Dane Youssef says on 20/Feb/10
by Dane Youssef

Shirley MacLaine is one of my favorites in the business. I have liked her from the longest time. She's so... elaborate and strange. She does so much and so often. She's danced on Broadway. She's acted in countless Oscar-caliber films. She always bring compassion and humanity to every single role she does. Because she doesn't seem like a true movie star.


She has a way that seems natural. She loves to perform. But she's not really a prima donna.


As a little girl, she had very weak ankles would fall over if she so much as misstepped in the slightest. So at the twee age of tres, her mother put here in ballet class. In an instant, it was her life goal.


But after an injury she realized that the ballet was "too stifling." She wasn't allowed to speak onstage or do too much outside the box. And in ballet, in a way--you kind of have to be born to do it. She never had the exact body type for it. She claimed that she didn't have what they considered the "beautifully constructed" ideal ballet feet (incredibly high arches and insteps). So she took off her ballet tights and slippers, bowed out... and said her last curtain call...


She decided not to pursue a professional career in the ballet. Not only because of her towering height--a whopping 5'7", she stood eye-to-eye with Mikhail Baryshnikov. They had the best rapport when working together. Since Shirley herself has had ballet training (from three to her teens), she even made it all the way to taking pointe and performing it onstage--they spent a lot of time discussing what ballet did for you--physically, emotionally and spiritually. MacLaine herself is very spiritual and has even cranked out books on the damn subject.


When she got her big comeback in 1977 "The Turning Point," it was so cathartic for her. It not only revitalized her entire career, it was like going back to the well. And seeing her alternate life, what might have been. MacLaine once said if she had given up on her life-long goal, she believed that "Turning Point" was a look about what her life might have been...

by Dane Youssef

boswell says on 12/Sep/09
I don't know if we are allowed to revise our comments but on thinking it over I would put Ms. MacLaine's height at about 5'6". I know she's shorter than 5'7". The conversation referred to in my previous post was a little odd and that might have colored my memory. To give her her due, one must acknowledge that she is very intelligent, very talented and worked with the biggest names in show business. Sometimes my job puts me at odds with people like that.

boswell says on 22/May/09
I'm going against the trend on this one but I have spoken to Shirley McLaine face to face for about ten minutes and there is no way that she is 5' 7" tall. Sorry. I'm 5' 8" and I was looking well down when speaking to her. Before reading the other entries here and while searching for her, I had the figure 5' 3" in the back of my mind. Maybe she's 5' 4". I know she's not 5' 7". My two cents worth.

talker says on 1/Apr/09
Shirley was probably 5'7"but Anita Ekberg looked 2" taller next to her in the movie Woman times seven.Anita must have been 5'9" at the time.

Mr. R says on 3/Oct/08
Shirley was supposed to be at The AFI salute, but I am not sure if she came or not.

Jackie says on 12/Sep/07
A famous statement by Shirley from as far back as the sixties was that she was not deemed suitable
to continue her ballet career because she was 5'7" and 6 feet flat "en pointe", and she would tower
over the male dancers. She's now 73, so she may have lost some of her height.
Click Here

richinkle says on 31/Oct/06
I just saw a great youtube video clip of Shirley MacLaine dancing with Lucille Ball in a tv special from 1976 called "Gypsy in My Soul". Click Here In it they stand and dance side by side for about 5 minutes. Shirley is 39, Lucy is 64. In it, they look nearly identical in height, except I give a slight edge to Lucy by about 1/2". If Shirley was 5'-7" in her prime, Lucy was at least 5'-7 1/2" in hers, and maintained that height well into her 60's.

Frank2 says on 2/Mar/06
Shirley was five seven when she was younger. Jennifer Aniston is about five four. She also has an ugly nose that in person is even uglier! What Brad Pitt saw in her is beyond me.

Jessica says on 31/Jan/06
I have to agree with gyllenhaalic823--
Shirley is NO 5'5"! I know people tend to shrink as they get older, but she's held up considerably well, both in looks and in height. She can't be that much shorter than 5'7" today.

gyllenhaalic823 says on 23/Dec/05
if shirley is 5'5.5" then jennifer aniston should DEFINETELY be downgraded to 5'4" or less. shirley is considerably taller than her in Rumor Has It!