André the Giant

Would have been 74 today.   As a kid in the 1970's & 80's there was nothing more epic than a Hulk Hogan and André the Giant.  Wrestling back then was just epic stuff.  The hatred between players seemed real (and in some cases really was).  The stuff in the ring, around the ring and between matches was legendary stuff.  A soap opera of sorts that was like nothing else. 

At 7'4" and 520+ lbs he seemed a freak of nature that as kids we were fascinated by.  He was also the big teddy bear of a friend that you all secretly wanted and all liked that could crush all that got in his way.

In reply to dean1484 :

I remember him before he became "Andre the Giant". He wrestled the eastern Canada circuit as "The Giant Jean Ferrer". I saw him and his "greatest enemy", Mad Dog Vachon arrive at the arena in my home town in the same Lincoln Continental. I could hear the crowd erupt with "Boos" when Mad Dog entered the building. Ferrer waited a couple of minutes and entered to loud cheers as he was the good guy to Vachon's bad guy.

definitely had a posse.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

definitely had a posse.

The HBO special "Andre" is well worth the time.

(I believe that's the name)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6543420/

Well worth watching.  He had a Rhodesian Ridgeback, it's in the documentary.  Hulk Hogan describing how he got in an argument with him in a restaurant over who was going to pay and Andre picked him up and set him on top of some cabinet, then paid.

Loved him in The Princess Bride.  I will make a point of watching the HBO piece.

I am reading Cary Elwes' book "As You Wish" about the filming of Princess Bride. Andre the Giant strikes me as quite the character.

Some perspective:

It wasn't Hulk that he picked up and put on the counter.  I recall now.  It was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Princess Bride is in the documentary.  Including an interview with Meathead.

https://drunkard.com/10_06_andre_giant/

The man revolutionized medicine by being a legendary drunk m 

There's a great photo of Andre the Giant and Wilt Chamberlain carrying around Arnold Schwartzenegger like two seniors holding up a freshman. 

1988RedT2 said:

Loved him in The Princess Bride.  I will make a point of watching the HBO piece.

"It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise."

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

I remember him before he became "Andre the Giant". He wrestled the eastern Canada circuit as "The Giant Jean Ferrer". I saw him and his "greatest enemy", Mad Dog Vachon arrive at the arena in my home town in the same Lincoln Continental. I could hear the crowd erupt with "Boos" when Mad Dog entered the building. Ferrer waited a couple of minutes and entered to loud cheers as he was the good guy to Vachon's bad guy.

Mad Dog was a regular in the AWA wrestling association in Minnesota, he was one of my favorites.  Andre wrestled here as well but not as frequently.

Explained his glory to 84FSP-jr after torturing he and his sister with princess bride.

We were all in his posse. 

stuart in mn said:

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

I remember him before he became "Andre the Giant". He wrestled the eastern Canada circuit as "The Giant Jean Ferrer". I saw him and his "greatest enemy", Mad Dog Vachon arrive at the arena in my home town in the same Lincoln Continental. I could hear the crowd erupt with "Boos" when Mad Dog entered the building. Ferrer waited a couple of minutes and entered to loud cheers as he was the good guy to Vachon's bad guy.

Mad Dog was a regular in the AWA wrestling association in Minnesota, he was one of my favorites.  Andre wrestled here as well but not as frequently.

Hogan did too once upon a time. Awa was sort of the jam til wwf went national. 

I became friends with Nikolai Volkoff years ago, and had the pleasure of sitting on his deck, smoking cigars with him and the Iron Sheik, as the whiskey flowed. It became normal to hear great stories of those times, and I miss my friend. I wish I could have gone back in time and told my 10 year old self, you won't believe this but one day...

Mndsm said:

https://drunkard.com/10_06_andre_giant/

 

The man revolutionized medicine by being a legendary drunk m 

The end of that piece was absolutely sublime.

The key to Andre the Giant is this — even as a youth he knew that his disease would dramatically shorten his life. He knew there was no cure, and lived every day with the understanding that death could shamble around the very next corner. Knowledge of this sort can darken a life.

It did not darken Andre’s.

He chose instead to pack his days with as much insane, drunken fun as they could hold. Instead of languishing in the darkness, he chose to walk in the sun.

I was well into adulthood before I learned that Andre played the role (so did Ted Cassidy) of Bigfoot in the Six Million Dollar Man tv show. The encounters with Bigfoot in that show scared the tar out of me as a kid. 

When Andre wrestled in the AWA one of his favorite watering holes was Mancini’s Restaurant in St Paul. His picture is on the wall of fame (along with many other pro and college sports folk that also frequented there).  Although I went to some of the cards at the old Civic Center as a kid, I never got to see Andre when he was in town. There are some pretty insightful interviews and podcasts out there with wrestlers that knew him well.  The later part of his life was pretty sad.

I did get to see Hulk Hogan wrestle in one of his several matches vs AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel.  Hogan was unlike any wrestler at the time. He had just been in Rocky 3 as Thunderlips the Ultimate Male. I also remember the crowd was pretty nuts then when compared to any other sporting or form of entertainment I’ve ever since been to. Those really were the good old days of pro wrestling.

This got me thinking more about that era of wrestling. I think the Andre, Hogan, Mad Dog Vachon (and on and on) days in the AWA was also about the same time that fans started the Weasel chants whenever Bobby Hennan would appear. The weasel chants would stick with Heenan the rest of his career.  Another wrestling character that had a very sad ending to his life.

In reply to Mndsm :

Well thanks for opening that rabbit hole. 

Pro wrestling stories has a bunch of good stories about Andre, and a lot of the other old timers.