How tall was Woody Strode

Woody Strode's Height

6ft 4 (193 cm)

American actor, football player and decathlete best remembered for roles in films such as Spartacus, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Professionals, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Sergeant Rutledge. In a 1960 article it mentioned that he still did 200 pushups a day to maintain his 6ft 4 inch frame at a trim weight of 205 pounds. In the book 'Goal Dust' Woody mentioned his height, saying "Kirk is only five-feet-seven or eight, I'm six-four, so I had to crouch down to make it look like a fair fight."

La mala ordina Strode (cropped)

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Add a Comment28 comments

Average Guess (21 Votes)
6ft 3.67in (192.2cm)
Arch Stanton said on 30/Nov/21
6'4 and 200 pounds is certainly light for an American football player. You would expect heavier given his height and muscles. I did two sets of 100 pushups this morning, first time I've done two sets, half hour apart. 100 is comfortable now, like 50 used to be. My record is 130 pushups in one go now, (swear on my mother's life!), it was 85 last autumn, so not a bad gain in a year but then I do it every day! I used to do 4 sets of 50 spread out during the day but I feel fantastic right now, in the best shape I've ever been, it makes a big difference doing a lot in the morning! I'll see how my arms feel tomorrow and if I can sustain it.
Ian C. said on 3/Jun/21
When Woody Strode played professional football as an offensive end in the late 1940s, he weighed about 200 pounds. Currently in the NFL, the mean weight of offensive ends (at an average height of six foot four) is 283 pounds.
Jacquelin Butler said on 2/Jun/21
I have always admired Woody Strode. I, too, think Hollywood cheated him as an actor. I wish had lived long enough to get some of the parts available to Black actors now. By the way, Woody Strode looks like Anthony Mackie. Somebody, put Anthony Mackie and Woody Strode's picture side by side;there is a resemblance.
Ian C. said on 1/Jun/21
Try this exercise: Watch any American movie made before 1967 and, if the movie is not actually about Black people, with themes addressing the problems of race, it will have no Black people in it. They just didn't exist in the imaginary universe that was American movies of that era. The entire Black acting community from the mid-50s to the mid-60s was Sidney Poitier and Woody Strode, and Strode didn't have much dialogue. It is unknown if Strode could act, as his extraordinary physique was his stock in trade.

There is now a rumor of a Superman movie in which Superman will be Black (which I think has the scent of a gimmick, or maybe political forcing.) Strode really was a physical superman. He got up in the morning and that's how he looked. That must have been pretty cool.
Frank Sellors said on 15/May/21
Woody was a great athletes and he reckoned he could have won the 1936 Olympic decathlon title. He knew and had trained with Glenn Morris who won the gold medal and felt that he had the beating of him but college resits clashed with the Olympics. BTW. Glenn Morris went on to play Tarzan in a 30s movie.( Woody, of course, played in a number of Tarzan films ). His autobiography is a great read.
Hong said on 6/May/21
@movieguy,in that episode Clint is wearing cowboy boots and Strode is wearing flat footwear,they look similar but it's down to footwear,Clint was more 6ft3 range and Strode was 6ft4.
Ian C. said on 15/Mar/21
The strongest man you ever saw, but could not win a fight in a movie. If Jimmy Stewart had had to fight Strode in a movie, Stewart would have won.

You can learn a lot about the status of American Black men in the fifties and much of the sixties by watching Strode movies. In any movie where he was cast with white actors he always acted with perfect deference to superior white people. There are no movies where Strode plays a character with a wife or a girlfriend. In the movies of the fifties and sixties, Black men who are physically superior to anyone within two hundred miles are eunuchs, with no more personal agency than children. It is not until the late sixties that Black actors like Jim Brown appear, playing adult men who can fight white men and win, and who are sexual beings.
Arch Stanton said on 11/Aug/20
I do 200 pushups most days currently too! I've built up to doing 85 pressups in one go, I struggled with 30 when I started! I typically do sets of 50 spread out through the day, gives you more energy and mental alertness, ideal for learning music and languages as I am!
Tall Sam said on 24/Apr/19
Like that he called out Kirk as nowhere near his 5'11" claim, though I think Kirk might've been between 5'8"-5'9". It seemed like in anecdotes that Woody was a straight shooter though. Also he is the namesake of the Toy Story main character.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 29/Nov/16
Could look 194cm...
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 15/Apr/16
Click Here
Click Here

