Philippe Petit: High-Wire Walking Notre Dame And The World Trade Center

By | April 18, 2019

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Left: Philippe Petit's 1971 stunt at Notre Dame de Paris, as dramatized in the 2015 film 'The Walk.' Right: a still from 'Man On Wire,' the 2008 documentary about Petit's 1974 World Trade Center walk. Source for both: IMDB

You've heard of the daredevil who walked a wire between the towers of New York's World Trade Center: Philippe Petit. But Notre Dame de Paris, the cathedral that caught fire in April 2019, was his first headline-making quest. In 1971, Petit stepped out on a wire between Notre Dame's two towers and strolled across, even pausing at the midpoint for a performance. Three years later, Petit took on the Twin Towers in NYC, a feat that was documented heavily at the time, and provided fodder for the 2008 documentary Man On Wire and the 2015 film The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. As was his modus operandi, Petit had no permission for either stunt, and was technically engaging in a criminal act.

The Early Years Of An Artistic Criminal

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Petit was a juggler early on (Source: Steven Moore, Columbia Artists)

Born on August 13, 1949 in France, Petit started learning magic tricks at the age of 6; within a few years he learned how to juggle. By 16, he started to walk on the tightrope. By 18, he had been kicked out of five schools. But he followed his passion: performance.