André the Giant

André René Roussimoff (19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor.

Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess growth hormones.

André René Roussimoff was born on 19 May 1946 in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, the son of immigrants Boris Roussimoff (1907–1993) and Mariann Roussimoff Stoeff (1910–1997); his father was Bulgarian and his mother was Polish.

He was raised Catholic.

He had two older siblings and two younger.

His childhood nickname was Dédé.

At birth, André weighed 6 kg; as a child, he displayed symptoms of gigantism, and was noted as "a good head taller than other kids", with abnormally long hands.

While Roussimoff was growing up in the 1950s, the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Roussimoff and his siblings.

They had a surprising amount of common ground and bonded over their love of cricket, with Roussimoff recalling that the two rarely talked about anything else.

At the age of 18, Roussimoff moved to Paris and was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter, Robert Lageat, who recognized the earning potential of Roussimoff's size.

He trained at night and worked as a mover during the day to pay living expenses.

Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", a name based on the Picardian folk hero Grand Ferré, and began wrestling in Paris and nearby areas.

Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971.

Canadian promoter and wrestler Frank Valois met Roussimoff in 1966, years later to become his business manager and adviser.

Roussimoff began making a name for himself wrestling in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa.

In a 1970s television interview, Roussimoff stated that his mother was 5 ft tall and his father 6 ft tall, and that according to his father his grandfather was 7 ft tall.

By the time he was 12, Roussimoff stood 6 ft.

Roussimoff was an average student, though good at mathematics.

When he was 14, Rousimoff decided against further schooling and joined the workforce, believing what he learned was sufficient for a career as a farmhand.

He did not drop out of school, as compulsory education laws in France were no longer applicable to those aged 14 or older.

Roussimoff spent years working on his father's farm in Molien, where, according to his brother Jacques, he could perform the work of three men.

He also completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, and next worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers.

None of these brought him any satisfaction.

He made his Japanese debut for the International Wrestling Enterprise in 1970, billed as "Monster Roussimoff".

Wrestling as both a singles and tag team competitor, he quickly was made the IWA World Tag Team Champion alongside Michael Nador.

During his time in Japan, doctors first informed Roussimoff that he suffered from acromegaly.

Roussimoff next moved to Montreal, Canada in 1971, where he became an immediate success, regularly selling out the Montreal Forum.

Promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled.

Roussimoff was defeated by Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad in 1971, and wrestled numerous times in 1971 for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a special attraction.

From 1973 to the mid-1980s, Roussimoff was booked by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vincent J. McMahon as a roving "special attraction" who wrestled for promotions throughout the United States, as well as in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

In 1973, Vincent J. McMahon, founder of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), suggested several changes to Roussimoff's booking and presentation.

He felt Roussimoff should be portrayed as a large, immovable monster, and to enhance the perception of his size, McMahon discouraged Roussimoff from performing maneuvers such as dropkicks (although he was capable of performing such agile maneuvers before his health deteriorated in later life).

He also began billing Roussimoff as "André the Giant" and set up a travel-intensive schedule, lending him to wrestling associations around the world, to keep him from becoming overexposed in any area.

Promoters had to guarantee Roussimoff a certain amount of money as well as pay McMahon's WWF booking fee.

During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan.

The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF Championship, his sole world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event.

Outside of wrestling, Roussimoff is best known for appearing as Fezzik, the giant in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.

As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death.

After his death in 1993, Roussimoff became the inaugural inductee into the newly created WWF Hall of Fame.

He was later a charter member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame; the latter describes him as being "one of the most recognizable figures in the world both as a professional wrestler and as a pop culture icon."