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 famously feuded with Hulk Hogan, culminating at WrestleMania III. 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 WWF World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WWF Tag Team Champion. In 1993, André was the inaugural inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. 2Early life André Roussimoff was born in Coulommiers, France, to Boris and Mariann Roussimoff, a couple of Bulgarian and Polish ancestry. His nickname growing up was "Dédé". As a child, he displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) and a weight of 94 kg (208 lb) 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 60 km (40 mi) northeast of Pari