Ellerbe, a town of about 1,000 people, used Thursday’s unveiling to connect Andre the Giant’s far-reaching fame to a local address—where the wrestler, born Andre Rene Roussimoff, lived on a ranch just outside town.
According to the roadside marker text, Roussimoff became known as an actor and professional wrestler. The marker’s wording ties his adoption of the region to a specific era of his public life, while also reaching beyond wrestling to his later film work.
During his WWE wrestling career in the 1970s and 1980s, Roussimoff was billed at 7-foot-4 and 520 pounds, and officials highlighted that he was portrayed as an unbeatable villain before a high-profile match against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III in 1987.
That 1987 moment is also part of the broader public recognition the town is recalling: later that year, Roussimoff appeared on film as Fezzik in “The Princess Bride.” The marker text credits him with the role and points readers to the film connection that helped define his screen persona.
The story that officials and attendees associated with Ellerbe also included Roussimoff’s personal move to the Carolinas. He bought a North Carolina ranch about 60 miles east of Charlotte and raised cattle on his land after he began touring and wrestling across the U.S. South.
The marker unveiling also drew on remembrances that others say reflect a gentler side of the same figure. Wrestler Vladimir Koloff, who befriended Roussimoff as he helped him get into the business, said in comments at the ceremony that his friend deserved the marker because he helped turn wrestling from a regional pastime into a huge international business.
Koloff said just before helping take the cover off the marker: “The world of professional wrestling has given us a larger than life icon.”
The marker is located at NC Highway 73 and Old NC Highway 220 and, in addition to listing basic biographical details, also notes that Roussimoff lived nearby. It reflects the end of his life as well, stating that he died in 1993 and tying his ashes to the ranch he considered beloved.
The AP account of the ceremony says a pair of Roussimoff’s size-26 cowboy boots are kept at a museum, and it also describes how he took part in community efforts in 1990 related to a possible radioactive landfill nearby. The marker’s plain language is intended to capture both his wrestling and movie legacy and his connection to Ellerbe in the same roadside stop.