While Roussimoff was growing up in the 1950s, the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Roussimoff and his siblings. Roussimoff spent years working on his father’s farm in Molien, where, according to his brother Jacques, he could perform the work of three men. When he was 14, Rousimoff decided against further schooling and joined the workforce, believing what he learned was sufficient for a career as a farmhand. André René Roussimoff was born on 19 May 1946 in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, to immigrants, Boris Roussimoff and Mariann Roussimoff Stoeff (née Marasjek); his father was Bulgarian and his mother was Polish.
At WrestleMania IV, Roussimoff and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match (with the idea in the storyline saying that Roussimoff was again working on DiBiase’s behalf in giving DiBiase a clearer path in the tournament). Roussimoff was defeated by Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad in 1971, and wrestled numerous times in 1971 for Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a special attraction. Keep in mind that Google can’t commit to a specific timeline for updates. For example, sweetsino you can explore how your neighborhood has changed over time. You can find street-level imagery taken at different times from the Street View archives and other contributors. Later matches, including his battles against Hulk Hogan while a heel, are not included on this VHS.
In his last U.S. television appearance, Andre appeared on World Championship Wrestling’s (WCW) Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992, where he gave a brief interview. In 1968 he defeated Franz van Buyten for the FFCP World Heavyweight Championship In 1969 he appeared on the United Kingdom’s World of Sport program’s regular wrestling slot and defeated Jim Hussey, father of Mark Rocco. In a 1970s television interview, Roussimoff stated that his mother was 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) tall and his father 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall, and that according to his father his grandfather was 7 ft 8 in (234 cm) tall. In a 2016 interview Eadie revealed that Roussimoff was the godfather of his two daughters. On April 17, 2026, Christensen appeared alongside Nick Hogan at the WWE Hall of Fame, when their respective fathers’ WrestleMania III match was inducted as an Immortal Moment. Christensen had regular contact with her father, but saw him only five times in her life.
- Wrestling as both a singles and tag team competitor, he quickly was made the IWA World Tag Team Champion alongside Michael Nador.
- Roussimoff feuded with Big John Studd over which of the two men was the “true giant” of wrestling.
- Roussimoff began to wear face paint with a similar design to Warrior and began called himself the “Ultimate Giant” when he appeared on The Brother Love Show.
- In 1989, Roussimoff and the returning Big John Studd briefly reprised their feud, beginning at WrestleMania V, when Studd was the referee in the match with Roberts, this time with Studd as a face and Roussimoff as the heel.
- When he was 14, Rousimoff decided against further schooling and joined the workforce, believing what he learned was sufficient for a career as a farmhand.
- Promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled.
- During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan.
Roussimoff began to wear face paint with a similar design to Warrior and began called himself the “Ultimate Giant” when he appeared on The Brother Love Show. Throughout their feud (which culminated at WrestleMania V), Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger Roussimoff. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside carrying his snake in its bag during Roussimoff’s matches, causing the latter to run from the ring in fright. In this storyline, it was said Roussimoff was afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night’s Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened Roussimoff; as a result, he suffered a kayfabe mild heart attack and vowed revenge. Despite Duggan’s popularity with fans, Roussimoff regularly got the upper hand in the feud. This allowed Hogan and Savage time to recover and eventually win the match with Hogan pinning DiBiase.
Sporadic appearances (1990–
- This allowed Hogan and Savage time to recover and eventually win the match with Hogan pinning DiBiase.
- During the same event, he appeared alongside Gordon Solie and was later seen talking with him during the gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of wrestling on TBS.
- While Roussimoff was growing up in the 1950s, the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was one of several adults who sometimes drove local children to school, including Roussimoff and his siblings.
- He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
- In January 2005, WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the life and career of Roussimoff.
He earned an annual salary of approximately $400,000 (equivalent to $2,611,000 in 2025) at that time. He appeared most notably as Fezzik, his own favorite role, in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. That same year, he also made an appearance in Micki & Maude (billed as André Rousimmoff). He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Roussimoff branched out into acting in the 1970s and 1980s, after a 1967 French boxing film, making his USA acting debut playing a Sasquatch (“Bigfoot”) in a two-part episode aired in 1976 on the television series The Six Million Dollar Man. Roussimoff made his final tour with AJPW from October to December 1992; he wrestled what became the final match of his career on 4 December 1992, teaming with Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura to defeat Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi, and Motoshi Okuma.
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In January 2005, WWE released André The Giant, a DVD focusing on the life and career of Roussimoff. Roussimoff made numerous appearances as himself in video games, starting with WWF WrestleMania. Upon his death in Paris, his family in France held a funeral for him, intending to bury him near his father.
In a short interview with Lanny Poffo, André stated that the movie meant so much to him that he made his wrestling pals watch an advance copy of the VHS with him over and over again while supplying dinner, drinks, and sweetly asking each time, “Did you like my performance?”. He appeared in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B. J. Roussimoff made a couple of guest appearances for Herb Abrams’ Universal Wrestling Federation, in 1991, feuding with Big John Studd, though he never had a match in the promotion. He toured with AJPW three times per year, from 1990 to 1992, usually teaming with Giant Baba in tag-team matches.
As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death. The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, his sole major world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event. During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan. Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971.
He appeared in an interview segment with Captain Lou Albano and put over the UWF. Instead, Roussimoff made an interview appearance for Herb Abrams’ fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation on 11 October in Reseda, California. He wrestled one more time with Haku, teaming up to face Demolition on a house show in Honolulu on 10 April, Roussimoff was knocked out of the ring and The Colossal Connection lost via count-out. During the late summer and autumn of 1989, Roussimoff engaged in a brief feud, consisting almost entirely of house shows (non-televised events), and one televised match on 28 October 1989, at Madison Square Garden with then-WWF Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior. In 1989, Roussimoff and the returning Big John Studd briefly reprised their feud, beginning at WrestleMania V, when Studd was the referee in the match with Roberts, this time with Studd as a face and Roussimoff as the heel. Concurrent with the developing feud with the Mega Powers, Roussimoff was placed in a feud with Jim Duggan, which began after Duggan knocked out Roussimoff with a two-by-four board during a television taping.
The following month on 30 November at a house show in Miami, Florida, the World Wrestling Federation announced his return as a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble (to be held in Miami two months later). His final WWF match of 1990 came at a combined WWF/All Japan/New Japan show on 13 April in Tokyo, Japan when he teamed with Giant Baba to defeat Demolition in a non-title match. On weekend television shows following WrestleMania VI, Bobby Heenan vowed to spit in Roussimoff’s face when he came crawling back to the Heenan Family.
Since Roussimoff could not easily go shopping due to his fame and size, he was known to spend hours watching and purchasing items from the shopping channel QVC. While there were custom-made chairs and a few other modifications in his home to accommodate his size, tales that everything in his home was custom-made for a large man are said to be exaggerated. When he was not on the road, he loved spending time at the ranch, where he tended to his cattle, played with his dogs, and entertained friends. After his death, Christensen spoke positively about her father and became a guardian of his image and legacy.