According to his new co-star Gemma Arterton in the latest film, Quantum of Solace, the 40-year-old star was forced to boost his stature with stacked shoes when she was wearing stilettos.

In the past, he has been known to be touchy about his vital statistics, snapping at one enquiring interviewer that he was “somewhere between 5ft and 6ft.”

But the loyal Miss Arterton, 22, insisted he had taken the producers’ decision “with good humour”.

“Daniel is 5ft 10in but when they put me in heels, I was taller than him and it didn’t look good on screen,” she said in a recent interview.

“The whole point of Bond is that he is masculine and hunky and he has to be taller than his girlfriend.

“Daniel had to wear shoes with a lift in them and stacked heels for a few scenes, but he took it very well. He thought it was funny.”

Craig could be forgiven for being over-sensitive about his height, given that he is the only actor to play the legendary spy who has come in under six feet.

Sean Connery, 77, and Timothy Dalton, 62, both measure a lofty 6ft 2ins, while Roger Moore, 80, and Pierce Brosnan, 55, were 6ft 1.5ins.

But Miss Arterton insisted that good things come in smaller packages.

The daughter of a welder from Gravesend, Kent, who is now filming the £50 million adventure film Prince Of Persia in Morocco with Jake Gyllenhaal, said: “Daniel is the sexiest Bond ever. He didn’t have to wear the special shoes during the whole film, just for the scenes where they wanted me in stilettos.

“I teased him about it and he took it in good humour.”

GALLERY LINKS:
– Magazine Scans: Daily Star (UK) – July 21, 2008, thanks to Lorna
– Magazine Scans: Mail On Sunday (UK) – July 20, 2008, thanks to Lorna