How tall is Joel McCrea

Joel McCrea's Height

6ft 2 ½ (189.2 cm)

American actor best remembered for roles in films The Palm Beach Story, Sullivan's Travels, Ride the High Country, Buffalo Bill, The Most Dangerous Game, Come and Get It, The Palm Beach Story, The More the Merrier, Colorado Territory and Foreign Correspondent. I read in a Goldwyn biography Joel described as "strapping 6ft 2". In Virginian he looked a bit shorter than Sonny Tufts. Joel himself said of his height, "It was still an era of medium-sized heroes and, at Six-Foot-Three, I looked like the community flagpole"

Joel McCrea - publicity

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Add a Comment39 comments

Average Guess (9 Votes)
6ft 2.19in (188.5cm)
Arch Stanton said on 31/Aug/23
The average guess is too low. 6'2.5 is the lowest I think you can argue. His son, Jody McCrea also listed at 6 ft 3 actually looks a bit shorter than him here: Click Here I thought Jody could look 6 ft 3 in the Young Guns of Texas, but was wearing boots.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 1/Mar/22
I agree with Arch, similar range to Heston.
Asa said on 14/Feb/21
Probably weak 6'3", most likely strong 6'2" 1/2 easily but military papers listed his as 6'3".
Tall Sam said on 25/Oct/20
You could argue he could look shorter like 6'2" but seeing him in Sullivan's Travels with Veronica Lake and crowds of extras, he looked towering quite a lot, surely not less than listing.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 24/Oct/20
When he was younger he looked like a tall Michael J. Fox...
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 16/Mar/18
Under 6ft2 is laughable
Lkk said on 15/Mar/18
Looked like a strong 6'2.75 at his best.
Arch Stanton said on 15/Apr/17
What idiot voted like 6'1? No chance of him being under 6'2.
Arch Stanton said on 15/Apr/17
Similar peak height to Charlton Heston, can also look 190.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 6/Mar/15
189cm is spot on. Could look both 6ft2 and 6ft3 at times.
Jake: 1.84 m- 1.85 m said on 19/Jan/15
I too am an incredibly devoted film-lover! Arch, you and I have a similarly high appreciation I'd say. Here was a terrific screen star (McCrea), and he did look at least 6ft 2in. I just saw Peckinpah's 'Ride the High Country' and it was superb! 9.4/10 for me.
Shadow2 said on 3/Dec/14
In the 1950 western "The Outriders", Joel had the height edge on 6' 2" Barry Sullivan throughout the movie. He certainly appeared very close to 6' 3" during his career.
Min said on 24/Sep/14
Hitchcock deliberately surrounded McCrea with short actors in "Foreign Correspondant" so he would look even taller.
Sam said on 23/Sep/14
Could you add to his credits: The Most Dangerous Game, Come and Get It, The Palm Beach Story, and The More the Merrier. He was in quite a good number of true classics.
Arch Stanton said on 16/May/14
Yeah he was a wee bit shorter than Sanders about 2 cm looks right but they were very close.
Arch Stanton said on 16/May/14
Minimum this in Foreign Correspondent. Head taller than most people in it.
Gonzalo said on 26/Feb/14
Great actor. In Ride the high country he looked taller than Randolph Scott. However he looked shorter than George Sanders in Foreign correspondent. I guess 1`89 for him is accurate.
Arch Stanton, I am also in my thirties (well, just about finishing that decade) and I am also a fan of classic movies. Palm beach story is an amazing movie
Arch Stanton said on 9/Feb/14
Sam I saw Nebraska recently and I thought what a blessing it was that film was shot in black and white!! When I was younger I used to find black and white films a bore, but especially for things like film noir I think it actually makes the films look more stylish if a good contrast and high quality. It's an acquired taste I think, I can tell you're also experienced.
Arch Stanton said on 9/Feb/14
Well Sam we're both in our 30s and share the same interest in great films!! Have you got the 1001 movies book? It's the best book ever! Strongly recommend. I've only seen about a third of them at the moment, it's got like tons of obscure Japanese and world cinema ones aside from the American and British ones which is why my view rate is currently only about 1 in 3. I'm steadily going through it! It's rather like a huge box of chocolates with 1001 different flavours!

