ANDRE THE GIANT[]
André René Roussimoff, in 1946, was born from two Europeans. The former was polish and the later was of Bulgarian decent. However, he was born in France. In his early teen year, André was already seven feet tall and weighed three hundred pounds. In his late teens, he dropped out of school to work as a farm hand for their family farm. Unpleased by the work, he moved into Paris to experience city life.
There he met Jaques Abaddie, a wrestling promoter, and found an interest in wrestling. In 1969 André began his career in wrestling under the new name André the Giant; this was because of his enormous size. Shortly after, he moved to the United States. During his career he went undefeated for fifteen years to be defeated by hulk Hogan. Andre continued to wrestle, but he also broke into the acting Industry. In the Princess Bride, the screenwriter wrote one of the characters specifically for André to play the part.
André’s abilities were not limited by his Physique. In the autobiography Behind the Ropes, he emphasizes the importance of education in his life: “When my daughter was born I knew I had to go back to school to be her role model” (289).He excelled in Chemistry, Mathematics and literature. In an entire chapter he wrote his ability to drink alcohol. He stated, “I’m too big. I had to polish two full bottles of vodka to feel a buzz. At one point, I drank 389 beers in one sitting” (198).
As André’s career progressed into the late 1980’s, he was in his late thirties. He began having health issues, although he continued to wrestle. In 1993 at the age of forty-one he passed away from the intensive stress of wrestling. He was inducted to the wrestling federation hall of fame that same year.
Alex Suguitan