Philippe Petit facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Philippe Petit
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Petit in 2009 at the 81st Academy Awards
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| Born | 13 August 1949 Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France
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| Occupation | Highwire artist |
| Known for | Walking a rope line at the Twin Towers |
Philippe Petit (born 13 August 1949) is a French highwire artist. He is famous for his amazing and often secret walks on a wire high above the ground. He walked between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973. His most famous walk was between the Twin Towers in New York City in August 1974.
After his famous walks, Petit moved to New York. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he has also performed. He has done many official wire walks in New York, across the United States, and in other countries. He also teaches workshops about his art.
In 2008, a documentary film called Man on Wire was made about Petit's walk between the Twin Towers. It won many awards, including an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2009. Another film, The Walk, was released in 2015. It starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. Petit was also the subject of a children's book and an animated movie based on it, released in 2005.
Petit is also skilled in other areas like juggling, fencing, carpentry, and rock-climbing. He preferred to perform on the streets of Paris rather than in a circus. In the early 1970s, he often juggled and practiced on a slackline in Washington Square Park in New York City.
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Early Life and Amazing Feats
Petit was born in Nemours, France. His father, Edmond Petit, was an author and an Army Pilot. From a young age, Philippe loved magic and juggling. He also loved to climb. When he was 16, he first tried walking on a tightrope.
He quickly learned many tricks on the wire, like somersaults and riding a unicycle. But he felt these tricks weren't truly artistic. So, he decided to create his own unique style of wire walking, focusing on the beauty and feeling of the walk itself.
Walking Between Towers
In June 1971, Petit secretly set up a wire between the two towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. On the morning of June 26, 1971, he walked across the wire, juggling balls and dancing. Crowds below watched and cheered as he completed his unauthorized performance.
The World Trade Center Walk
Petit became well-known in New York City in the early 1970s for his tightrope walks and magic shows in parks. His most famous performance happened in August 1974. He walked on a wire stretched between the roofs of the Twin Towers in New York City. The wire was about 400 meters (1,312 feet) above the ground. The towers were still being built and were not yet fully open.
Petit performed for 45 minutes. He walked, danced, lay down on the wire, and even knelt to salute the people watching. Office workers, construction crews, and police officers cheered him on from below.
Planning the Impossible
Petit first thought of walking between the Twin Towers when he was 18. He saw drawings of the planned towers in a magazine in 1968.
This amazing feat, which some called the "artistic crime of the century," took Petit six years to plan. During this time, he learned everything he could about the buildings and how they were being built. He also practiced highwire walking at other famous places. He secretly set up his wires for these performances, combining circus skills with public art. In 1971, he walked between the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. In 1973, he walked a wire between the two north pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
For the Twin Towers walk, Petit had to figure out many challenges. He needed to understand how the tall towers swayed in the wind. He also had to learn how to set up a 200-foot (61-meter) steel cable across the 138-foot (42-meter) gap between the towers, which were 1,368 feet (417 meters) high. He also had to find a way for his team to get into the buildings with all their heavy equipment.
Petit visited New York many times to study the towers up close. He and a photographer, Jim Moore, even rented a helicopter to take pictures of the buildings from above. Two other friends, Jean François Heckel and Jean-Louis Blondeau, helped him practice in France and joined him for the final setup.
Petit and his team secretly entered the towers several times. They hid on upper floors and roofs to learn about security. They also studied the construction to find places to anchor the wire. Petit even built a small model of the towers to plan how to set up the wire.
To get into the buildings, Petit made fake ID cards for himself and his team. They pretended to be contractors installing an electric fence on the roof. He had carefully watched what construction workers wore and what tools they carried. He also noticed what office workers wore so some of his team could pretend to be them. He learned when workers arrived and left to know when the roof would be clear.
On the night of August 6, 1974, Petit and his team got lucky. They got a ride in a freight elevator to the 104th floor with their equipment. They stored it just below the roof. To get the cable across the huge gap, they used a bow and arrow. They shot a fishing line across first, then attached it to larger ropes, and finally to the 450-pound (204 kg) steel cable. It took hours to pull the heavy cable up manually. Petit had already planned where to attach other wires to keep the main cable steady and prevent it from swaying too much.
The Amazing Walk
Shortly after 8 AM, Petit stepped out onto the wire. He was about 1,350 feet (411 meters) above the ground. For 45 minutes, he performed eight passes along the wire. He walked, danced, lay down, and knelt to salute the people watching. Huge crowds gathered on the streets below. He later said he could hear their cheers and murmuring.
When police officers from the New York Police Department and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey found out about his stunt, they went to the roofs of both buildings. They tried to convince him to come off the wire. They even threatened to use a helicopter to get him. Petit felt he had "trespassed long enough" and because it started to rain, making the wire dangerous, he left the wire and gave himself up to the police.
What Happened Next
News of Petit's highwire walk spread everywhere, and people loved it. The District Attorney dropped all charges against him. The only condition was that Petit had to give a free show for children in Central Park. On August 29, he performed a highwire walk over Turtle Pond in the park.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey gave Petit a lifetime pass to the Twin Towers' observation deck. He even signed a steel beam near where he started his walk. This beam was later destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
Petit's walk helped make the Twin Towers more popular. At first, many people didn't like the towers, calling them ugly and too big. But Petit's amazing stunt brought them a lot of positive attention and even affection.
Philippe Petit in Books and Movies
Petit's Twin Towers walk has been featured in several creative works.
Mordicai Gerstein wrote and illustrated a children's book called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (2003). This book won a Caldecott Medal for its artwork. It was later made into an animated short film in 2005, which also won awards.
The documentary film Man on Wire (2008), directed by James Marsh, tells the story of Petit and his 1974 performance. It won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2008. When Petit accepted the Oscar, he made a coin disappear and then balanced the Oscar on his chin!
The same stunt was also made into a movie called The Walk (2015). It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit.
Later Life and Other Performances
Philippe Petit has done dozens of public highwire performances throughout his career. For example, in 1986, he recreated the famous crossing of the Niagara River by another wire walker named Blondin for an IMAX film. In 1989, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, the mayor of Paris invited him to walk an inclined wire. This wire stretched from the ground at the Place du Trocadéro to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, crossing the Seine River.
Petit briefly worked with the Ringling Brothers Circus, but he preferred to create his own unique shows. During a practice walk with the circus, he had his only fall, from about 45 feet (14 meters), breaking several ribs. However, he says he has never fallen during an actual performance. "If I had," he once said, "I wouldn't be here talking about it."
Petit often gives talks and workshops around the world. He even built a barn in the Catskill Mountains using old 18th-century building methods. In 2011, he published his eighth book, A Square Peg. He also wrote an ebook for TED Books called Cheating the Impossible. Petit now divides his time between New York City, where he is an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and his home in the Catskill Mountains.
Petit also wrote a book called To Reach the Clouds (2002) about his Twin Towers walk. In this book, he shared his feelings after the September 11 attacks when the Twin Towers were destroyed. He wrote that on that morning, "My towers became our towers." He felt deep sadness and anger at the loss of the buildings and the many lives. Petit honored those who died and supported rebuilding the towers. He even promised that if the towers were rebuilt, he would walk between them again to celebrate. However, a different set of buildings has been built on the site, so that opportunity is no longer possible.
Awards and Recognition
- James Parks Morton Interfaith Award
- Streb Action Maverick Award
- The Byrdcliffe Award
Images for kids
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In this 1974 promotion for Hess's department store, Petit tight roped across Hamilton Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania
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1974 Hess's ad, with an image of Petit's walk across the Twin Towers
See also
In Spanish: Philippe Petit para niños
