Clifford Marshall Thompson

Clifford Marshall Thompson. World’s Tallest Lawyer, Actor. , Clifford Marshall Thompson, a giant of a man – The “World’s Tallest Lawyer” at 8-feet, 7-inches – once walked Iola’s streets, practicing law from a front office in the building now serving as the Crystal Café’s “Family Room.” Born in Silva, outside Rugby, North Dakota, on October 18, 1904, Thompson’s family moved to rural Scandinavia in 1911 when he was seven. He attended primary school in Iola and secondary school at the Scandinavia Academy, before attending and graduating from the Central Wisconsin Teachers College in 1926. , Thompson in the late-20s became one of America’s best-known circus giants. He appeared as the “The Scandinavian Giant,” “The Wisconsin Paul Bunyan,” and “Count Olaf of Norway,” with the Rubin and Cherry Carnival Company, the Al G. Barnes Circus, The Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus, and the Cole Brothers Clyde Beatty troupes. Thompson also pursued an off-season movie career, reputedly being the tallest to appear in Hollywood films, with credited roles in more than eight movies, including two Tarzan flicks., Tiring of unending circus travels, Thompson in the late-30s sought a more stable existence, settling in Milwaukee to pursue capitalizing on his size and fame as a product spokesman. He variously appeared for Ford dealerships, emphasizing the car’s roominess, the Big Shoe Store in , (Continued on other side), Stevens Point (he was size 22), and other businesses. Hired to stroll the 1938 Wisconsin State Fairgrounds with a placard promoting the Wisconsin milk industry – “Drink Milk: Look what it did for Me” – was a big break for Cliff, being subsequently engaged as a Blatz beer traveling spokesman., Thompson entered Marquette University Law School in 1942, at the age of 37, graduated in 1944, as was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar on July 1, 1944, opening his practice in Iola on July 20. Closing his Iola practice in April, 1948, he eventually moved to Portland, Oregon, where he passed that state’s bar in April, 1950. Thompson died there on October 15, 1955, three days short of his 51st birthday, his death attributed to a combination of gallstones and liver disease., As a giant, Thompson had lived a relatively long and apparently reasonably full life. His much taller size was apparent at an early age, though he did not attain full growth until age 26 (1932). Thompson’s contemporary giant was Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918-1940), whose growth was ongoing throughout his life due to a pituitary gland condition; at the time of death he towered over Thompson at 8-feet, 11-inches. Following Wadlow’s passing, Thompson was again regularly recognized as the “Tallest Man” in America.