André the Giant's Real Name: André René Roussimoff

Quick answer: André the Giant's documented full name is André René Roussimoff. An Associated Press obituary published in the Los Angeles Times used the form Andre Rene Roussimoff and identified him to fans as Andre the Giant. A later Times feature recorded that he was born May 19, 1946, in Grenoble, France, and that he died in Paris in late January 1993 (Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles Times).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress heading is "Andre, the Giant, 1946-1993," with a variant "Roussimoff, André René, 1946-1993." The February 22, 1993, Los Angeles Times feature by Chris Dufresne gives the birth date May 19, 1946, in Grenoble The same article says he began hanging around local wrestling venues at about 16 and later wrestled under other ring names before being presented as André the Giant at Madison Square Garden.

Both the AP obituary and the later feature state that he was born with acromegaly, a disorder involving excess growth hormone and progressive enlargement of the head, hands, feet, and chest. He was often billed at 7 feet 4 inches and around 520 pounds, figures a Times feature noted had been disputed as promotional.

Career highlights

The Times described him as one of the most famous professional wrestlers of the 1970s, with a heavy international schedule and mainstream television appearances. His WrestleMania III match against Hulk Hogan at the Pontiac Silverdome, before a crowd the paper gave as 90,817, became one of the era's most widely cited cards. The same feature said he wrestled his last match on December 4 in Japan.

He also acted. The AP obituary and the Times feature both highlight his role as the gentle giant Fezzik in Rob Reiner's film The Princess Bride; the feature dates the film to 1987.

Death

The AP report, published on January 30, 1993, said he had gone to France for his father's funeral and was found dead in his Paris hotel room of an apparent heart attack, at age 46, and that the exact time of death was not immediately known. The February 22 Times feature later gave the date as January 27; some later listings use January 28. This page records a death in Paris in late January 1993 without treating a single calendar day as settled. He had a home on a ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina.

Name notes for searchers

André René Roussimoff is the documented full name; he is widely known as André the Giant. Searchers looking for the wrestler or for Fezzik in The Princess Bride are usually aiming at the same person.