The professional wrestler Andre Rene Roussimoff, a native of France who was known to fans as Andre the Giant, died this week, apparently of a heart attack. He was 46.

The 7-foot-4-inch, 520-pound wrestler went to France two weeks ago to attend his father's funeral, on the outskirts of Paris. He visited his family on Wednesday, then returned to his hotel room where he died, said a longtime friend, Frenchie Bernard.

The exact time of his death was not immediately known.

Mr. Roussimoff was born with acromegaly, a disorder marked by progressive enlargement of the head, face, hands, feet and chest because of excessive secretion of growth hormones.

In addition to wrestling, Mr. Roussimoff appeared in "The Princess Bride," a film by Rob Reiner in the late 1980's, playing a gentle giant, Fezzick.