McCrea is looking about this in Sullivan's Travels, Preston Sturges I failed to mention on Kubrick's page, he was a great director too.
Sam said on 30/Jan/14
Agreed, Arch. I'm the only guy I know in my 30s who has a taste for older films. I think it's a shame that a lot of people my age and younger will never give much of the greatest cinematic art a chance because they can't stand films in black & white or that lacks ADD pacing & overdone special-effects.
Arch Stanton said on 29/Jan/14
Always good to see somebody Sam who shares my interest in classic films and actors. You're a man of taste!
Sam said on 29/Jan/14
Yes, I was aware of that. The More the Merrier was also not a Sturges film (Preston, not John obviously)...I was just naming my favorite McCrea joints separately. Of his two Sturges movies, Sullivan's Travels is both Preston Sturges and Joel McCrea's best film. I enjoy The Palm Beach Story but it's not quite as great IMO.
Arch Stanton said on 27/Jan/14
Ride the High Country was Peckinpah, not Sturges Sam, you should know that him sharing your name! Peckinpah directed some awesome films.
Arch Stanton said on 27/Jan/14
190 is quite possible, but I think 189 is just about OK. Funny he should say that though, to me it seemed that era had more big actors than mainstream films have today, there were lots of actors bigger than him, see the list on John Wayne's page!
Arch Stanton said on 27/Jan/14
Rob can you correct, the film was The Palm Beach Story not country...
Arch Stanton said on 27/Jan/14
Definitely looks minimum this in The Palm Beach Story, leaning more on weak 6'3" than 6'2", I think 6'2.5" is spot on, he looked the same sort of height and build as Charlton Heston. 6'1" is absolute rubbish Patton..
Sam said on 14/Nov/13
One of my favorite underrated actors of his day...he had the chops to be a bigger star than he was but it never panned. At any rate, he was excellent in his Preston Sturges movies, The More the Merrier and Ride the High Country.
Patton said on 4/Mar/13
Joel was 6'1''
Mr. Kaplan said on 26/Jan/11
Close to Peter Graves in height in "Wichita".
m said on 22/Dec/10
in Ride the High Country easy 6'2 and he was getting older so most likely 6'3 in his prime.
Gonzalo said on 6/Jul/09
He is taller than Randolph Scott in Ride the high country. I see him more at 6`3 as he was listed here for a while.
Great actor who starred in a bunch of masterpieces.
adam said on 11/Jan/09
Wasn`t he shorter than George Sanders?
Bob H. said on 31/Aug/08
In "Foreign Correspondent" he lookes George Samders squarely in the eye in all sceens. In "Fort Massacre" he does the same with Forrest Tucker. Both those actors were tall, about 6'4". I'd have to say McCrea was 'ABOUT' 6'4".
Anonymous said on 10/Jul/06
I've read 6'4'' for McCrea, he always looks very big on film. No way was he less than a full 6'3''.
Frank2 said on 25/Apr/06
McCrea was a fine actor. In some ways he was much better than Gary Cooper, an actor who played similar roles and closer to the abilities of Jimmy Stewart who I feel was one of the very finest of all the film actors of his day. Stewart was rarely matched. Only Spencer Tracy immediately comes to mind. And I'm speaking of the ability of an actor not to show their craft, but appear totally natural. McCrea was one of those actors.
Gonzalo said on 24/Apr/06
McCrea was taller than 1`89cm. I agree with Frank2 and his comments. McCrea was also a good actor. Don`t miss his movies with Preston Sturges
Mikex said on 21/Apr/06
Always looked 6'3'' at least. Genuinely tall guy.
Cliff said on 20/Apr/06
All I know, is that it was seeing him stand next to Veronica Lake in "Sullivan's Travels" that convinced me that she was definitely under five feet tall.
Frank2 said on 20/Apr/06
McCrea was about 6'3".

Here's McCrea with George Sanders: Click Here
Sanders was at least 6'3".

McCrea was taller that Randolph Scott in Ride the High Country.

Here's McCrea with David Niven who was supposedly 6': Click Here
The shot is angled to make Niven look taller. Slightly rotate it and you'll see that Joel is at least three inches taller.

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