Anonymous says on 10/Apr/08
His Daughter said in her book 'The Long Goodbye' that her father had lost height, that he shrunk from his peak of 6'0 to 5'10

Mr Mayfair says on 15/Dec/07
Six foot tall when a lifeguard and at the start of his film career.
Five eleven when became President, but probably an inch or so shorter when he passed :(

Mike says on 17/Oct/07
Compared to Sunny Bono, who is 1,66cm.
Reagan does not have that much height difference in order to be 6-1.
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Mike says on 12/Oct/07
There is no way on earth that Regan ever could have been 6-1, even in his younger days.
I would give him no more than 5-11 for his presidency time.His slim body type made im appear taller. Maybe he was a maximum of 6' in his prime, but I doubt even that.

Miguel says on 24/Aug/07
Rossano Brazzi was 5-11. I met him in 1958 in Rome at his home, Via Sistina 57 .I took a picture next to him and he was at least 1 inch taller than me (5-10 at that time).

MHouillon says on 14/Jul/07
At the end of his life 5'10 ? Are you crazy ? He never lost 7cm! He was 185cm (6'1) at most and later maybe 181-180cm (5'11.25-5'11).

Paul says on 20/Dec/06
No, Reagan was never 6'3" nor did he claim to be. He did have very good posture and a commanding presence which probably made some think he was bigger than he was. I still maintain that a young Reagan was closer to 6'1". Middle aged at 6' and by the end of his life he was about 5'10".

George H says on 13/Dec/06
The highest I heard for him was 6'1", in his prime. 6'3" is crazy.

Robert says on 12/Dec/06
Reagan can never be 6-3.no way

sleuth says on 4/Dec/06
I know a guy who says he's 6'3" who says he met Reagan and they looked eye-to-eye.

Paul says on 27/Aug/06
In watching some Reagan movies on DVD recently I think he looks like a solid 6 footer, but not much more. There's a long shot of Pat Neal and him walking where she is wearing 2" heels and he only looks a couple of inches taller. Later in the movie there's a close up of the two and the difference is much greater. Perhaps she had taken off her shoes?

He looks a couple inches taller than Robert Cummings who was probably around 5'10" and several inches taller than Pat O'Brien who I'd guess at 5'9" or so at age 40.

Frank2 says on 9/May/06
For what it's worth, I'm watching the film Night Unto Night and Reagan is about an inch taller than 6' Broderick Crawford. I met Crawford twice, once in the late 1960's and later in the late 1970's and he was definitely taller than me by an inch. I used to watch Crawford's TV series Highway Patrol. Crawford was spposedly such a big drunk that they finally pulled his driver's license so the driving he did in that patrol car was the only driving he did, period.

[Editor Rob: I will add Broderick at your estimate!]

Gonzalo says on 8/May/06
I think he was 6`1. I have seen a pic of him and Burt Lancaster and Reagan appeared to be taller

A-Bomb says on 20/Apr/06
Frank2,
Conservative hey. I'd be what you American's coin as a "liberal". However, I've always had a soft spot for Reagan - not the policies mind you, but the person and the icon. I liked Clinton too, but he came across as arrogant too often - Reagan had a very humble approach and his speech giving abilities were spectacular. I'm glad to read from you that he was genuinly friendly. I got the 5'11 height at the time of him taking office from Lou Cannon's "Role of a lifetime", but I hadn't read it for years and only remembered that I came across this height at some time and thought it may have related to that. On rereading it didn't say anything of the sort - it only mentioned that Reagan at 16 was 5'11" (in context of him being a footballer I think).

Frank2 says on 13/Apr/06
When I worked at Fox I was given the job of handling Nancy Reagan coming onto the lot and recording her anti-drug campaign commercial spots for the Kiwanis Club. Since I was almost the lone conservative there they handed me the task of coordinating everything with the Secret Service and with Nancy's assistant. This was after President Reagan left office and had his new office in The Fox Plaza Building (used in Diehard) along with Nancy. I did this a couple of times. Nancy was a wonderful woman. Several years later when I spotted her seated across from me at a restaurant in Beverly Hills I walked over to say hello and to inquire as to how her husband was doing battling that awful Alzheimer's disease. She took my hand and held it the entire time I stood there. I'll never forget it as long as I live. Seeing her bent over her husband's casket during his funeral really tore me up. He was really the light in her life and now it's gone out.

Anyway, right after I handled the logistics of getting her onto the lot for the first recording session I ran into Reagan at of all places the Disney Store located in a mall in Century City. I would occasionally walk to the mall for lunch since it wasn't that far from the studio. I went up to him and we spoke. I told him I had worked with his wife and he was quite grateful saying all sorts of nice complements. We parted and then from time to time I'd see him coming and going from his office at The Plaza since I had business in that building. He was always cheerful and very friendly.

When I met Reagan he was slightly taller than me so I'd say close to 6'. I'm sure he was 6'1" when he was younger. And Bush is definitely 5'11". I have distant relatives who know him and his dad. I've seen photos of him with the husband who's 5'10" and Bush is taller in every shot. I mean just look at how tall he is next to Arnold Shwarzenegger! And Arnold is certainly over 6'. I've met him and he's not the short guy who people some believe wears lifts. No way!

One year I was attending the NAB convention in Las Vegas and got to hear Reagan speak. He was still President then and he gave a spectacular address. He had people standing up and cheering!

Paul says on 12/Apr/06
That's a very interesting photo Frank2. Thanks. I've other photos where Flynn is noticably taller than Reagan. I recall Reagan once said Flynn made himself look taller in an outdoor group shot by kicking some dirt in a pile and then standing on it. Flynn, being the bigger star, probably got extra special boots whenever they appeared in one of their war films together.

If you don't my asking, what were the circumstances of you (Frank2) meeting him after he left office? That must have been quite a thrill. I saw him give a speech (outdoors in blistering heat) when he was 80 and it was remarkable how fit he looked and his voice was clear and strong. It was just a few years later when he gave a speech at his 83rd birthday party that one could tell that he was starting to have problems.

I've only been face to face with one President. That being George W. Bush. Despite claims to the contrary, he is approximately 5'11" no more and not much less. I wasn't close enough to Reagan to get a good estimate, but he was still noticably taller than medium height, but not more than 6 foot either. Then again, he was 80 years old at the time.

[Editor Rob: ah, the old 'kicking dirt in a pile' trick...a classic]

Frank2 says on 14/Mar/06
That's correct. Van Johnson was about 6'2" when he was young. Robert Taylor was no more than 5'10" as you can see in both photos. He's at least five inches shorter than 6'3" Jimmy Stewart. Rossano Brazzi wore huge lifts in all of his films. He was about 5'8". Reagan was at his full height of 6'1" when that photo was taken.

Frank2 says on 26/Feb/06
Nope. I met him after he left office and he was at least six feet. I'm 5' 11" and he was taller than me.

Paul says on 16/Dec/05
In her book about her Dad's declining years ("The Long Goodbye") she wrote that one of the things she noticed the most was that he was shrinking. She noted that he was a 6 footer as a younger man but by his late 80s he was about her size: 5'10".

From pictures I've seen of Reagan as a younger man, he does look like a 6 footer. But he was in his 70s by the time he was President so some shrinkage had probably already taken place.