Talk:André the Giant

Billed height is what he was billed at, not his actual height.

He was 7'1 peak and 6'11 near death —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.46.5.155 (talk) 02:33, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

if he had an hgh secreting pituitary tumour,probably an acidophil adenoma, he would have continued to grow throughout his life. Toyokuni3 (talk) 15:22, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Here are photos of Andre looking 7' with people of known height.GoliathNRock (talk) 05:07, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Frenchy Bernard (Frenchy Bernard is Andre's closest friend and is the guy who runs Andre's ranch in North Carolina) tells Andre was measured at 7' 0.5 when he was 22 years of age in Japan and was around 6'9 at time of death due to the fact he could not stand any taller due to spinal curvature.

Ronnie Russell says on 27/Feb/09 OK.....i will be posting a youtube video of the audio of the conversation i talk about below some time in the near future when i have a way to get the mini-tape recorder converted to an *.mp3

I stopped by Andre's ranch in Ellerby, NC, which is now run by some little cajun man named Bernard who has a terrible accent and spits when he talks...

Anyways, he was very nice and hospitible and loves having people visit the ranch and showing them the "Andre Archives" as it were. Some of the artifacts he has there are incredible. He travelled with Andre from the late sixties/early seventies and then again towards the end of his career when he was having a lot of mobility problems. He said at Andre's peak in his youth, when he didn't have any posture problems, he was 7'0.5", measured in japan when he was 22, and that he was around 6'9" at the time of death, because he couldnt stand any taller because of spinal curvature. He also told me that because of his medical condition causing a constant secretion of growth hormone, his bones and organs continued to grow in density and size straight through to the time of his death, so not only did he weigh alot from his fat, but his bones weighed more and his organs did as well.

ANYWAYS, going back to the official "billing" of him being 7'0.25" seems to specific of a number for promoters to lie about, simply because a shady exaggerating promoter would round up to 7'1" or 7'2". i think based on these two facts, the converstaion with someone who knew him personally and also offical measurements, combined with the now several photos of andre standing next to 7'1.16" wilt chamberlain(as measured by the Guiness in 1978, dave melzter was wrong about wilt's height in his article with that photo), I think it is safe to say we can change his official PEAK height to at LEAST 7'0.25", not this 6'11.5" non-sense.

OHHH and BTW, i spoke with former governor Jesse Ventura recently when he was visiting down here in miami with his wife, that Hulk Hogan used to wear 1.5 inch lifts in his wrestling boots often in his career, because he was billed as being "bigger" than incredible hulk star Lou Ferrigno, who was listed at 6'5". Jesse said Hogan was an inch taller than him barefoot, and he was 6'4.5" at his peak. This is how Hogan got his 6'7"-6'8" billing to be believeable.

Also, Jesse said that Big John Studd wore lifts when he wrestled Andre, because he wanted to appear bigger next to him, but he did not have first hand knowledge of exactly how tall BJS was because he never wrestled him or hung out with him. GoliathNRock (talk) 20:52, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

It is original research and cannot be added.Halbared (talk) 08:48, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Here in Andre's obituary it states Andre's measurements at death at 6'10 555 pounds. It also states that Andre was near 7' his whole life and due to surgery on his knees where he had chunks of bone removed and surgery on a weakened spine causing him to slouch so he was 6'10 at death. http://www.wrestlingclassics.com/wawli/Nos.281-289.html GoliathNRock (talk) 18:40, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Before his WWF run, Andre was advertised as 6'10 and that always includes footwear so 6'9 was probarly his real height (his disease caused him to grow his entire life and if he was 6'10 when he died, thats it... thats the tallest he could been) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.145.38.52 (talk) 12:47, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

"...that's the tallest he could have been." Sorry, you are incorrect. Curvature of the spine (scoliosis), only one of Andre's health issues, can reduce height by several inches depending on the severity. I have had mild scoliosis for 10 years and am only 47 but I have already lost an inch and a half of height - and I was only 5'6" to begin with plus do not have the osteohyperdensity that Andre had. Scoliosis can not only affect posture and prevent one from standing up straight for height to be measured, but even lying down or measuring a body or skeleton would not reveal what his height was at its peak. History Lunatic (talk) 17:37, 22 October 2014 (UTC)History Lunatic

Two of the three refrences cited in the current revision of the article have him at 6 ft 11 in, but the article shows 7 ft 4 in instead.--99.232.1.160 (talk) 01:03, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

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Andre was billed 2,14m (7´0.25")arriving in Canada in 1971 age 25 it´s on YouTube. Speaking French Andre claims 2,14m(7´0.25") in another yt-vid from that time. Andre also claimed he grew in height until age 24.

