World's tallest woman dies in Indiana nursing home

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Seven-foot, 7-inch (2.32 meter) Sandy Allen, the world's tallest woman, died on Wednesday in an Indiana nursing home, a spokesman said.

Allen, 53, who once appealed to Guinness World Records for help in finding a tall companion, had been ill with various ailments and confined to a wheelchair for some time at her home, the Heritage House in Shelbyville.

Another resident of the home is 115-year-old Edna Parker, who Guinness recognizes as the world's oldest living person.

Allen wrote in a 1974 letter to Guinness: "I would like to get to know someone that is approximately my height. It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life."

On its Web site, Guinness said Allen, a secretary, subsequently got a role in Federico Fellini's 1976 film "Casanova" and she had her first date.

She appeared on several television shows, wrote a book called "Cast A Giant Shadow" and spoke to school groups about her acceptance of her size.

Born in Chicago, Allen's abnormal growth was due to a tumor on her pituitary gland. She had surgery on the gland at age 22.

Some Web sites give the title of tallest woman to 36-year-old Yao Defen of China, who is said to be 7-feet, 9-inches tall.

(Reporting by Andrew Stern; Editing by John O'Callaghan)