American actor best remembered for roles in High Noon, Vera Cruz, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, Man of the West, The Westerner, The Pride of the Yankees, They Came to Cordura and Sergeant York. In a 1930 article he said "I am six feet two inches tall", although he generally looked more 6ft 3 range and mentioned that height in the film Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. Actor Brian Aherne recalled something Gary said to him once: "Gary Cooper once leaned over ... and asked me my height. When I whispered '6 feet 2 1/2', he whispered back, 'never admit to 6-feet-3.'"

I started pictures in the silent days and I took every job that came my way. Often I worked 18 hours steady. I got myself into such a run-down condition that I weighed only 148 pounds, and I'm six-feet-two.
-- Dec 1959