Page "Joseph Stalin" Paragraph 111

While photographs and portraits portray Stalin as physically massive and majestic ( he had several painters shot who did not depict him " right "), he was only five feet four inches tall ( 160 cm ).

( President Harry S. Truman, who stood only five feet nine inches himself, described Stalin as " a little squirt ".

) His mustached face was pock-marked from small-pox during childhood.

After a carriage accident in his youth, his left arm was shortened and stiffened at the elbow, while his right hand was thinner than his left and frequently hidden.

Bronze casts made in 1990 from plaster death mask and plaster cards of his hands clearly show a normal right hand and a withered left hand.

He could be charming and polite, mainly towards visiting statesmen.

In movies, Stalin was often played by Mikheil Gelovani and, less frequently, by Aleksei Dikiy.