Could easily pass for the Rock's dad in these pictures. People's Eyebrow in the 2nd!
movieguy said on 5/Feb/16
Clint Eastwood looks just as tall in Rawhide episode they did together. No one doubts Woody was 6'4'' but some doubt Clint being 6'4'' myself included at times.
Arch Stanton said on 17/Jun/15
Yes, spot on Rampage, a very strong resemblance with Reddick in particular.
Rampage(-_-_-)Clover said on 16/Jun/15
He looks like Dwayne Johnson and Lance Reddick's love child...if they had been born a century or so earlier
Arch Stanton said on 15/Jun/15
Watching him in The Professionals I also thought he looked nearer 220-225 pounds. If you consider that Clint Eastwood was around 215 in the 1970s too..
Modeus said on 13/Jun/15
probably the most badass black actor of all times
Sam said on 27/Oct/14
I'm sure he weighed a bit more a couple years later. In The Kingdom of Spiders, I'd guess he was close to 220 lbs.
Sean73 said on 4/Sep/14
205lbs!?I would have guessed 225lbs.The best 205 pounder in cinema history.Clearly 76" in his prime too.
Gonzalo said on 13/Aug/14
Tall man. He had an amazing body. 1`93 for him seems accurate
Arch Stanton said on 1/Aug/14
His role in Shalako was as an Apache chief but he didn't get much screentime and was barely recognizable. Montalban was another chief in it! My strength is late 60s and early 70s cinema so I'm more aware of roles of that era than most people!! Good call on Sergeant Rutledge too.
Sam said on 1/Aug/14
Another interesting fact is that Woody was one of the very few actors who the legendary John Ford was always nice to and one of the only ones he permitted at his deathbed. Ford was often was pretty terrible towards his stock-players, John Wayne and Henry Fonda, and worst to Ward Bond, Andy Devine and, his brother, Francis Ford.
I thought in Liberty Valance, Strode does look as listed but its pretty good proof Wayne still having been close to 6'4" in 1962 as they look quite similar height, depending of course on Wayne's footwear.
Sam said on 28/Jul/14
Yes, please add The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Sergeant Rutledge, which was his best known leading role (I guess both he and Jeffrey Hunter are the leads)...I've never seen Shalako, Che!, The Revengers or The Italian Connection...
Arch Stanton said on 26/Jul/14
@Rob, don't you remember his memorable roles as the Apache chief in Shalako alongside Sean Connery and opposite Holden and Borgnine in The Revengers?
Editor Rob
not watched anything with woody that recently
Arch Stanton said on 25/Jul/14
Thanks Rob, but you might want to add American football player, decathlete and actor, best remembered for roles in films like Spartacus, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Professionals, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Shalako, Che!, The Revengers and The Italian Connection.
KROC said on 24/Jul/14
Easily 6'4. Exceptional athlete as well.
Sam said on 24/Jul/14
Thanks for adding, Rob...His 6'4" height is more or less verified I think. While filming The Professionals, Burt Lancaster who would show off his strength to co-stars was repeatedly bested at physical tests by Strode. Due to his time and place, he was unfortunately cast a lot as the "noble savage" kind of character, but he played the complex title character very well in Sergeant Rutledge.
Chaz said on 24/Jul/14
He was about the same height as Ron Ely,and very good Athlete
iyolo said on 23/Jul/14
The photo is epic :)

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