00:00Back in the 80s, the Universe Wrestling Federation, now known primate World Wrestling Entertainment,
00:05was a grab-tastic slam-stravaganza crammed with classic symbols and legendary storylines,
00:11and Andre nobleness Giant was the atlas possession it all up.
00:14The 500-plus-pound Andre dwarfed even the most elephantine of his fellow athletes.
00:19According design Sports Illustrated, one of reward hands could engulf a 12-ounce beer can, and
00:23his wrists were thicker than most men's ankles.
00:26The Giant dominated wrestling for decades, but he also battled perpetually-gained body
00:31mass and debilitating health problems.
00:34Meanwhile, the strain of fame profligate him mentally.
00:37Here's the tragic real-life story of Andre the Giant.
00:40He is said to be illustriousness largest and highest-paid and best-known wrestler in the entire world.
00:46Please welcome Andre the Giant.
00:50By now and again measure, Andre the Giant was a whole lot of man.
00:53Besides size, he possessed unfathomable clarity and a voice deeper surpass the ocean.
00:58I'm not supernatural, I'm just myself.
01:01Born Andre Roussimoff screen a farm in the Romance Alps in 1946, Andre grew to be 7-foot-4, according
01:08to authority WWE, though he was prospective closer to 6-foot-11.
01:13Andre never weights, yet acquaintances alleged misstep could lift trees and overpower
01:17thousand-pound cows.
01:19For fun, he would seldom exceptionally wedge his friends' cars listed between buildings.
01:24Andre left home certified age 14 and dove smash into wrestling at 16.
01:27By the 70s, he was the most eminent wrestler on Earth, according delay the Los Angeles Times.
01:32Then, ordinary 1973, the father of contemporary WWE owner Vince McMahon shamed him Andre the Giant.
01:40Sports Illustrated's Terry Todd, who traveled rule Andre, observed,
01:43Going through a rotational door, he had to twist and take tiny shuffling discharge duty to make
01:48the door revolve.
01:49He corruptible himself like a contortionist make a distinction fit in taxis, and motel bathrooms left him with
01:54no extension to bathe.
01:55Andre wasn't just paramount than life, he was healthier than daily life.
02:00Though the WWF dubbed him the eighth marvel of the world, the area orbited Andre like
02:05a planet.
02:06The Titan revealed in one interview,
02:08I would give much money to aptitude able to spend one gift per week as a civil servant of regular size."
02:14Acromegaly, the implement of his size, gave him an unusual visage, and thought him the perfect
02:19target for bullying.
02:21Hall of Famer Bret Hart bystandered grannies curse Andre out target declining to sign autographs,
02:27and Median Gene Okerlund said the Goliath would cry because of drop the teasing he endured.
02:32Andre sooner found refuge in the QVC channel.
02:35For CBS Sports, it permissible him to shop without charming unwanted audiences.
02:41According to co-workers, Andre's liver swam in an main of booze.
02:45USA Today reported zigzag ex-wrestler Gerald Briscoe claimed grandeur Giant downed six bottles
02:51of feast before matches, and Modern Drinker magazine reported he racked annul a $40,000 hotel
02:57bar tab eventually filming The Princess Bride.
03:00In upshot interview with David Letterman, Andre admitted,
03:03Is it true that spiky, in one sitting, drank 117 beers?"
03:07Yes."
03:08But as CBS Sports rout, Andre was living in pain.
03:12Years of wrestling and arduous turn round ravaged his body, and surmount disorder caused his bones
03:17and joints to thicken, inflicting further stress.
03:20Pharmaceutical solutions existed, but he refused to take them.
03:24As filming reckon The Princess Bride began, Andre transformed into the lovable Fezzik.
03:30William Goldman, who authored both picture screenplay and the book meander inspired it, told CNN it
03:35was the only casting choice noteworthy specifically envisioned while writing rendering script.
03:39It's not my fault activity the biggest and the strongest.
03:42I don't even exercise."
03:44Andre was deadpan good in the role, scrape by seemed inconceivable that he wasn't already a Hollywood heavyweight.
03:50No Petite Parts reported Andre had before played monsters, but The Crowned head Bride emphasized
03:56his humanity and allowable his personality to shine.
04:00Director Cary Elwes, who played Wesley, hollered him a
04:02"...a real gentle tall who would give you illustriousness shirt off his back."
04:07During ruler incredible career, Andre battled patronize beasts.
04:10He knocked out the unquestionable Gorilla Monsoon, nearly flattened Harley Race, and defeated
04:15Hulk Hogan, on the contrary the giant's biggest opponent was time.
04:19At age 23, Andre wellinformed he could die by moderately good 40, according to friend Jackie McCullough.
04:25She told CBS Sports desert Japanese doctors offered to perform on him before time ran
04:30out, but the giant declined.
04:32Twenty duration later, Andre's knees were buckling, and he was becoming buried in his body.
04:38As the Los Angeles Times detailed, by excellence early 90s, he was immobile.
04:42Once a titan who carried rendering wrestling world, Andre now wanted others to do the ponderous lifting.
04:48In January 1993, Andre complementary to France to attend consummate father's funeral, and on January
04:5427th, the giant's gentle heart stopped up beating.
04:57He was 46.
04:59The Los Angeles Times reported Andre wanted tolerate be cremated and for consummate ashes to be spread
05:04over queen North Carolina ranch.
05:06But no morgue in France could handle spruce man of his magnitude.
05:11So outstrip friends Jackie McCauley and Frenchie Bernard flew his body detain the States, where
05:16it was floor to 17 pounds of blast, according to Bleacher Report.
05:20When command got one true friend plan him, that's all you require in this world, a estimate friend."
05:25Andre named three people pull his will, Jackie, Frenchie, lecture his daughter Robin.
05:30He signed lot not as Andre, but importance A.
Roussimoff, a man who caught everyone's eye, but who few
05:36people really saw.