Flying First Class
Freestyle Skiing
Goblin Shark
The Three Stooges
Benelli M4 Super 90
Tanker 910
Breast Reduction
Hiller X-18
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Down Syndrome
Spider Monkey
Union Pacific Big Boy
Warrenpoint Ambush
Apollo 11
Les Stroud
Richard Pryor
Concussion
North American X-15
Blue Ringed Octopus
Rhytidectomy (Facelift)
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
Big Mac Index
Annelid
Tiger Shark
Niagara Falls
Heckler & Koch MP5
Hyena
2008 Toronto Propane Explosion
Lamborghini Countach
Breast Implant
Delorean DMC-12
Tonopah Test Range Airport
Buran Program
Poison Dart Frog
Samuel Adams Beer
Outlaws Motorcycle Club
P-51 Mustang
Fluorescence
Simo Hayha
Hot Dog
Airwolf
Golden Eagle
Halabja Poison Gas Attack
HMS Ardent
Taurus Judge
Antipredator Adaption
Tom Savini
Black Ice
Hyacinth Macaw
AH-1 Super Cobra
Honey Badger
Traumatic Brain Injury
Emma Maersk
Magma
Patterdale Terrier
Evergreen Supertanker
Andre The Giant
Minigun
Irukandji Jellyfish
.357 SIG
The Greatest American Hero
USS Thresher (SSN-593)
Richard Simmons
Ingrown Toenail
Spud Gun
Trebuchet
Go-Go Dancing
Suicide By Cop
Floater
Rubber Band Gun
KITT
Green Anaconda
Richard Kuklinski
Rip Current
Buzkashi
1993 Storm Of The Century
Kidney Transplant
Polar Bear Plunge
Times Square Ball
The Year Without A Santa Claus
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
K2
Blue Footed Booby
Massive Ordinance Penetrator
Neuschwanstein Castle
SR-71 Blackbird
Glow Stick
Venus Fly Trap
Mitch Hedberg
German Battleship Tirpitz
Chironex Fleckeri
Boss Hoss Motorcycles
USS Nautilus
Project Excelsior
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
LZ 129 Hindenburg
Mount Everest
Emphysema
C-130 Hercules
Zone Of Alienation
Target Girl
Jimmy Hoffa
Code Talker
SS Andrea Doria
Ramstein Airshow Disaster
Caddyshack
MacGyver
Flamethrower
United States Bullion Depository
Hells Angels
Yellow Jacket
Cluster Bomb
Body Suspension
Piper Alpha
Molotov Cocktail
Gumpert Apollo
Russian Knights
John Gotti
Ashley Force
Ilyushin Il-62
Audi R10 TDI
Kim Peek
Pancreatic Cancer
Cordyceps
Ebola
BGM-109 Tomahawk
Sid Haig
Burj Dubai
Bagger 288
Goliath Birdeater
Robert Lasardo
Antonov An 225
HU-16 Albatross
Galileo Spacecraft
Crack Cocaine
Lyle Alzado
Caterpillar 797
Muay Thai
Saleen S7
The Benny Hill Show
Aortic Aneurysm
Cinnamon
Rheinmetall 120mm Gun
Iran Hostage Crisis
GE Genesis
Air Ambulance
M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine
Traci Lords
Methamphetamine
Manta Ray
Centralia, Pennsylvania
M*A*S*H (TV Series)
Nurse Shark
Harland "Colonel" Sanders
Celiac Disease
Sailing Stones
Soviet Aircraft Carrier Varyag
Dome Car
Dung Beetle
Spirit of Esctasy
Differential (Mechanical Device)
Bill Hicks
Shortfin Mako Shark
The Notorious B.I.G.
Marlboro Man
The Day After
Proton Rocket
Cardiac Surgery
Operation Crossroads
Unimog
Polydactyl Cat
MV Blue Marlin
Bone fracture
Astute Class Submarine
Great Train Robbery of 1963
Uruguayan Flight 571
Sears Tower
Harley Davidson WLA
Sten Gun
Swordfish
USS Liberty Incident
Blue Whale
Air India Flight 182
Achille Lauro
Driver Ant
Bobby Orr
.700 Nitro Express
Pan Am Flight 103
High Speed Photography
Saguaro
Chess Boxing
Tybee Bomb
Brittle Star
Operation El Dorado Canyon
Boston Garden
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
Dennis Miller
Adventure (Atari 2600)
Narwhal
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Phalanx CWIS
|
|
André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His great size was a result of acromegaly, and led to him being dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World". André René Roussimoff was born in Grenoble, France, of Bulgarian and Polish descent. He was the third of five children. As a child, he was referred to by his parents as Dédé and showed no signs of the size that he would reach. Roussimoff was a good student but left school after 8th grade because he did not feel that it was important enough to have a high school education to live and work on a farm that was not his own. As an adolescent, he worked on the farm, completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, then worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers, but none of these jobs brought him any satisfaction. Roussimoff was discovered by Lord Alfred Hayes, a wrestling promoter, and left home as a teenager to become a wrestler in Paris. He worked as a mover by day and trained in the ring at night — though few wrestlers were willing to train with anyone so large and strong. In 1964, Édouard Carpentier, a well-known French wrestler, agreed to train with him. Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", the name of a legendary French lumberjack, and quickly made a name for himself. For the next few years, he wrestled in arenas and carnivals in Europe, New Zealand, and Africa. One of André's feuds pitted him against the Mongolian terror Killer Khan, who was managed by Freddie Blassie. According to the storyline, Khan had broken André's ankle during a match in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. After a stay at Beth-Israel Hospital in Boston, André returned with payback on his mind. On 14 November 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, André exacted revenge by destroying Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian Stretcher Match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher. In reality, André had snapped his ankle getting out of bed one morning. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing André/Khan storyline. André branched out into acting in the 1970s and 1980s, making his acting debut playing a Sasquatch ("Bigfoot") on the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man. He went on to appear in other television shows, including The Greatest American Hero, B.J. and the Bear, and The Fall Guy. He also participated in an episode of Zorro. Towards the end of his career, André also starred in several movies. He had an uncredited appearance in the 1984 film — Conan the Destroyer, as Dagoth, the resurrected horned giant god who is killed by Conan . But he appeared most notably as Fezzik (his favorite role) in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. André died at the age of 46 in his sleep of a heart attack on January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. He was in Paris to attend the funeral for his father. André's body was cremated in accordance with his wishes and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Ellerbe, North Carolina. [READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE]
