“Junior, Andre is our friend. This is our last night in Japan and Christmas is coming soon. We are going to buy his dinner tonight. You and I will split the bill.” Those were the words of my Brother, Terry Funk as our taxi pulled up to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku Tokyo Japan. We were to join Andre The Giant by his invitation at the French restaurant on the lower level of the hotel.

If Andre was your friend he was a great person to know. When we traveled in Japan, we always traveled on the Japanese bus (As opposed to the Gaijin (American) bus. Andre occupied the front left two seats and Marti and I always sat right across the aisle on the right side. Terry occupied the seat right behind us. As long as Andre was around, we always got anything we wanted. Andre was clearly the boss of the bus and no one was going to dispute that.

Andre was sometimes difficult to get to know because so many people were awed by his size. He wanted to be appreciated as the human being he was as opposed to a “big freak.” He was very proud of his accomplishments in the wrestling business especially the record gate of 93,000 people in attendance at the Silver Dome in Pontiac Michigan.

Andre was also proud of the movie he made, The Princess Bride, in which he had a starring role. On his last trip to Japan, he brought the tape with him and showed it several times on the TV screen in the front of the bus. He also told us much about his upcoming movie roll, “Jack and the Bean Stalk.” Guess who Andre was going to play?

Andre liked his beer and wine. He loved to sit in the hotel bars after the wrestling matches and drink and talk into the early hours of the morning. He was an awesome man. His hands were so big that when he held a beer can in his hand, you could hardly see the beer can. He was so big and so strong that people really didn’t want to make him mad and often would leave the bar open just for Andre and his group. Andre always took good care of those who treated him with courtesy.