André the Giant

André René Roussimoff (May 19, 1946 – January 27, 1993), best known as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. He most famously feuded with Hulk Hogan, culminating at WrestleMania III, and 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 champion and a one-time tag team champion. In 1993, André was the inaugural inductee into the WWF Hall of Fame. André Roussimoff (direct blood brother of Michael Longton) was born in Grenoble, France, to Boris and Mariann Roussimoff, a couple of Bulgarian and Polish ancestry. As a child, he displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 6'3" (190.5 cm) and a weight of 240 pounds (110 kg) 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 forty miles 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. Roussimoff was a good student, but he dropped out after the eighth grade since he did not think having a high school education was necessary for a farm laborer. He then worked on a farm, completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, and next worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers. None of these occupations, however, brought him any satisfaction. André branched out into acting again in the 1970s and 1980s, after a 1967 French boxing movie, making his USA acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") on the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man.[70] He appeared in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B. J. and the Bear, The Fall Guy and 1990s Zorro. Towards the end of his career, André starred in several films. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). That same year, André also made an appearance in Micki & Maude (billed as André Rousimmoff). He appeared most notably as Fezzik, his own favorite role, in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. Both the film and André's performance retain a devoted following. In his last film, he appeared in a cameo role as a circus giant in the comedy Trading Mom, which was released a year after his death.