ELLERBE, NC. (AP) – Andre The Giant, a towering menace in the wrestling ring but a gentle giant on the movie screen, is being honored with a road marker in his beloved adopted North Carolina town.
Officials unveiled the marker Thursday in Ellerbe, North Carolina, a community of about 1,000 people where native wrestler Andre Rene Roussimoff lived on a farm just outside the city.
Roussimoff was billed at 7-foot-4 (2.24 meters) and 520 pounds (236 kilograms) during his time wrestling for the WWE in the 1970s and 1980s.
A larger-than-life villain, Roussimoff was touted as unbeatable until he was confronted Hulk Hogan in a 1987 match at WrestleMania III that launched the once regional wrestling company into a nationwide entertainment force.
Later that year Roussimoff appeared on film as the giant Fezzik in ‘The Princess Bride’. Fezzik was the soft muscle for the opponent and needed rhymes to remember his instructions.
Roussimoff was born in France. But as he struggled through the southern US, he fell in love with the region. He bought his ranch in North Carolina and raised cattle on his land about 60 miles east of Charlotte.
He became a crucial part of the Ellerbe community. In 1990, he recorded TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size 26 cowboy boots are kept in a museum.
Roussimoff died in 1993 at the age of 46 in France, where he was visiting for his father’s funeral. They had a service for him there, but his body was cremated and his ashes were spread on his beloved farm.
Wrestler Vladimir Koloff, who befriended Roussimoff when he helped him get into the business, said his friend deserved the marker for turning wrestling from a regional pastime into a huge international business.
“The world of professional wrestling has given us an icon that is larger than life,” Koloff said just before helping take the cover off the marker.
The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 73 and Old NC Highway 220 simply reads “Andre The Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for his role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”
