"Katie is wearing 2/2.5 heels on this Premier. And if she is classified as 5'9, it puts her over 5'11. Tom sits 5'9.5 or a tad below. I think those shoes give him a height of 2 inches, more likely 1.5, 5'8 and Katie's barefoot pic.

The Who2 Blog
How Tall is Tom Cruise Really?
January 24, 2009 | By Fritz Holznagel
“At this premier Katie is wearing 2/2.5 heels. So if she is 5’9 as listed puts her over 5’11. Tom standing at 5’9.5 or a tad under. I think these shoes are giving him at most 2 inches, more likely 1.5, consistent with 5’8 and the barefoot pic with Katie.”

That’s courtesy of celebnetworth.net, where footwear and photo angles are dissected with Zapruder-style intensity.

"When he was buying a coffee at the Eurostar terminal in London Waterloo, he stood beside him. I'm 176 cm taller and he seemed 2 inches taller than me, overall. I'd say a little below 6 ft. I've been shocked, because I thought he's bigger. If you're watching Dangerous Liasons, he's a little taller than Uma Thurman, so I don't think he's 6 ft at all.

Not only the stars of today, either: "Poor old Bob Hope shrank like no other celebrity I know. Look at Murder's 1987 TV film A Masterpiece and tell me it's not at least four inches shorter than Don Ameche's co-star.

(Their final judgment on Cruise: 5 ft. 7.75 inches.)