Andre The Gentle Giant

Andre The Giant went from a gentle farmer to traveling circus performer before becoming an international wrestling superstar! He even became a famed actor by the end of his magnificent career.  Andre is known to his friends as a gentleman, kind and caring, and someone who is always thinking about others. Legends of Andre’s generosity and sense of humour will live on in his memory. Andre might just be the real Gentle Giant.

He never stopped growing…

Andre went to boarding school from age 14-19 and when he returned, he had grown so much that even his own parents did not recognize him.

His size was a result of gigantism caused by excess growth hormone, which later resulted in acromegaly.

Andre’s medical condition lead to him becoming an attraction and he soon became the highest paid professional wrestler in the world.

Fun Facts About Andre The Giant

• At his biggest size, Andre wore size 22 shoes and was billed as being 7 feet, 4 inches tall. Andre’s wrist size was equivalent to that of a gorilla.

• One of his friends owned a smaller-than-average car, Andre’s idea of a joke was to manually pick it up and move it from its usual parking spot.

•Andre first began wrestling when he moved to Paris at 17 years of age. A local wrestling promoter saw his potential (that is, his size), and trained him to be a professional wrestler. Andre took his wrestling training sessions at night while he worked as a mover during the day to pay his bills.

•Andre’s first appearance on American television was when he guest-starred on the series The Six Million Dollar Man in 1976. He acted as Bigfoot in a two-parter episode.

More About Andre

• In 1974, Andre was entered into that year’s edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. He was credited as the highest-paid wrestler in history at the time, earning $400,000 per year in the early 1970s.

• Naturally, with all that size comes an appetite to match. According to his friend Tim White, if Andre wanted to put on a show, he would go into a restaurant and eat as many as 12 steaks and 15 lobsters in one sitting!

•Andre holds the distinction of having been the first wrestler inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. In fact, the Hall of Fame was invented purely so Andre could be inducted into it, which happened shortly after his death in 1993.

Looking for more interesting bites of knowledge? Check out our Fun Facts category!

Its loaded with all kinds of interesting stuff like The Island of Sumo Wrestling.

Or you might find some further inspiration in Words of Wisdom From The Rock.