<Tr> <Th> </Th> <Td> (1949 - 08 - 13) 13 August 1949 (age 68) Nemours, Seine - et - Marne, France </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> High - wire artist </Td> </Tr> <P> Philippe Petit (French pronunciation: ​ (filip pəti); born 13 August 1949) is a French high - wire artist who gained fame for his high - wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, on the morning of August 7, 1974 . For his unauthorized feat 1,350 feet (400 metres) above the ground--which he referred to as "le coup"--he rigged a 450 - pound (200 - kilogram) cable and used a custom - made 26 - foot (8 - metre) long, 55 - pound (25 - kilogram) balancing pole . He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire . The following week, he celebrated his 25th birthday . All charges were dismissed in exchange for him doing a performance in Central Park for children . </P> <P> Since then, Petit has lived in New York, where he has been artist - in - residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, also a location of other aerial performances . He has done wire walking as part of official celebrations in New York, across the United States, and in France and other countries, as well as teaching workshops on the art . In 2008, Man on Wire, a documentary directed by James Marsh about Petit's walk between the towers, won numerous awards . He was also the subject of a children's book and an animated adaptation of it, released in 2005 . The Walk, a movie based on Petit's walk, was released in September 2015, starring Joseph Gordon - Levitt as Petit and directed by Robert Zemeckis . </P>

Who walked the tightrope between the twin towers