The legendary Jimmy Hart recently joined Wrestling Inc. for an in-depth conversation about all things pro-wrestling, which included Hart sharing the story of how he met the great Andy Kaufman, and what he thought of the iconic performer, who got famous in wrestling for feuding with Jerry Lawler. Highlights from the interview are below.
Recalls meeting Andy Kaufman through his wrestling rival, Jerry Lawler:
“Jerry Lawler is the one that got me into professional wrestling. I love Jerry, forever … I was at Jerry Lawler’s house one night when Bill Apter called from New York and said, ‘There’s a comedian here named Andy Kaufman, he’s on a show called Taxi, that he wants to get into professional wrestling.’ Right, and so he came down and we started using him on TV.”
The fond memories he has of Kaufman:
“After every show, he wanted to go by Elvis’ house, Graceland, to just look at the gate, which we did,” Hart said. “His favorite wrestler was ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Rogers so we talked about him all the time. Andy was great, he stayed at my house some, we went on the road together, we ate at a lot of the restaurants together, and like I said, he was very unique, very different. He sure was … What a great guy, he really was.”
