There are some movies which are lightning-in-a-bottle moments, never to be recreated. Star Wars, for instance: fresh off the success of American Graffiti, George Lucas was given just enough money to do what he wanted, but not so much that the studio would look too much over his shoulder. The Lord of the Rings movies, ditto – aided and abetted by sheer physical remoteness.
The Princess Bride is a similar, one-off, miracle. Not least, its magic for ’80s audiences was compounded by the inclusion of two beloved figures we’d all grown up with: Peter Falk and Andre the Giant.
It was impossible to grow up in the 1970s and not know of Andre the Giant. Even if you weren’t a wrestling fan, André René Roussimoff was, quite simply, a truly giant presence in popular culture.
André the Giant’s name certainly fit him. Standing at over seven feet tall and weighing more than 500 pounds, he […] dominated the global wrestling scene. However, it was his charismatic personality that made him an international superstar. Eventually, he used this popularity to make the transition into acting, famously starring as Fezzik in The Princess Bride. Unfortunately, the condition that caused his massive stature was also responsible for his short lifespan […]
André the Giant’s size was attributed to acromegaly, a hormonal disorder in which the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone. This tragically caused numerous health issues for André throughout his life, many of which he coped with by drinking.
Both of which contributed to his tragically short life. André the Giant died aged just 46, on 28 January, 1993.
André René Roussimoff was born on May 19, 1946, in Coulommiers, France. He grew up alongside four siblings in the small farming community of Molien, some 40 miles east of Paris. Unlike his average-sized family members, however, André began exhibiting signs of gigantism early in life.
By the age of 12, he stood at six feet, three inches tall and weighed approximately 200 pounds.
Despite that, he led a relatively normal childhood. But at 17, tired of farm life, he moved to the bright lights of Paris. Working as a furniture removalist during the day, he spent his evenings training as a wrestler. He soon made a name for himself in Europe and Japan. But in 1971, he came to the attention of French-Canadian wrestler Édouard Carpentier, who brought him to North America in 1971.
Within two years, André was signed by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vince McMahon. Two years after that, he beat Buddy Wolfe at Madison Square Gardens and André the Giant became a worldwide household name.
No wrestler worth his salt goes without a rival and André found his in another soon-to-be superstar wrestler, Hulk Hogan.
It began in the early 1980s, after André had already established himself as a beloved figure. Hogan, on the other hand, was a fresh face in the industry. Playing off this dynamic, their early matches often saw Hogan portrayed as the villain – and he even once managed to body slam André. The feat, although impressive, didn’t lead to a victory for Hogan, however.
What it did establish was a mutual respect between the two.
A mutual respect that culminated in a supposedly ultimate grudge match in 1987.
“I’d never beaten the Giant before, and there was no shame in getting beat by him because no one had ever beaten him,” Hogan recalled in an interview on the Full Send Podcast. “I asked Vince [McMahon]. I said, ‘You know, here we are the night before, what are we doing tomorrow?’ Vince goes, ‘I don’t know… I’m sure André will do the right thing.’”
Which is an understatement. When Hogan delivered ‘the body slam heard around the world’ and dropped André to the mat – to Hogan’s shock, the Giant stayed down.
“I realized what he had done for me,” Hogan said. “He had just made my career there, brother. I was on a roll anyway, but that was like hitting double nitrous buttons for me.”
Although it wasn’t the last time the two would face off in the ring, it was a career-defining match for both men. More importantly, outside of the wrestling world, it showed that André René Roussimoff was the humble sort of man who could put his own ego aside for the sake of the show – and for the sake of a fellow wrestler.
If he was the greatest and biggest wrestler on Earth, André the Giant was also surely one of its greatest drinkers. Writer of The Princess Bride William Goldman and co-star Cary Elwes both described André one of the gentlest and kindest people they had ever met – and ‘the greatest drunk on Earth’.
There are countless stories of André’s frankly astonishing consumption of alcohol. Hulk Hogan once said that he witnessed André drink 108 12-ounce beers over the course of about 45 minutes. Fellow wrestling legend Ric Flair also said, “He drank every bottle of vodka on the plane” during a flight to Tokyo.
Despite drinking often and to great excess, André rarely appeared intoxicated. On the few occasions he did, though, things often took a chaotic turn.
According to Elwes, André once got so drunk that he fell on a man waiting for a cab in New York City, seriously injuring him by accident. He also enjoyed taking his fellow cast members out drinking with him, and in trying to keep up with him, they wound up with hangovers for a good portion of filming.
Behind his colossal alcohol consumption, though, was a darker story.
“André didn’t drink for the sake of drinking – André was in a lot of pain, God bless him,” Elwes once said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “His back was injured from carrying all that weight around, and from having other wrestlers breaking chairs over his back.”
The chronic pain also likely stemmed from André’s acromegaly, which led to metabolic complications and diabetes. Unfortunately, during his lifetime, treatment options for acromegaly were limited, and he did not undergo surgery to remove the pituitary tumor responsible for his condition. All of this also likely contributed to André’s sudden and tragic death in January 1993.
Shortly after returning to Paris for his father’s funeral, André was found dead in his hotel room. The cause of death was congestive heart failure, a condition often associated with untreated acromegaly.
“I’m very happy traveling all over the world,” he once said. “I’m very happy to see all those people, all different people. And all different countries. And… wrestling promoters, and lots of fans around to see me, and that’s why I’m proud. I just want to make everybody happy.”
There are very few stars who are almost universally beloved, unreservedly. André the Giant was surely one of them.
