How tall is Mel Gibson

Australian/American Actor best known for starring in movies such as The Lethal Weapon trilogy, Braveheart, The Mad Max trilogy and Signs. Some people insist he is only 5ft 8 and constantly wears elevator shoes to give him an extra boost. In 1990, a newspaper said "What really makes Gibson laugh is all this talk about his looks and the obsession with his height (he says he's 5 foot 10 although he says he's read that he's 5 foot 4." and in 1987, an article mentioned "studio publicity lists his height at 5 feet, 10 inches." One newspaper mentioned that "Mel Gibson struggles to hit 5ft 8in...the Braveheart star's size has caused some problems on set in the past. When Mel was filming The Year Of Living Dangerously with 5ft 11in Sigourney Weaver, he had to wear built-up shoes and even stand on a box for some scenes to be eye level with his co-star." Gibson had no qualms admitting this and said in 1983 "I had to wear elevator shoes in our love scenes and when I finally board the plane she's on, she doesn't so much embrace me as engulf me."

Sigourney, said on CNN "There are actors who are insecure. Sometimes very tall actors go, "How tall are you?" And you just go, you are towering over me, you can't be -- one of the most secure was actually Mel Gibson. He didn't care if I was three inches -- you know, I could wear huge heels and he'd be fine with it.". She repeated this assertion in an interview with Terry Wogan, saying "Mel Gibson, whose shorter than I am, was sweet about my height...he's Five-Nine and I guess I'm Five-Eleven...he couldn't have been nicer about it. It didn't bother him at all. He was very secure.".

Mel once tried to put to bed the issue of his apparent lack of stature. On the Michael Parkinson chat show, the topic of Mel's height came up and he said to Parky they were "the same height", going so far as to take off his shoe to illustrate he had "no lifts". He went on to mention an article (from the Globe) 'The Incredible Shrinking Bond' which had the various Bonds listed in descending order of height, from Sean at 6ft 3 to Gibson at 5ft 8.

In the 1998 book 'Living Dangerously' it mentioned in publicity handouts, Mel's height was given as "between 5ft 9 and 5ft 10". Actor John Phillip Law thought he was 5ft 6 and when filming Attack Force Z all types of tricks were used to make Mel look taller. Law said he was taken aback by his size and that he "had to regularly kneel down and have him alongside me, standing...there was a lot of effort made to make him look the same height...a lot of actors are sensitive about it." He also mentioned in close ups he would spread apart his legs so both of their heads were in frame.

I worked a film once with Sigourney Weaver and she's like...she says she's Five Ten, but she's not Five Ten, she's Six-One. And she's wearing flat shoes and I'm like Five-Ten right, and so they gave me 3-inch Lifts and it still didn't work.

Mel with Downey Jr
Photo © ImageCollect.com / StarMaxWorldwide

I actually went into rehearsal, but all the time [Year of Living Dangerously Director] Peter Weir was perturbed by my scenes with Mel Gibson, the lead.
Mel's 5 ft 8 in (172 cm), and the difference wasn't enough. I walked around trying to make myself shorter, and Mel was put on blocks, but it sill didn't work. So I lost the role because I was too tall!
-- 157cm Actor, David Atkins