Back in the '80s, the World Wrestling Federation - now known as World Wrestling Entertainment
- was a grab-tastic slam-stravaganza crammed with classic characters and legendary storylines
- and Andre the Giant was the Atlas holding it all up.
The 500-plus-pound Andre dwarfed even the most enormous of his fellow athletes.
According to Sports Illustrated, one of his hands could engulf a 12-ounce beer can, and
his wrists were thicker than most men's ankles.
The Giant dominated wrestling for decades, but he also battled perpetually gained body
mass and debilitating health problems.
Meanwhile, the strain of fame destroyed him mentally.
Here's the tragic real-life story of Andre the Giant.
"He is said to be the largest, and highest paid, and best known wrestler in the entire
world [...] Please welcome Andre the Giant."
Biggest in the business
By every measure, Andre the Giant was a whole lot of man.
Besides size, he possessed unfathomable strength and a voice deeper than the ocean.
"I'm not supernatural, I'm just myself."
Born Andre Roussimoff on a farm in the French Alps in 1946, Andre grew to be 7-foot-4, according
to the WWE, though he was likely closer to 6-foot-11.
Andre never lifted weights, yet acquaintances alleged he could lift trees and overpower
thousand-pound cows.
For fun he would occasionally wedge his friends' cars in between buildings.
Hitting the big time
Andre left home at age 14 and dove into wrestling at 16.
By the '70s he was the most renowned wrestler on Earth, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Then in 1973 the father of current WWE owner Vince McMahon branded him Andre the Giant.
Sports Illustrated's Terry Todd, who traveled with Andre, observed,
"Going through a revolving door, he [had to] bend and take tiny shuffling steps to make
the door revolve."
He bent himself like a contortionist to fit in taxis, and hotel bathrooms left him no
room to bathe.
Andre wasn't just larger than life; he was larger than daily life.
The Eighth Wonder
Though the WWF dubbed him the "Eighth Wonder of the World," the world orbited Andre like
a planet.
The giant revealed in one interview,
"I would give much money to be able to spend one day per week as a man of regular size."
Acromegaly, the cause of his size, gave him an unusual visage.
And made him the perfect target for bullying.
Hall-of-Famer Bret Hart witnessed grannies "curse [Andre] out" for declining to sign
autographs.
And "Mean" Gene Okerlund said the giant "would cry" because of all the teasing he endured.
Andre eventually found refuge in the QVC channel.
Per CBS Sports, it allowed him to shop without "attracting unwanted audiences."
Raising the bar tab
According to coworkers, Andre's liver swam in an ocean of booze.
USA Today reported that ex-wrestler Gerald Brisco claimed the giant downed six bottles
of wine before matches.
And Modern Drunkard Magazine reported he racked up a $40,000 hotel bar tab while filming The
Princess Bride.
In an interview with David Letterman, Andre admitted,
"Is it true that you in one sitting drank 117 beers?"
"Yes."
But as CBS Sports revealed,
"Andre was living in pain."
Years of wrestling and arduous travel ravaged his body and his disorder caused his bones
and joints to thicken, inflicting further stress.
Pharmaceutical solutions existed, but he refused to take them.
The Princess Bride
As filming for The Princess Bride began, Andre transformed into the lovable Fezzik.
William Goldman, who authored both the screenplay and the book that inspired it, told CNN it
was the only casting choice he specifically envisioned while writing the script.
"It's not my fault I'm the biggest and the strongest.
I don't even exercise."
Andre was so good in the role it seemed inconceivable that he wasn't already a Hollywood heavyweight.
No Small Parts reported Andre had previously played monsters, but The Princess Bride emphasized
his humanity and allowed his personality to shine.
Co-star Cary Elwes - who played Wesley - called him "a real gentle giant" who "would give
you the shirt off his back."
A titan's twilight
During his incredible career Andre battled many beasts.
He knocked out the great Gorilla Monsoon, nearly flattened Harley Race, and defeated
Hulk Hogan.
But the giant's biggest opponent was time.
At age 23 Andre learned he could die by age 40, according to friend Jackie McCauley.
She told CBS Sports that Japanese doctors offered to operate on him before time ran
out, but the giant declined.
Twenty years later Andre's knees were buckling, and he was becoming entombed in his body.
As the Los Angeles Times detailed, by the early '90s, he was immobile.
Once a titan who carried the wrestling world, Andre now needed others to do the heavy lifting.
Wrestlemania in the sky
In January 1993 Andre returned to France to attend his father's funeral.
And on January 27th, the giant's gentle heart stopped beating.
He was 46.
The Los Angeles Times reported Andre wanted to be cremated and for his ashes to be spread
over his North Carolina ranch.
But no crematorium in France could handle a man of his magnitude.
So best friends Jackie McCauley and Frenchy Bernard flew his body to the States, where
it was reduced to 17 pounds of ashes, according to Bleacher Report.
"When you got one true friend like him, that's all you need in this world.
A true friend."
Andre named three people in his will: Jackie, Frenchy, and his daughter Robin.
He signed it not as Andre but as "A. Roussimoff," a man who caught everyone's eye, but who few
people really saw.
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