Andre the Giant

A farm boy who never stopped growing

André René Roussimoff was born on May 19, 1946, in Coulommiers, France, and grew up on a farm in the countryside east of Paris. He had acromegaly, a condition in which the body produces too much growth hormone. By his teens he was far bigger than any adult around him. He left school early to work, then moved to Paris and found his way into wrestling.

A touring special attraction

Early on he wrestled as Jean Ferré in France and Canada and as Monster Roussimoff in Japan. In the early 1970s he came to North America, where promoters billed him as Andre the Giant and the Eighth Wonder of the World. Rather than staying in one region, Andre toured constantly, appearing for promoters across the territories for short stays so that his appearances always felt special.

Fans paid to see the impossible: Andre lifting two or three men at once, or a battle royal where opponents could not move him. He was billed at 7 feet 4 inches, and by 1987 at 520 pounds. His real height was probably several inches less, but nobody watching him walk to the ring felt cheated.

Andre spent huge stretches of each year on the road, in North America, Japan, Europe and Australia. His hands were enormous, and stories of everyday objects looking tiny in his grip became part of his legend. Promoters rarely let him lose, which added to the sense that he was unbeatable.

The giant on screen

In 1987, Andre played Fezzik, the gentle giant in the film The Princess Bride. The role showed his warmth and humor to millions of people who had never watched wrestling, and the cast later remembered him fondly. That same year he faced Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan, where the announced crowd was 93,173, a figure many historians believe was inflated.

Stories about Andre's appetite and his capacity for drink became legendary, though many grew in the retelling.

The cost of being a giant

His enormous size took a heavy toll. By the late 1980s Andre was in constant pain and moved slowly in the ring. He died in his sleep in a Paris hotel in late January 1993, at 46 (sources give January 27 or 28), after traveling to France for his father's funeral. His ashes were scattered on his ranch in North Carolina. Decades later, he remains one of the most recognizable figures wrestling has produced.

← El SantoWomen's Wrestling Pioneers →