Standing tall at 5ft 11½ (181.6 cm), Canadian actress and model Catherine Shirriff leveraged her statuesque height to command attention in both modeling and acting. In the modeling world of the 1970s and 1980s, where heights around 5ft 8in to 5ft 9in were ideal, Shirriff's impressive stature allowed her to project versatility, appearing shorter by slouching or towering at her full height when standing straight.
Her height enhanced her commanding screen presence in key roles, including the Klingon Valkris in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), where she portrayed a formidable warrior; Olga Denerenko in Murder in Space (1985); and appearances in Vampira (1974) and Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979). Shirriff also co-hosted the first season of ABC's Ripley's Believe It or Not! with Jack Palance, her height pairing perfectly with the show's sense of wonder.