So with all this information it´s pretty safe to say he was measured 2,14m (7´0.25")as a young healthy man without scoliosis and weight problems. After more than a decade of wrestling he still looked 6´11"-6´11.5" during late seventies/early eighties and went down to 6´9"-6´10" after surgery, scoliosis and weight problems.

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This A&E Biography on him says that he was born in Molien. 70.49.241.126 (talk) 02:46, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

It's a wrong information, He was born at Coulommiers at the hospital (about 20 km of Molien). His mother never came to Grenoble, so it's impossible for him to be born in Grenoble.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.35.171.149 (talk) 03:12, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

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The picture in the infobox needs to be changed because it isn`t the greatest picture. Mr. C.C. (talk) 21:48, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

True, but it is free. If you can find us a free picture that is better, by all means upload it to Wikimedia Commons and replace the current one with the new one. Powers ^T 12:07, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

What about http://i.imgur.com/2VgvT.jpg? Twipley (talk) 20:28, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

What is that image's copyright status? Powers ^T 12:45, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Unknown, for all I can tell. http://www.tineye.com/search/a489dff26756e30bc627456c34e3e68092ecfdc2 Twipley (talk) 00:08, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

We have a problem on wp:fr about the birth place of Andre the Giant. Could you give an answer even in english. Thanks.... Mikeread. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.3.231.47 (talk) 13:29, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

How he could be born in Grenoble when his mother never came to Grenoble ? He was born in Coulommiers, 20 miles from Molien (France). Boris, Andre's nephew.

Considering that André was born and raised in France and AFAIK there's no evidence he either spoke Bulgarian or Polish, or ever wrote his name in either of those languages, and also considering that this is the English Wikipedia, is there any particular reason the Bulgarian and Polish transcriptions of his name shouldn't be deleted from this page? Thefamouseccles (talk) 14:03, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

The Early Life section starts by saying that "As a child, he was referred to by his parents as Dédé and showed no signs of the size that he would reach"; his size isn't mentioned during the rest of the section, and in the next section he embarks on his wrestling career. When did his gigantism take hold? Presumably before he started wrestling, but it's not clear from the article. While I'm at it, do they have "8th grade" in Belgium? Was the farm he is said to work on owned by his family? -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:05, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Acromegaly usually begins with the onset of puberty. History Lunatic (talk) 17:47, 22 October 2014 (UTC)History Lunatic

Andre was being billed at 7'4 before he ever met the McMahon's so that part is false. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.218.29.253 (talk) 00:19, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Cut the bullhits! Andre was never taller than 6'10 so i suggest you put up or shutup! im sick of these fankids who believe the wrestlers were tall as their listed heights and can never prove a shit. Atleast i can prove that Andre was billed 6'10 in 1969! he is at bottom right, "JEAN FERRE" and listed 6'10 http://s15.postimage.org/4ggxbvgl5/6_10_andre_giant.jpg

• In their heads they have no accurate concept of what these heights are anyway - 7 feet just seems like a nice psychological barrier to break (arbitrary as it may be). I doubt there would be as much arguing over whether someone was 211cm or 214cm. -101.168.213.74 (talk) 03:02, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

André might well have been billed as 6'10" in 1969, but don't forget that he had gigantism and acromegaly, and that he was only 23 in 1969. His growth pattern was anything but normal and it's quite possible he might have put on another few inches after 1969. Thefamouseccles (talk) 01:41, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Andre was billed 208cm, 209cm, 210cm, 211cm & 214cm before he went to Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.238.52.137 (talk) 10:48, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

His condition seemed more consistent with acromegaly than gigantism. The two conditions are easily confused due to the fact that they both cause a person to grow very large, however acromegaly is a serious health problem while gigantism is not so serious. Acromegaly would have likely been the cause for his various health concerns and contributed to his his eventual death. Back and heart problems are very common amongst people suffering from acromegaly, but not so much gigantism. 70.69.129.43 (talk) 21:57, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

