Amazing unseen footage of tallest man ever Robert Wadlow shows how sweet and kind he was
This incredible never-before-seen footage of the tallest man ever Robert Wadlow demonstrates that his sterling reputation was well-earned.
The Guinness World Records ICON, who stood at an unmatched 8 ft 11 in (2.72 m), was as well-known for his good manners as he was for his record-breaking height.
And that’s very evident in this unearthed footage given to us by Bruce Jensen, whose family lived alongside the Wadlows in Alton, Illinois, USA.
Bruce’s grandfather, a doctor named Maurice Williamson, was obsessed with technology and loved capturing memories on his film camera, as well as hosting screenings at home with the help of his projector.
Maurice arranged a meeting between his daughter – Bruce’s mother - Patricia Jensen, aka Patsy, and Robert, on what happened to be their shared birthday.
The footage was taken on 22 February 1933 - Robert’s 15th birthday and Patsy’s fourth.
Robert and Patsy
And it’s the best 70th birthday present we could have asked for!
Bruce explained: “My mother Patricia Jensen aka Patsy spent her childhood in Alton, Illinois. She met and knew Robert Wadlow.
“I don’t really know my grandfather’s professional relationship with Robert Wadlow. He obviously knew him and his family because he arranged this meeting between my mother and Robert in 1933.
“My grandfather Maurice Williamson was kind of an old-fashioned doctor in Illinois, in Alton, and he made house calls all the time and worked 16 hours a day, my mother always said.”
He added: “He was still serving in World War I when Robert was born so I think he probably did not deliver Robert but he delivered lots of babies in Alton and possibly some of Robert’s siblings.
“It’s possible that’s why he knew the family well enough to talk to them about coming over with my mother and doing their little film.
Bruce watching the video
“My grandfather loved new technology, so in the 1920s he bought himself a movie camera and projector and began filming many, many things.
“Everything, it seems like, for a while.
“Hence why this meeting with Robert Wadlow is also on film, it’s not just Christmas and Fourth of July and birthday parties, it’s wherever he went was filmed – he had boxes of film.”
In the black and white footage, only recently found and digitised by the Jensen family, Robert and little Patsy walk down the steps of the house together.
He bends down to shake her hand and she cranes her neck to look up at him before he bends down to pick her up.
Robert has a big smile on his face throughout the entire video.
Bruce with his grandfather's projector
Patsy begins running off ahead of him, before stopping to turn and reach out for his hand so they can walk together.
The footage then cuts to Robert standing with Patsy’s dad Maurice.
Towering over the man, teenage Robert smiles while giving him a hearty handshake.
Robert shaking Maurice's hand
The footage then shows Robert with his family, shaking his father's hand and holding a baby – his youngest sibling – in his arms.
Bruce said of the footage: “You can tell [my mom is] thrilled to be there and he just seems like such a sweet guy – just a very big smile and so cooperative because he probably got asked to do things like this fairly often.
“He was a really nice kid, I think.”
Robert with his family
Alton is a small town and a close-knit community.
Bruce’s family had other ties to Robert’s including his great aunt Bernice working as an art teacher at Robert’s high school, where she taught him for three years.
He went on: “My mother mentioned Robert Wadlow early on. She was very proud that Robert was from Alton and she would tell me about him, but not really specific incidents, it was more about what kind of person he was – his demeanour, his smile, his dignity that he had even though he was so different from everybody else.
Bruce's great aunt Bernice with Robert
“I’m only 5 ft 11 in, or I was most of my life, I think I’m a little shorter now, so Robert Wadlow was more than 3 ft taller than I am now, which is really hard to imagine.
“But our son Kevin is 6 ft 7 in so he sticks out also and people think they have a license to comment on that, people that he doesn’t know comment all the time on how tall he is, and he’s more than 2 ft shorter than Robert Wadlow, and I have a really hard time imagining what that must have been like for him.
“People must have gawked at Robert all the time, and what would that have been like for him?”
Robert with his baby sibling
“I think part of the reason he became so iconic was how he lived his life with so much dignity,” Bruce added.
“Barnum and Bailey wanted him to travel with the circus, but he insisted on wearing the suit.
“I think he tried it for a while but he did it in a dignified manner and I think the way he carried himself and presented himself and how friendly he was, as you can see in the video with my mom, I think that had a lot to do with why he became so iconic.
Bruce's mother Patsy
“It seems to me that Robert Wadlow was just the person he was, he didn’t try to put on airs, he didn’t try to be something he wasn’t, and I think that shines through.
“One of the things I’m happiest about is that my mother is going to live on in that film clip with Robert. “
Robert was just 22 when he tragically died.