An American Giant Dies

August 10, 2005 7:41 PM

An American Giant Dies Who can fill Matthew McGrory's 29 1/2 shoes?
posted by maxsparber (19 comments total)

I could sleep in them if you like. also:

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posted by puke & cry at 8:03 PM on August 10, 2005 [1 favorite]

He was wonderful in Big Fish. I have heard of health-related problems related to dwarfism, but I've never heard about possible problems associated with giantism (or gigantism, not sure what is more appropriate in this situation).

In any event, my condolences to his family and girlfriend. Thirty-two is a very young age.

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posted by purephase at 8:32 PM on August 10, 2005

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posted by moonbird at 8:48 PM on August 10, 2005

but I've never heard about possible problems associated with giantism

Really? Andre the Giant suffered with lots of pain for most of his life. A human heart and joints between bones can only take so much weight and size before they fail.

If you look at all the guiness book records on height, the previous holders often die in their 30s.
posted by mathowie at 8:57 PM on August 10, 2005

Actually, premature death appears to be the usual result of "true" gigantism (i.e., size outside the normal range, due to a pituitary disorder). The man who was possibly the most famous modern giant of all only lived to 22.

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posted by yhbc at 8:59 PM on August 10, 2005

Actually, I associate health problems more with gigantism than with dwarfism.
posted by puke & cry at 10:13 PM on August 10, 2005 [1 favorite]

Having met, interviewed and written about Matt (because he had the Guinness-certified world's largest feet), this is very sad news. He was a good guy, doing his best to make the most of unusual cards life dealt him.
posted by ambient2 at 11:27 PM on August 10, 2005

That Wadlow wikipedia link was amazing. I feel bad for both of them.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:43 PM on August 10, 2005

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posted by joedan at 11:53 PM on August 10, 2005

Perhaps the tallest American film actor was 7'7" Lock Martin (1916-1959), who played the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still. One source claims he wasn't strong enough to pick up the actress Patricia Neal, and had to be helped by wires (which are visible in the film).

More titanic thespians listed here.
posted by cenoxo at 12:22 AM on August 11, 2005

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posted by Pendragon at 1:00 AM on August 11, 2005

29 1/2 shoes mean his feet were almost a yard long.
posted by srboisvert at 5:28 AM on August 11, 2005

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He was great in Big Fish. It struck me as kind of odd that he was playing Andre the Giant in a biopic, though-- apart from McGrory's height, there really wasn't much of a resemblance, was there?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:58 AM on August 11, 2005

My hometown killed Robert Wadlow.

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posted by goatdog at 9:33 AM on August 11, 2005

So his feet were bigger than some people's entire bodies.

Yowsa.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:05 AM on August 11, 2005

posted by drezdn at 3:19 PM on August 11, 2005

Sad.

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posted by fenriq at 3:31 PM on August 11, 2005

LOL. Drezdn wins. Though he used a graphic instead of CSS.

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(Let's see if this sneaks past the parser. If it's a normal-sized bullet dot, css didn't work...)
posted by five fresh fish at 6:11 PM on August 11, 2005

DOTS ARE SAD
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:10 AM on August 12, 2005