ever heard of very many tall people that live over 80?

[ButteMT61]

Surprised nobody mentioned this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfan_syndrome. And I too put little in stat's. Lies, damn lies, and statistics...Live yer life!

 

[Gingerella72]

Hmm, well, my dad is 6'2 and 81 years old, and in relatively good health for his age. He could stand to lose 50 pounds but he won't. He views his protruding belly as something well earned and deserving of maintenance.

 

[sheeplady]

Hmm, well, my dad is 6'2 and 81 years old, and in relatively good health for his age. He could stand to lose 50 pounds but he won't. He views his protruding belly as something well earned and deserving of maintenance.

lol Actually skinnier people die much younger (teens, twenties, and thirties) than those who are slightly heavier. So he's onto something- good for him!

 

[Shangas]

A bit of extra bodyweight is important. But not THAT important. Perhaps ask him to lose 25 pounds instead of 50?

 

[Stanley Doble]

If he's 81 and in good health maybe we should be asking him what to eat.

 

[LizzieMaine]

As far as extremely tall people in the Era go, they were uncommon enough that they'd usually have some kind of comic nickname commenting on their height. "Stretch" or "Steeple" or "Derrick" were common, but by far the most common nickname for a tall person was "Tiny." The most famous Tiny of the Era, radio announcer Edmund "Tiny" Ruffner, was 6 foot 6 -- by far the tallest person to work at NBC -- and he lived to be 84 years old, so long life was not unheard of.

Tiny was very tall, but also very thin, making his height seem even more impressive.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Another famously-tall person of the Era was baseball player Howie "Steeple" Schultz, a gangly wartime-era infielder with the Dodgers and the Phillies who was 6 foot 6 and an even 200 lbs. (Not hard to pick him out in this 1947 photo.)

Schultz died just a few years back at the healthy age of 87.

 

[Fletch]

The most famous Tiny of the Era, radio announcer Edmund "Tiny" Ruffner, was 6 foot 6 -- by far the tallest person to work at NBC -- and he lived to be 84 years old, so long life was not unheard of.

Not a public personality by any means, but Capt. Bill Eddy, NBC-TV's first lighting and special effects boss in the late '30s, stood an inch taller than Tiny at 6'7" - and had been a submarine commander in the cramped diesel pigboats of the 1920s! Capt. Eddy, an engineer, cartoonist, and inventor among much else, passed in 1987 at 85 - edging out Ruffner once more.

 

[dhermann1]

Well, yes. Maybe the 80s, but I've always heard that people who live into the late 90s or 100 range are often small. Thank of tiny little George Burns.

 

[Fletch]

Actor-singer George Gaynes, a slightly stooped 6'2", turned 95 last spring and was still in good voice.

 

[Edward]

What is the life expectancy of world class athletes?:

Not so good. The average elite athlete will die by the age of 67. That is considerably lower then the 76 year life expectancy of the average American. Do you want to hear something that is really scary? According to the NFL Players Association, the average life expectancy of an NFL player is 58 years of age.

Indeed. Sport is a bad thing in so many ways, not just as a threat to culture.

Years ago when I visited Manchester, England, I stopped at a church, built in sections over the years. The original section, built around 1100 AD, had a main doorway that I could barely clear and I was 5'10" at that time. My host told me that, yes, people were smaller 900 years ago.

The average height of a man in Britain around 1100AD is believed to have been around 5'4", so a six inch clearance would make sense.

I once lived in a house in an old Finnish neighborhood built in 1844. The kitchen ceiling was exactly five feet nine inches from the floor. I don't know about people in general, but it seems there were some pretty stubby Finnish immigrants around here in the nineteenth century.

Used to have a friend lived in a flat in London that was a converted basement. Only ever saw it once, had to stoop the whole time. It must have been, by my reckoning, 5'9.5". I'm five ten. She was five two, so it was just fine for her.

 

[dhermann1]

George Gaynes! I saw him as Emil Debecque, with Estelle Parsons as Nellie Forbush, in South Pacific, at Chautauqua in 1961. I had the good fortune to chat with Estelle Parsons last year at the Players Club, in New York, and told her how much I enjoyed her performance 51 years earlier. She said that she keeps trying to get George to come up to New York, but he's too comfortably ensconced in Santa Barbara to move. Sounds like George is enjoying life just fine. I got to meet him and Estelle back in 61, and he was just a lovely guy. Great voice!

 

[Fletch]

Amazing life he's led. I think he premiered at La Scala in, what, 1935?

 

[dhermann1]

Just checked his bio in Wikipedia. He had a career in opera in Italy and France BEFORE WW II!!! And it wasn't till he hit his 50s that he discovered his "silly center" (to use Steve Allen's wonderful phrase), and became a comedy star, like Leslie Nielson.

 

[Two Types]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Christopher Lee: 6ft 5inches tall, ninety years old and still working.

 

[Big Bertie]

seems like you never see really tall elderly people in the ages of 80's 90's? seems most dont live as long as average sized people

if you go to a care home most people are average height or shorter

A highly anecdotal observation. It's true people tend to lose height as they age, and also the very tall, who are self-evidently a minority at younger ages, may be less in evidence among any random selection of the minority of those who end their days in care homes. If your hypothesis is that those of above average height tend to die younger, some statistical evidence might fortify your argument.

Tall people do have more health problems and shorter lives.

Have you drawn this information from a scientific study, or is it just anecdotal generalisation? Or are you referring to medical giants, rather than the true 'tall' (i.e. those above average height)?

 

[3fingers]

My Grandfather was born in 1905. He was 6'4". He told me he was an adult before he met anyone taller than he was. He was from a pretty rural area though.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

My grandfather was somewhere around the 6 foot and above region. Lived to 85.

 

[vitanola]

My father is 6' 3" and is still going at 87.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

Let's see:

Great Grandpa (Mom's dad's dad)--6'0'', died at age 72, cancer.
Great Grandpa (Mom's mom's dad)--5'8'', died at age 76 of complications from Hernia surgery. Was in perfect health otherwise.
Maternal Grandpa--5'11'' 1/2''--Died at 55, massive stroke.
Maternal Grandpa's Brother --about 6'2''--Died at age 79, lung cancer.
Paternal Grandpa-- 5'8''--Alive and well at 83.
Great Grandpa's Brother--5'11'' or 6'0''.--Died at age 58, alcohol induced Dementia.