Cinema.com, on meeting him, said "Sly, shorter than you expect at 5-foot-eight", which he even mentioned himself: "I'm shorter and skinnier than you Expected". His footwear has always been a source of contention and in a 1990 Chicago Times article, the journalist mentioned "The real-life Rambo is an official 5 foot 10 1/2 inches tall, but that is with the generous boost of what can only be described as elevator shoes". Indeed, a specialist Italian shoemaker once commented that he "made him 4.5 inches taller for 16 years!". Sly's penchant for lifts dates back to the 1970's, with fellow actor Kevin Conway remarking that Sly was only 5ft 9 and "wears lifts all the time". Sly himself even joked about it once, when commenting upon the size of Rocky IV co-star Dolph Lundgren:"I'm fighting with elevator shoes on, this is ridiculous." There are definitely several tricks to looking taller, one of which was highlighted by Expendables 3 co-star Kelsey Grammar, who said Sly was a great guy, "Except when he changed the camera angle a little bit to make me look shorter."
Sly and Frank (claims 6ft 1) / Photo by PRPhotosIn the screenwriter William Goldman's book 'About Lies Stars Tell', he offered his own estimation of Sly's stature, saying "I had a hot lead that Sly was 67 inches," revealing his source to be a jogger of similar stature to Sly. Goldman described how he ventured into a swimming pool that Sly was in...and 10 minutes later, "He got out, grabbed a towel. I got out, grabbed a towel. He stood. I stood. Sixty-seven inches. Dripping wet." That estimate is shared by Hulk Hogan, who casually called Sly "Five Six/Five Seven" and also by an Amateur Boxer who worked on Rocky V, saying he was stunned at the shortness of Stallone and towered above him: "I always pictured him as being a big guy. But I'm 5-foot-9 and I was two-three inches taller than him."
An ex-partner of Sly - Supermodel Janice Dickenson - claimed in her book 'Everything about me is fake' that when Sly was trying to pick her up, she recalled "Who was this guy to go dissing me while he's standing there in his custom-made elevator shoes." and also that "I couldn't believe how short he was". Another actress, Melinda Dillon - from F.I.S.T - commented in The Chicago Tribune that "I'm taller than Sly and that bothers him and we kid about it so I take off my shoes in some scenes. I can't slouch or I wouldn't be Anna. She's very upright."
Fellow action stars have even chimed in on his hard-to-pin-down height, most notably Jean Claude Van Damme, who once said "I'm 5-foot-10, a good size for movies. If you're too big a guy, it's hard to find good villains. That's why Stallone always has good villains. He's short."
Sly Stallone is 5-foot-7, I believe. Shorter than you think - and not just short on talent. Anyway, he only hires actors his height or shorter, unless they're playing some kind of freakish villain. So I'll never work with Stallone unless I let him shoot me, and I'll never let myself get that desperate.-- Burt Lancaster
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