captains Courageous too.