Andre the Giant, real name Andre Rousimoff, was one of the most well-known and respected
professional wrestlers in the world. Originally from a small
farm near
Grenoble,
France, he left home in his
adolescence to become a pro wrestler. Being 7'4" and over 500 pounds, the sight of him alone was enough to draw huge crowds. After touring the world with different promotions for many, many years, he was picked up by the World Wide Wrestling Federation (which would later change its name to the
World Wrestling Federation in the late 1970s).
Andre was obviously a very imposing figure -- it is said that he never tested the full extent of his true
strength because he was afraid of the damage it might cause. Some of Andre's opponents were legitimately afraid to get in the ring with him for fear of getting accidentally crushed or pulverized, but those who got to know him soon learned that his personality was perhaps one of the
gentlest in the world.
It is also said that Andre could drink an entire case of
beer and not feel so much as a
buzz.
He was one of the
WWF's most beloved
babyfaces throughout the 1970s and early '80s, and was in fact undefeated for over ten years (before losing in 1987, his last defeat was sometime prior to 1977). He was turned
heel in 1987 so that he could face
Hulk Hogan for the
WWF Championship in the
main event of
Wrestlemania III. This was the most highly anticipated
professional wrestling matchup in history -- the apex of wrestling's
golden era. The event, held at the
Pontiac Silverdome, broke the indoor attendance record with over
ninety thousand fans in attendance, with many, many more watching on
Pay-Per-View. Hogan defeated Andre, in what many experts believe was a passing of the torch from Andre, wrestling's biggest star of the '70s, to Hogan, wrestling's biggest star of the '80s.
Andre also starred in several movies at around the same time, most notably as
Fezzik in
The Princess Bride.
Unfortunately, the
disease that granted him his immense size also began to take its toll on his body, as by the late 1980s Andre was in constant, near-crippling
pain and his
heart struggled to pump
blood throughout his massive being.
He stopped competing in the very early 1990s due to the increasing
pain his illness was causing him, retiring to his
winery in
France. His
heart finally failed him in 1993, and Andre passed away peacefully in his sleep at a hotel in
Paris while in town for his
father's
funeral.
He is greatly missed.