Sandra Elaine Allen (June 18, 1955 – August 13, 2008) was an American woman recognized as the tallest woman in the world during her lifetime according to Guinness World Records. She was 7' 7Ľ inches (232 cm) in height.
Allen wrote a book titled Cast A Giant Shadow, and appeared in the Guinness Book of World Records since 1976. Although over the years other women have taken over the title, Allen had held it for the last 18 years of her life. Her abnormal height was due to a tumor in her pituitary gland that caused it to release growth hormone uncontrollably. At age 22, she underwent surgery for the condition. Without this procedure, Allen would have continued to grow and suffer further medical problems associated with gigantism.
She appeared in the Academy Award-winning Italian film Il Casanova di Federico Fellini, in a TV movie called Side Show, and in a Canadian/American documentary film called Being Different. The New Zealand band Split Enz immortalized her in a song, "Hello Sandy Allen," released on their 1982 album Time and Tide.
In later years Allen used a wheelchair because her legs and back could not support her tall stature in a standing position. At one point in her life, she was bedridden due to disease, causing atrophy of the muscles. Because of this physical limitation, she spent her last years in Shelbyville, Indiana, in a retirement center, the same one as Edna Parker, a previous record holder of oldest living person in the world.
At time of death, many websites were identifying Allen as the second tallest woman in the world, citing Chinese woman Yao Defen as the tallest. Guinness World Records, however, identifies Allen as the tallest.
