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Articles and Products of History Andre the Giant Unless one is an avid wrestling fan, many people may not be familiar with Andre the Giant. Born in France in 1946, his parents named him Andre Rene Roussimoff. Andre was born afflicted with acromegaly, a disease that causes an over abundance of growth hormones resulting in a person’s continual body growth throughout their lives. This disease is also known as Giantism. His last measurement brought him in at 7 foot 4 and 500 pounds.
It seemed logical that someone of Andre the Giant’s stature would end up in wrestling. He originally used the names Monster Eiffel Tower and Monster Roussimoff. He eventually made his way to America and was dubbed Andre the Giant, Eighth Wonder of the World, referring to King Kong. Eventually Vince McMahon of the World Wide Wrestling Federation heard about Andre. In 1973 McMahon signed Andre the Giant to a contract with the World Wrestling Federation. Andre the Giant became one of the most popular wrestlers in history, selling out venues with seats for 20,000 or more. One of the heights of his career was drawing more than 90,000 fans to Wrestlemania in 1987. Andre was scheduled to fight another wrestling superstar, Hulk Hogan. Wrestling was a rewarding and satisfying career for Andre the Giant. Most people don’t realize that Andre the Giant had another side to him. He loved to act. He appeared on television on the Six Million Dollar Man and made other guest appearances on weekly television shows. Andre’s favorite role was as Fezzik, the giant that appeared in the movie The Princess Bride. Andre the Giant was in fact a gentle and loving man. He worked in wrestling for 20 years but found that his disease was making it more and more difficult to work. Unfortunately his heart could no longer keep up with his size and he had a fatal heart attack in 1993. Further Reading
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