How tall was Gene Barry

gerald chadwick said on 9/Jan/21
Gene was 5'9" in height. But he so wanted to be 6' tall. Watch him panic in scenes with actors taller than him.

Rich Paul said on 8/Oct/18
Barry height has always puzzled me. He looked a solid six feet in Burke’s Law. Then when he co-starred with Peter Barton in the not so hot updated version from the 1990s he was shorter than actors listed as being six feet. He was a good five to six inches shorter than 6’4’’ James Brokin. Gene was well into his 70’s. Brolin was in his 50’s. Gene could have lost some height. What’s also puzzling is Peter Barton’s height is listed at being 5’9’’ max. He looks taller in that series. Lifts? And here’s another puzzling fact. People who worked with Barry on the original Burke’s Law claimed he wore lifts, that in reality he was around 5’10’ max. I checked Thunder Road after reading a prior comment Gene was shorter than Robert Mitchum. He sure was! At least by two inches.

Jack Yan said on 15/Mar/18
Schell’s exact words in the documentary that Greg and borntrip reference below: ‘I’m fairly tall, I’m over 5 ft 7, and he was maybe only two inches taller than I was.’ Take from that what you will. Damon probably was 6 ft 3 in, if you see him guest-starring in The Saint alongside Roger Moore (reputed to be 6 ft 2 in). Schell also claimed Barry’s publicity stated he was 6 ft 2 in, which she thought was untrue. I acknowledge and believe what Frank2 states below, but I wonder if he met Barry earlier, when he probably was taller.

borntrip said on 25/Oct/17
greg is right to take that interview as a reference...but schell says that she was fairly taller than 5.7 and that gene barry was max. 2 inches taller than her... so, 5 11.25 would be a good guess, also considering his hysterical reaction to his -would be- co star stuart damon who claims to be about 6.3 tall...

Jake: 1.84 m- 1.85 m said on 24/May/15
He looked tall in 'the War of the Worlds'.

Steve said on 21/Jan/15
He appeared to be two inches shorter than 6'1" Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road.

gregory lehmann said on 17/May/11
Here again,though,the November 24 "Bat Masterson" episode with the Sugar Smacks commercial did have two cough syrup commercials with coughing women.One was for Vicks Formula 44 cough disks.In this commercial,the coughing woman had a bad chest/head cold,but she had a hacking cough,which the Formula 44 cough disk calmed after she took it.In the other one,the coughing woman had the flu and bronchitis,which calmed down after she took Vicks Formula 44-D for her nagging bronchial cough spasm.

gregory lehmann said on 16/May/11
Liked him on "Bat Masterson," even last Nov.24 catching an old Kellogg's Sugar Smacks commercial in which Quick Draw Mc.Graw said,"Must be one of them Washington Redskins!"

Ian Fawn-Meade said on 16/Dec/10
Gene was just 6 feet tall. I worked with him in the sixties and again in the eighties..it was his ears that drove him nuts. "Dont shoot both ears", this was his mantra, and he wanted to re-voice everything so he could use the lowest possible register in his voice, close to the mike, almost sotto voce. No way you could shoot with it that close without seeing the boom shadow.

DrakeJ. said on 2/May/06
Gene Barry was 5'10.5 in his prime! See picture below with Barry and Barton.
So john saxon was a lot shorter than 5'10.5 you have him listed at.

Frank2 said on 18/Apr/06
A driver's license means nothing. Many people list optimistic heights and get away with it since most DMVs do not check it. In fact the people at my DMV are so brain-dead I could be 5'2", put down 6' and they wouldn't blink an eye. Something to do with having a job where it's almost impossible to be fired.

Tiger said on 18/Apr/06
See the Elvis page. I have referenced 2 new books, 'The King', which has a copy of Elvis' 'Report of Discharge or Transfer' (states 6-0 1/2),which I referenced on 3/24/06. 'Elvis: The Personal Archives' has Elvis' army driver's license (states 6-0), which I referenced on 4/9/06. 'The King' is available at Barnes and Noble and Border's and I purchased 'The Personal Archives' through the Graceland catalog. I have been asked to post them to the site, but I do not have a scanner, nor a digital camera. I am still trying to see what I can do there.

Frank2 said on 18/Apr/06
George Segal with Gene Barry: Click Here
George is perhaps 5'10" to 5"10.5". Go to Segal's thread and notice him next to me taken back in 1977.

Frank2 said on 18/Apr/06
Well, when I met Barry he was only slightly taller than me, about the same difference as when I met Elvis. And Peter Falk never stands up straight. I saw Peter for years when I worked at Universal. Sometimes he looked like he was 5'3" from being so slouched. I could always tell where he was in the editing building since he smoked the foulest smelling cigars imaginable. Back then almost everyone smoked and smoked indoors, but Peter's cigars were strong enough to blanket all the other odors.

And I'd like to see Elvis's recorded height while in the army. Do you know where I can see the official document?

Tiger said on 17/Apr/06
Elvis was certainly measured in the army standing up (twice!) and is recorded at 6-0 1/2. All the photo of Barry and Elvis illustrates to me is that Barry was, at his peak, 6 feet and maybe a hair more. He definitely looks like a 6-footer against Peter Falk! The comment about Barry wearing lifts from someone he didn't get along with: yeah, that's not tainted! :) Frank2: you go down by a 1/4 of an inch at bedtime? Wow, that is similar to me! I lost 3/8 of an inch at bedtime, a hair more than a 1/4!

Frank2 said on 17/Apr/06
Gene and Elvis: Click Here

I think Gene lost a few inches by the time of the next photo. Here he is with Hugh O'Brien who's now about my height:
Click Here

5'9" Peter Barton and Gene Barry: Click Here

Barry with 5'6" Peter Falk: Click Here

For what it's worth, Burke's Law co-star Gary Conway who supposedly didn't get along with Barry, claimed that Gene wore lifts to look taller than him. Gary always claimed he was 6'. I met Conway a few years after he was in Burke's law and was surprised to discover he was about my height. Then I met Barry and discovered he was about half an inch taller than me. But when I'm measured I don't try to be as tall as I can. Maybe all these so-called six footers stretch themselves as much as they can when measured. I just stand erect and relaxed. I could probably add a half an inch if I stretched. But that's not how to be properly measured. Also, when recline, the body is longer, sometimes by an inch. A doctor told me that bit of trivia which is why bodies having autopsies performed sometimes come out being longer than when the person was alive and standing up. Maybe Elvis was measured on a bed or after he died!

Frank2 said on 17/Apr/06
I lose about a quarter of an inch by the time I retire to bed.

Tiger said on 17/Apr/06
Rob: when one performs that measuring experiment, isn't one supposed to be taller in the morning? The last time I did that, I was 6-1 1/4 out of bed in the morning and 6-0 7/8 in bed at night.

Frank2 said on 17/Apr/06
Gene was just shy of six feet. I met him and he wasn't hardly that much taller than me. But Rob just emailed me after I sent him a few more shots of me with various people and he suggested that I re-measure myself.....at night!

Tiger said on 16/Apr/06
'Movie Encyclopedia' and 'Hooray for Hollywood', both of which are movie/tv references, state Barry's height as 6-0.

TV Guide (February 1964): an article about Barry's TV show 'Burke's Law', in its first season, describes Gene as "... the handsome, 6-0 star of Burke's Law"