In 1993, WWE inducted Andre the Giant as the inaugural wrestler into its Hall of Fame. Andre's induction came only a few short months after the legendary wrestler passed away in Paris, after traveling there for his father's funeral. While Andre wrestled for several wrestling promotions, his run with WWE, especially his feud with Hulk Hogan, was the one for which he is best remembered.
Despite his size, Andre managed to wrestle worldwide, including in his native Europe, Canada, the United States, and Japan. However, Andre also left an enormous legacy outside of the ring, not only owing to his sheer size but also his demeanor and his legendary sense of humor.
9 Had Only One Child
When Andre the Giant passed away, he was only 46. Before he died, Andre fathered a single child named Robin Christensen Roussimoff with a woman named Jean Christensen.
According to Robin, she only met her father a handful of times before he passed away and was largely absent from her life. Despite not being close, Robin did appear in HBO's biopic about Andre the Giant which was released in 2018. Strangely enough, Andre wasn't without fatherly feelings, growing close with Stephanie McMahon during her childhood.
8 Suffered From Chronic Pain
Andre the Giant was given his oversized shape because he had gigantism, resulting from the body producing an excessive amount of human growth hormones. While this gave Andre his incredible size, it also meant that he had numerous health issues and frequently dealt with medical issues due to his size. While most wrestlers deal with chronic pain due to the bumps and knocks they take in the ring, Andre's pain seemed to worsen because of his size.
There were many stories about Andre drinking alcohol as a form of numbing the constant pains that he felt from his overly large body. The pain would see him slowly withdraw from wrestling in his 30s, before doing a final farewell tour a year before his death.
7 Police Protections
After Andre the Giant passed away in 1993, many of his friends had numerous stories and anecdotes to tell about the giant. Andre's castmate in the Princess Bride Cary Elwes told several stories about Andre that would become a part of Andre's legacy after his death. One of the greatest stories that Elwes stated came from a night that he and Andre were drinking after they wrapped up filming on the movie.
According to Elwes, the two went around New York City and were drinking when Elwes noticed that the pair were being followed. After a while, Elwes pointed the person out to Andre who explained that their stalker was a police officer. Andre explained that the person was assigned to Andre by the NYPD in case he fell on to someone during the festivities, which had happened before.
6 Famous Friends
Elwes wasn't Andre's only famous friend, especially as he made his transition from wrestling into acting. A few years before Andre appeared in the Princess Bride, Andre worked on Conan the Barbarian, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Walt Chamberlain. Andre would go uncredited as Dagoth the Monster while Schwarzenegger played the titular Conan. Schwarzenegger, Chamberlain, and Andre would remain friends after the film and reportedly went out to dinner together.
Arnold Schwarzenegger told the story of how every time they went out, Andre would pay the bill while Chamberlain would find any way to avoid pay. This is even though Chamberlain had a successful career in the NBA, becoming the first player to earn $100,000 a year.
5 Caused Chaos on Princess Bride
The Princess Bride seemed to have as many hilarious stories happening behind the scenes as they did in front of the camera. Andre the Giant was at the center of many of the hilarious stories. Per the request of the director, Rob Reiner, the movie was shot on a picturesque mountainside. This posed a problem for the 7-foot, 4-inch, 500+ pound Andre the Giant, who would not be able to walk up the mountain like his other cast mates.
To compensate for this, Andre was given an all-terrain vehicle to help him get around. Andre reportedly tore around the set on the vehicle with ease and offered a shot to his smaller co-stars. According to Elwes, he once took the giant up on that offer only for him to break his foot. This wasn't the only injury suffered on the set, as Mandy Patinkin, who played Indigo Montoya, suffered a bruised rib from holding in his laughter.
4 Raging Alcoholic
As previously mentioned, Andre experienced significant pain during his life as a result of his condition. As a way of treating his pain, Andre would often drink copious amounts of alcohol to numb the pain. Cary Elwes spoke about Andre drinking a cocktail that was a mix of numerous different spirits which tasted like airplane fuel. On other occasions, Andre set records for drinking 100 beers in a single session and draining entire casks of wines when he wanted something a little classier.
Another one of Andre's Princess Bride co-stars Mandy Patinkin stated that Andre ran up a $40,000 tab at the bar of the hotel where he was staying. By the end of his stay, Andre was not only a familiar face, but his order was already well known that the bartenders would make it upon simply seeing the giant walk into the bar.
3 Connection to Samuel Beckett
Given his larger-than-life frame, it is hard to imagine Andre having anything close to a normal childhood. Andre grew up in the town of Coulommiers in France and was born shortly after the end of World War 2. By the time Andre was 12 years old, he was already taller than his father, and incredibly large hands which continued to grow. During his childhood, Andre would go to the local school and help his father on their family farm alongside his brother Jacques.
It turns out that Andre wasn't the only celebrity in the region, as Irish playwright Samuel Beckett also lived in the area. According to the story, Beckett would often drive the children of the area to school in his truck, and Andre was one of the many children that got a ride from the famous playwright. The two reportedly bonded over their mutual love for the sport of cricket, which wasn't a particularly popular sport in France, where they both lived.
2 School Rumors
At one point in time, it was believed that Andre left school at the age of 14 due to dropping out. The belief was seemingly based on the idea that the giant had outgrown the classroom. However, the record was corrected by Andre's brother Jacques. According to Jacques, Andre was an average student but left school at the age of 14 because that was the final year that children were made to go to school. Instead of schooling, Andre would help around his family's farm, where his size was put to good use.
Andre would eventually leave his family's farm, moving to Paris at the age of 18. In Paris, Andre was spotted by a professional wrestling promoter named Robert Lageat. From there, Andre would tour the world before moving to Canada where he worked with Frank Valois and Edouard Carpentier.
1 Giant Farts
One of the legendary things Andre did, both in the ring and on the set of movies, was let rip some legendary flatulence. Both co-stars and wrestlers spoke about how Andre would frequently release seemingly toxic farts in the presence of everyone and anyone. According to Cary Elwes, Andre let out a fart that rang out for 16 seconds during his first scene. This wasn't the only story that friends had about Andre's lethal gas. Other wrestlers told stories about how Andre would fart on his opponents during matches, sometimes when they were locked in a submission move including Bad News Brown, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, and Greg Valentine.