Late WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant has been honored in his adopted hometown of Ellerbe, North Carolina.

According to the Associated Press, Andre the Giant is being honored with a roadside marker in Ellerbe, a community of 1,000 people where the wrestler lived on a ranch just outside of town. 

The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 73 and Old NC Highway 220 now says, “Andre the Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”

Andre, real name Andre Roussimoff, was born in France but later moved to the North Carolina in 1971 five years on from beginning his professional wrestling career. 

The report from AP notes that he became a critical part of the Ellerbe community and, in 1990, tape TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size 26 boots are kept at the Rankin Museum of American Heritage in Ellerbe. 

“The world of professional wrestling has given us a larger than life icon,” Vladimir Koloff said before unveiling the marker. 

Roussimoff died in 1993 in France at the age of 46, in his home country visiting for his father’s funeral. A service was held for him there, but body was cremated and his ashes were spread at his Ellerbe ranch. 

He only recently became a two-time WWE Hall of Famer with a 2026 induction into the ‘Immortal Moments’ wing for his WrestleMania 3 headliner with Hulk Hogan. He was individually inducted posthumously in 1993, becoming the inaugural and sole inductee of that year’s Class, thus spurring on the tradition that has seen countless WWE legends and icons honored in the three decades since.