--- title: Before The Walk: Meet the 82-Year-Old Tightrope Walker description: Before Philippe Petit—played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a new movie—there was Ivy Baldwin, who walked until the age of 82. canonical: https://time.com/4048415/tightrope-walker-ivy-baldwin/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-30T11:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-14T01:37:41.000Z og:title: Meet the 82-Year-Old Tightrope Walker Who Came Before Philippe Petit og:description: As 'The Walk' arrives in theaters, remembering tightrope walker extraordinaire Ivy Baldwin og:url: https://time.com/4048415/tightrope-walker-ivy-baldwin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf10eacaad052eac4/6988653a0b72e337a46e5fd5/150923-tightrope-walker-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2386 og:image:height: 1342 og:image:alt: 82 year old tightrope walker Ivy Baldwin at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the 82-Year-Old Tightrope Walker Who Came Before Philippe Petit twitter:description: As 'The Walk' arrives in theaters, remembering tightrope walker extraordinaire Ivy Baldwin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf10eacaad052eac4/6988653a0b72e337a46e5fd5/150923-tightrope-walker-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the 82-Year-Old Tightrope Artist Who Walked the Wire Long Before Philippe Petit > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:37 AM UTCPublished: Sep 30, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Baldwin gingerly begins to walk on a tightrope at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. Baldwin gingerly begins to walk on a tightrope at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 14, 2023 1:37 AM UTCPublished: Sep 30, 2015 11:00 AM UTC **Correction appended, Nov. 11, 2015** Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk between New York City’s Twin Towers was such a remarkable feat that it inspired both a documentary—2008’s _Man on Wire_—and a feature film, _The Walk_, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit and hits theaters Wednesday. Petit is perhaps the closest thing the tightrope-walking community has to a household name. But he is far from the only high-wire artist to make a splash (or, more accurately, _not_ to). On July 31, 1948, a Boulder man crossed over South Boulder Creek, a [distance](https://books.google.com/books?id=NxmQLt7iUUIC&pg=PA79&dq=ivy+baldwin&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAmoVChMIlIzmgIyayAIVhR0-Ch3u6gjF#v=onepage&q=ivy%20baldwin&f=false) of 635 ft., on a tightrope. In many ways, the walk wasn’t noteworthy, for the man had crossed this canyon more than 80 times in 40 years. What set this walk apart from the rest was the man’s age: July 31, 1948, was Ivy Baldwin’s 82nd birthday. (That, and the installation of a lower wire—at 125 ft. rather than his usual 582 ft.—at the insistence of his daughter.) Born William Ivy in Houston, Texas, in 1866, Baldwin [adopted](http://www.nvahof.org/hof/hof-2011/william-a-ivy/) his last name from a pair of daredevil brothers he performed with as a young man. Hooked on tightrope walking after a childhood sighting of an impressive wire-walker, Baldwin left home as a young teenager to join a traveling circus. He developed a repertoire of stunts that included parachuting out of hot air balloons and diving off of impossibly high towers. He was also a pioneering aviator, and the first to fly a plane in the state of Nevada, in 1910. But he is best remembered, in Colorado lore, for his repeated crossings of South Boulder Creek, clad in cloth slippers and carrying a 26-ft. pole for balance. Some attempts nearly took his life, as on one occasion during which unexpectedly persistent gusts of wind forced him to hang from his knees for over an hour. When he finally retired at 82, after the walk photographed by LIFE’s John Florea, it came at the insistence of his family. Baldwin, as befits one who made his fame by walking, would have been happy to keep going. **Correction**: The original version of this story misstated the height at which Ivy Baldwin traversed South Boulder Creek on July 31, 1948\. It was 125 ft. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  82-year-old tightrope walker Ivy Baldwin rests on a rock at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin gingerly begins to walk on a tightrope at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin makes his way across Boulder Dam, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin appears suspended in air as spectators watch from below, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin makes his way to the other side of Boulder Dam, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Young fans greet Baldwin after his impressive feat, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin talks to the press at Boulder Dam, Colorado, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fans present Baldwin with a celebratory cake, 1948. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Baldwin looks out across Boulder Dam, 1948. 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