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George "The Animal" Steele Passes Away

Hi all. For those of you who don't know, George "The Animal" Steele passed away two days ago. He was an in-ring performer in the WWF and played Tor Johnson in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994). I never had the chance to get his autograph, so I would be quite delighted to see some of your samples.

R.I.P.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on February 19, 2017 at 7:57am

Former wrestlers Nicole Bass and Ivan Koloff also passed away over the past few days.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on February 19, 2017 at 10:23am

I remember George eating those turn-buckles.

I used to watch wrestling back in the 1960's with Bruno Sammartino, etc. when it was televised on a Spanish station in Trenton I believe.

Those were the days.

R.I.P. George.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on February 20, 2017 at 2:58pm

AND, Let us not forget Classy Freddie Blassie and the Golden Greek John Tolos from the 60's either LOL. Used to go to the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles with my Grandfather to see those classics with tales of Strangler Lewis! Then again in the 80's with friends to see the great's Like Big John Stud and Andre the Giant. I remember Don Morocco who would eat his lunch in the ring. Of course Super Fly, who we lost a month ago, Ivan Koloff (The Russian Bear), who died a week ago, and let us not forget "Tehran EeeeRAN numbur von", the Iron Sheikh. Man, were those guys some athletes or what?

We used to joke in the 80's the The Animal was probably an English Professor at Harvard. I think I read he was a Teacher in his obituary?

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Permalink Reply by Sidney Fields on February 20, 2017 at 6:54pm

He was a gym teacher and high school wrestling and football coach. I believe his wrestling team won Michigan state championships.

There may never have been anyone in show biz whose real personna was so different from his schtick. George "The Animal" Steele was a fascinating guy...interesting, thoughtful and articulate. A great interview.

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Permalink Reply by Gregory S on February 19, 2017 at 11:34am

I read this the other day... must have been fun for the kid!

http://www.upgruv.com/wrestling-georgesteele-theanimal-wwe-22691581...

This is also super cool: http://www.ebay.com/itm/George-Animal-Steele-WWF-Mine-Doll-Catalog-... The doll is already scarce enough unsigned.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Strecker on February 19, 2017 at 1:02pm

Both George Steele and Ivan Koloff were major names in any federation. I'm glad they got to live so long. They were both very religious men and hopefully that will find them in a better place. Both were genuinely nice men.

I met George Steele in 2014 in what would be my first, and only, plane trip to a show specifically to meet him. He had done a lot of autograph signings and first pitches for minor league baseball teams but never in my area but I had longed to meet him. I am friends with Nikolai Volkoff so when the chance arrived for Nikolai to be doing an autograph signing on the same show as George I HAD to go. It was a last minute plane ticket so it was pretty costly but certainly worth it. I had George sign his book that had come out around the time and took a really cool photo, which Nikolai took. George showed me how to do the choke photo and yelled "let go" after the photo but I think he was still holding on my hand and trying to "rib me." He was pretty active on facebook until his health declined, he lived almost 30 years battling chrone's disease and I'm sure anyone he encountered, especially those with the illness, he made their lives better.

Ivan, I was introduced to through Jimmy Valiant. I was going to be traveling through the Virginia/North Carolina area where Ivan lived and did autograph signings and I had always wanted to meet Ivan so I was grateful for the chance. I bought a copy of his book from his thru mail which he signed with a nice inscription. We talked several times by phone before eventually meeting at a hotel he was staying in for a local convention. He was also a man who touched a lot of lives. He spent the last part of his career with NWA so I don't think he really gets the recognition he deserves. Hopefully they both were peaceful, if possible, during their illnesses.

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