At 6-foot-7, "Gunsmoke" star James Arness, who died last week,was the most elevated actor who ever became a major leading man -despite being forced to literally look down upon his Dodge Cityunderlings.
Over at the Longbranch Saloon, poor Miss Kitty was forced to gazea full foot (and one inch) skyward, week in and week out over theshow's 20-year run.
That's a lot of bent-neck time logged, folks.
The legend goes that Marshal Dillon's mentor, John Wayne -cowering in Arness' shadow at a mere 6-foot-4 - advised his protg toseek employment on the small screen, where his near-record heightwouldn't seem quite the freakish liability.
That's because, in the pre-high-def era, the small screenautomatically cut everyone down to size.
Indeed, when "Gunsmoke" premiered in 1955, the average cathoderay tube measured a whopping 14 inches, maxing out at around 17.Even the Jolly Green Giant was turned Lilliputian.
If you check out the several movies that Wayne and Arness madetogether, it does seem odd to see the Duke looking somehowdiminished in stature.
The big showcase for the differential is 1952's delirious Redscare opus, "Big Jim McLain," playing a duo of federal agentsrouting a nest of Commies in Hawaii - Wayne (as the titular Big Jim)never looked less intimidating and even gets the jelly knocked outof him in one fracas; Arness, meanwhile, doesn't.
Less interested in westerns than monster movies as kids, ourfirst encounter with Arness was as "The Thing," where he played theinfamous "intellectual carrot" retrieved from a crashed UFO at theNorth Pole.
The role demanded little more than the ability to look big andbad, if not exactly intellectually carroty; he did.
Arness' stature was also a factor in his other big '50s sci-fiouting, "Them," in which he battled giant ants just a few feettaller than himself.
(Talk about all in the family: Arness' somewhat shorter - 6-foot-3 -kid bro', Peter Graves, tangled with giant roaches in 1954's"Killers From Space" and giant grasshoppers in 1957's Ford County-set "Beginning of the End.")
As far as other very tall actors who became leading man go, thelist is a very short one, at least per the measurements of anInternet site called "Very Tall Actors."
Some of these giants are well-known, but aren't leading men:David Prowse ("Star Wars" daddy Darth Vader in the original "StarWars" threesome); smarmy motivational speaker Tony Robbins; andformer NFL star Bubba Smith, who found life after pigskin in all six"Police Academy" movies.
Most surprising on the list is character actor James Cromwell("Babe's" kindly farmer), who, at 6-foot-7, is credited as "thetallest actor ever nominated for an Oscar" ("L.A. Confidential").
Reaching higher into the land of colossi: "Night Court's" RichardMoll, 6-8; "Everybody Loves Raymond's" Brad Garrett, 6-8; "TheAddams Family's" Ted Cassidy (Lurch), 6-9; "One Flew Over theCuckoo's Nest's" Will Sampson, 6-9; "Predator's" Kevin Peter Hall, 7-2; "The Spy Who Loved Me's" Richard ("Jaws") Kiel, 7-2; "Star Wars'"Peter ("Chewbacca") Mayhew, 7-2; and, up in the clouds, Lock Martin,Gort the robot in the original "Day the Earth Stood Still," 7-7.
They might be giants ... but only Big Jim was a star.
Dan Craft is Pantagraph entertainment editor. He can be reachedat (309) 829-9000, Ext. 259 or via email at dcraft@pantagraph.com
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