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Surprising photos of a young, good-looking André the Giant from the late 60s and early 70s
10.06.2015
09:25 am
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A young André the Giant lifing the front end of a car
A young André the Giant lifting up the front of a car
 
Before André René Roussimoff (aka, André the Giant) became best known for his wild, out of control hair and mean mug in the world of professional wrassling, he was really quite dapper and dare I say, hot in his pre-WWF days.
 
André the Giant as
André the Giant as “Jean Ferre,” age 18 (billed at a height of 6’10)
 
Born in Grenoble, France (and neighbor of the great Samuel Beckett) André wrestled under a few other names during his early years. Such as Jean Ferre (or Géant Ferré”) after moving to Paris at the age of seventeen, and later as the “Monster Roussimoff” in the early 70s while tearing up Japan for the IWE (International Wrestling Enterprise). Mr. Roussimoff was quite the looker, no?
 
André the Giant in the French Riveria, 1967 (age 21)
André the Giant in the French Riviera, 1967 (age 21)
 
I suppose his legendary drinking (Modern Drunkard author Richard English claims André‘s bar tab for a month’s stay at the Hyatt in London while filming The Princess Bride came to just over $40,000) and his love of gourmet food was in part to blame for his slide into his better known, much loved self. André was even the proprietor of a short-lived French restaurant in Montreal, although it appears that the main motivation for going into the restaurant trade was so he could sit at the bar and drink all the booze he wanted. Well played, André, Well played.
 
André the Giant as
André the Giant during one of his many trips to Japan as “Jean Ferre”
 
Like many of you who read DM, I’m a HUGE fan of wrestling and its many heroes. And André the Giant is perhaps the greatest of them all. I hope that you enjoy looking at these images of the super suave Mr. Roussimoff as much as I enjoyed digging them up for you.

I also included footage from one of André‘s film roles in Casse-tête chinois pour le judoka, or Chinese Headache For Judoka from 1967 which features a 21-year-old, incredibly agile André (sporting a “Moe Howard special” bowl cut hairdo) sparring with a room full of unfortunate opponents. 
 
André the Giant at a Paris fashion show, 1966 (age 20)
André the Giant at a Paris fashion show, 1966 (age 20)
 
More “little” André after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.06.2015
09:25 am
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Baby Charles Bukowski, André the Giant, Frank Sinatra and other rebels hanging at the beach

Andre the Giant at the beach picking up chicks
André the Giant at the beach picking up chicks at Cannes, 1967
 
As I type these words, many of you that are reading them right now are probably in the midst of a pretty nasty heatwave. So I thought posting some amazing photos of people way cooler than us, looking even cooler than usual (with one or two amusing exceptions) while hanging out at the beach was in order.
 
Albert Einstein at the beach, 1945
Albert Einstein, 1945
 
You may have seen a few of the 24 images in this post before, but hopefully the majority will surprise you, especially the one of André the Giant literally picking up chicks at Cannes, or Albert Einstein (above) wearing some interesting footwear while the waves crash around his feet. Whenever possible, I included locations and dates of where and when the photos were taken as some were taken before the subjects became famous. Man, I feel cooler already. More reach-the-beach images follow.
 
AC/DC in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1985
AC/DC in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1985
 
Slade in swimtrunks at the beach
Slade, 1974
 
Charles Bronson at the beach, 1974
Charles Bronson, 1974
 

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.30.2015
10:45 am
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Samuel Beckett stars in imaginary 70s cop show

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1970’s television was rich with quirky detective shows where every week some maverick cop or P.I. solved a seemingly unsolvable crime. These characters were larger than life, entertaining and very much the antithesis to many of today’s downbeat, under-lit cop shows. There was the avuncular, sparkle-eyed William Conrad as LAPD detective Cannon, Peter Falk as the bumbling, intrepid Columbo, James Franciscus as handsome, blind insurance investigator Longstreet, Telly Savalas as the bald, cigarette-smoking, candy-eating Kojak, the odd couple of Karl Malden and Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco, and let’s not forget that seldom seen cop show Quinn Martin’s Beckett starring playwright Samuel Beckett.

Beckett was the gangly, laconic cop who didn’t always get his man but knew if the bad guy got away that he would have to try again, fail again but fail better. His catchphrases were “Book ‘em Godot!” and “Birth was the death of him, Murphy.” And who can forget his sidekick and pal in real life, Andre the Giant as handy henchman Little Bim, or the starry supporting cast that included Jean-Paul Sartre as sleazy Walleye Molloy (“Hell is other peepholes”) and Jean Cocteau as Huggy Bear. Sadly this modernist cop show never took off with US audiences and was quickly dropped from the TV schedules. However, over the years Beckett has gained a cult following and today fans of the show are still waiting for the long promised DVD release, which is bound to turn up sooner or later, maybe, maybe not… But until that day comes, here’s a taster of the classic opening title sequence to the series. Now, book ‘em Godot!
 

 
H/T Francis Wheen

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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02.18.2015
09:00 am
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Just a photo of André the Giant’s hand holding a can of beer
07.08.2013
11:10 am
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For a little perspective, what you’re looking at here is a photo of André the Giant’s paw holding a normal sized 12 oz. can of Molson. Holy moly!

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Existential odd couple: Samuel Beckett and André the Giant had a posse

Posted by Tara McGinley
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07.08.2013
11:10 am
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Existential odd couple: Samuel Beckett and André the Giant had a posse
04.16.2013
12:29 pm
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image
 
They may seem to be an unlikely pair, but Irish avant-garde writer Samuel Beckett and actor/wrestler André the Giant knew each other.

Beckett even rode the young André Roussimoff, who suffered from acromegaly, a condition that sees the pituitary gland producing excess growth hormone during puberty, to school in his truck, as the young man was too big to travel in school transportation by the age of 12.

From Geekologie:

Samuel Beckett, Nobel Prize winner (literature) and esteemed playwright, probably most noted for Waiting for Godot, bought some land in 1953 near a hamlet around forty miles northeast of Paris and built a cottage for himself with the help of some locals.

One of the locals that helped him build the cottage was a Bulgarian-born farmer named Boris Rousimoff, who Beckett befriended and would sometimes play cards with. As you might’ve been able to guess, Rousimoff’s son was André the Giant, and when Beckett found out that Rousimoff was having trouble getting his son to school, Beckett offered to drive André to school in his truck — a vehicle that could fit André — to repay Rousimoff for helping to build Beckett’s cottage. Adorably, when André recounted the drives with Beckett, he revealed they rarely talked about anything other than cricket.

As you would!

Posted by Richard Metzger
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04.16.2013
12:29 pm
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