I'd have to disagree, if he simply had acromegaly, he would not have grown to the size that he did. While it could be possible that he may have had both conditions, the abnormal size is undoubtedly gigantism. Both gigantism and acromegaly are conditions involving excessive production of growth hormone, the only main difference is when the onset of that excessive amount happened. In gigantism, the excessive growth hormone is around before the epiphyseal plates have had a chance to close; these folks will be abnormally tall (compared to the general population) but will, for the most part, be evenly big/tall. In acromegaly, the epiphyseal plates have already fused and therefore these individuals will tend to have growth of their flat bones (they'll have coarse facial features, large hands, feet, etc), however, their long bones (arms/legs) will not grow and longer, so these people won't have abnormal height. Both sets are typically going to have enlarged organs (heart, etc) which is what will commonly lead to their deaths (heart failure) 76.76.169.115 (talk) 17:52, 1 June 2011 (UTC)

The above poster is correct. Both acromegaly and gigantism have the same root causes. Most likely Andre had gigantism as a result of an excess of GH before his epiphyseal closed. He still had this hormonal imbalance after he reached maturity, so he developed acromegaly. The line in the beginning of the article that says " His size was a result of acromegaly" is factually incorrect, and should be changed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.183.177.249 (talk) 04:15, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Gigantism normally has onset in childhood while accidentally occurs at the onset of puberty. Since Andre's parents stated that as a child there were no signs of Andre's condition, while by the age of 17 his condition was quite noticeable, the most reasonable conclusion would be that he had acromegaly. History Lunatic (talk) 18:00, 22 October 2014 (UTC)History Lunatic

Do we have to use "8th grade" for someone who isn't even in the American school system? How about just listing his age when he left school. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.50.247.145 (talk) 15:36, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

" Roussimoff was billed as "Géant Ferré", taken from the name of a mythical French giant, "

This requires citation - I can find no documentation of a mythical French giant under that name, nor do any native French individuals of my acquaintance know of any such figure. "Géant Ferré" appears to be a mild pun on the name under which Andre wrestled in France, "Jean Ferré", particularly as the French for "Iron Giant" would actually be "Le Géant de Fer". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.225.61.39 (talk) 06:04, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

He wrestled in Canada under the name Giant Jean Ferré. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.88.11.188 (talk) 18:55, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I don't get this feud-business. Wrestling is a show sport, so how can you feud if the fighting is make-believe? The career-section is written as if actual competitions is going on.

On another note, this article: http://www.drunkard.com/issues/10_06/10_06_andre_giant.html, bills André as one of the greatest drinkers in history. I can't vouch for the provenance but if it's remotely true, I think his capacity for drink deserves a mention. //roger.duprat.copenhagen — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.138.244.225 (talk) 21:04, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree, the feud portion of the article is ridiculous and too long. Astator (talk) 02:55, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Agree as well. Obviously edited by fans of him and wrestling, who believe what they were watching was actually a real competition. But I don't care enough to change any of it. YingYang2 (talk) 04:46, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Agreed. An expert is needed to determine which (if any) of the feuds are real, otherwise this becomes false information. Andre is painted as someone who couldn't get along with people, and yet other Hollywood stars spoke well of him. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:147:C002:D83A:B1E7:90BF:B521:F467 (talk) 23:19, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Andre the Giant's WWE.com alumni bio says he weighs 520, can I change it to that? I have a source here @ http://www.wwe.com/superstars/andrethegiant.

WWE is not a reliable source they clearly exaggerate heights and weights --Apemonkey1 (talk) 07:41, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of André the Giant's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "view1":

• From Dave Batista: Tedesco, Mike (10 October 2009). "Smackdown Results – 10/9/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
• From Big Show: Martin, Adam (July 26, 2009). "Match #1 Chris Jericho and the Big Show vs. Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes". WrestleView.com. Retrieved August 3, 2009.

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 16:04, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

He's born in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne 1 (Internet Wrestling Database), 2 (IMDB) and 3 (Wrestlingdata). It's talk about this in André the Giant larger than life a documentary.--Sismarinho (talk) 09:53, 9 May 2014 (UTC)