André the Giant
| André the Giant | |
|---|---|
André making his way to the ring in the late 1980s
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| Birth name | André René Roussimoff |
| Born |
May 19, 1946 Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, France |
| Died | January 27, 1993 (aged 46) Paris, Île-de-France, France |
| Cause of death | Heart failure |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | André Roussimoff André the Giant Géant Ferré Giant Machine Jean Ferré Monster Eiffel Tower Monster Roussimoff |
| Billed height | 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) |
| Billed weight | 520 lb (240 kg) |
| Billed from | "Grenoble in the French Alps" |
| Trained by | Frank Valois |
| Debut | 1963 |
| Retired | 1992 |
André René Roussimoff (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993), best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor.
He famously feuded with Hulk Hogan, culminating at WrestleMania III. His best-remembered film role was that of Fezzik, the giant in The Princess Bride. His size was a result of gigantism caused by excess growth hormone, which later resulted in acromegaly. It also led to him being called "The Eighth Wonder of the World".
In the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE), André was a one-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WWF Tag Team Champion. In 1993, André was the inaugural inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame.
André Roussimoff was born in Coulommiers, France to Boris and Mariann Rousimoff, a couple of Bulgarian and Polish ancestry. His nickname growing up was "Dédé". As a child, he displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) and a weight of 94 kg (208 lb) by the age of 12. Playwright Samuel Beckett, a neighbor who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature, bought some land in 1953 near a hamlet around 60 km (40 mi) northeast of Paris. He built a cottage for himself with the help of André's father Boris Rousimoff. When Beckett found out that Rousimoff was having trouble getting his son to school, Beckett offered to drive André to school in his truck, as he did not fit on the bus. When André recounted the drives with Beckett, he revealed that they rarely talked about anything other than cricket.
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