In 1993 when the World Wrestling Federation created the WWF Hall of Fame, André the Giant was the first inductee.
André was the inspiration for the movie My Giant, written by his friend Billy Crystal, whom he had met during the filming of The Princess Bride.
Paul Wight, better known as The Big Show, more similar in body structure to André than any other wrestler since André's death, was originally billed as the son of André the Giant during his stint in WCW (when he was known as simply The Giant) despite no biological relation. While also suffering from acromegaly, unlike André, Wight did get surgery on his pituitary gland in the early 1990s, which successfully halted the progress of his condition. The former wrestler Giant González suffered from problems similar to those that André had near the end of his life and died in September 2010 due to diabetes complications.
André is cited and impersonated in the comedy film I Love You, Man. He is also cited in the Eminem song "Crack a Bottle" in the lyrics "Back with Andre the Giant, mister elephant tusk, picture us and you'll be another one to bite the dust". Andre is also cited in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin when someone quotes a woman he dated "had hands like Andre The Giant."
The OBEY brand icon originated from a stencil that artist Shepard Fairey had created based upon a photo of Andre the Giant that Fairey had found in a newspaper.[10]
Capcom's video game character Hugo (known as Andore in Final Fight) is based on him. André appears himself as a game boss, along with Ted DiBiase, in the 1989 arcade game WWF Superstars.
[edit]Personal life
Roussimoff had one daughter, Robin Christensen, who was born in 1979.
The disease that granted him his immense size eventually began to take its toll on his body. By the late 1980s, André was in constant, near-crippling pain, and his heart struggled to pump blood throughout his massive body.
According to William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride and its respective screenplay, André was having such terrible back pain during the filming of the movie that in the first shooting of a scene where Robin Wright drops about one foot and is caught by André, he fell to one knee and almost dropped her.
In the A&E documentary, Biography, Arnold Skaaland mentions how André wished he could see a Broadway play. Arnold offered to buy tickets, but André then passed up the opportunity, citing how he was too big for the seats and that people behind him would not be able to see. This was cited as a principal reason for why André frequented taverns more than anywhere else.
He has been unofficially crowned "The Greatest Drunk on Earth" for once consuming 119 12-ounce beers in 6 hours.[11] On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham claimed that André once drank 197 16-ounce beers in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes. Such feats can be attributed to his much larger than usual size, meaning it would take higher volumes of liquor to inebriate him. In her autobiography, The Fabulous Moolah alleges that André drank 327 beers and passed out in a hotel bar in Reading, Pennsylvania, and because the staff could not move him, they had to leave him there until he regained consciousness.[12]
André was arrested by the Linn County, Iowa sheriff in August 1989 and charged with assault after the 540 lb (240 kg) wrestler allegedly roughed up a local TV cameraman.
Andre The Giant : Death
André died in his sleep due to congestive heart failure on January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. He was in Paris to attend the funeral of his father.
André's body was cremated in accordance with his wishes and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina.
At 7'4" and 500 pounds, Andre the Giant could have been famous for his size alone. His drive, talent and ambition, however, proved to be as big as Andre himself, and the wrestler became legendary for his achievements in and out of the
ring
Though professionally Andre will always be remembered as The 8th Wonder of the World, he is known and loved by fans across the globe as The Gentle Giant.
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Undertaker and Andre the Giant appear in same matchby GoodMicWork15,467 views
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