MovieChat Forums > Gidget (1959) Discussion > world's tallest gidget

world's tallest gidget


Isn't Gidget by definition short. Girl + Midget = Gidget. Yet, the imdb lists Sandra Dee's height at 5' 4". She was 17 when she made the movie, so unless she had a growth spurt late in life, she was already too tall to play Gidget.

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dude, she looked like she was 14 in this movie! and she was supposed to look early 16 so the hole "innocence" thing would work. so relax, they actually didnt mean the actress herself was a gidget! just the character she portrayed. dont take everything so literally!

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In the biography about Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin- "Dream Lovers"- written by their son Dodd Darin, he states that his mom was actually born in 1944 instead of all the official biographical info that has her born in 1942 (including IMDB's). Evidently her mother chose to lie about her age so she could get an earlier start in school and for modeling opportunities. This is backed up by one of the pieces of trivia on Sandra Dee's IMDB biography. Assuming this to be true, she really was 14 or 15 in Gidget.

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She looked it.

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Well dude, I wasn't talking about her AGE, I was talking about her HEIGHT. You can play YOUNG, but you can't play SHORT. You either are or you aren't!

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she looked short to me... you can't really tell someones height on screen.. look at hagrid in harry potter haha

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It is quite common for filmakers to use props and set shots to create the illusion of characters being either shorter or taller than the actors portraying them.

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In « Casablanca », Ingrid Bergman walked alongside Humphrey Bogart in a little trench with scenes of Paris projected on the background to make her look shorter... and to appear to be in a city that was off-limits at the time.

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5'4" may not qualify as a midget, but it isn't terribly tall. When they called her a midget, they weren't saying that she was literally a midgetit was probably more in the lines of someone that would be considered to be petite now.

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Are you kidding OP? 5'4 is short for a male and a female. Tall for a female is 5'7.

I wish I had a Kryptonite cross, because then I could keep Dracula & Superman away.

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5'4" was the average height for women of that generation.

Semper Contendere Propter Amoram et Formam

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In The Blue Lagoon Christopher Atkins filmed some scenes wearing nothing but that little loincloth... and a pair of platform shoes. In other scenes Brooke Shields walked in little ditch next to Adkins. This was so that the guy would appear taller the girl, when actually she was taller than he was.

And all of the actors playing Hobbits in the various Lord of the Rings movies were taller than the metre or so tall characters they played.

Sandra Dee was more developed than the character she played (Gidget did bust exercises and Dee taped her own bust down to play the part) and no doubt taller than the "four foot three" mentioned in the song.


I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.
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People generally grow another inch or so after they hit 17.

If Sandra Dee was 5'3" (pretty likely), then that's in fact pretty short, even for a girl.

She looked pretty short in the movie.

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