Do you know that the prototype of the popular cartoon character Shrek was a real... no, not an ogre, but a man, and also our compatriot, whose name was Maurice Tillet. Having heard this name, the reader will probably ask - “Well, what kind of Russian is this?”, suspecting the author of some deceit, and yet this is really so.
On October 23, 1903, in a Russified French family living in the Urals, a boy was born, whom his parents nicknamed “Angel” for his beautiful angel-like face, and officially named Maurice by the name of Tillet. His father was a railway engineer who moved to distant Russia for a lucrative contract, and his mother was a school teacher.
In 1917, the Tiye family, fleeing the revolution, moved to France. Maurice was 14 years old at that moment. Around the same time, the guy began to experience swelling in his feet, hands and head, and at the age of 19 he was diagnosed with acromegaly. This is a disease that is caused by a benign tumor on the pituitary gland, as a result of which a person’s bones grow and thicken, especially in the facial part.
With a height of 170 cm, Maurice Tillet's weight was 122 kg.
Tiye treated his appearance philosophically and with humor.
In his youth, it was much more difficult for him to adapt to society, but with age he understood how to turn his disadvantages into advantages.
“My peers called me a monkey, and I was very upset. Who would like this? To hide from ridicule, I often went to the pier and spent all my free time near the water. The people who lived there were completely indifferent to what I looked like."
Despite his progressive illness, Maurice tried to live life to the fullest. He studied law at university, played successfully in Rugby and made plans for his life. However, due to problems with his vocal cords, he had to quit his studies and the resilient young man went to serve in the navy, where he mastered the engineering profession.
“Maybe with a face like that I could have become a lawyer, but my voice, like the braying of a donkey, is simply impossible to listen to, so I went to the Navy.”
Perhaps over time he would have made a good military career, but fate again took a sharp turn. In 1937, while on vacation in Singapore, Maurice accidentally met professional wrestler Carl Poggello, who, appreciating the guy’s appearance, convinced him to take up professional wrestling, and later became Tiye’s promoter and close friend.
For the next two years, Maurice Tillet trained and fought in France and England, and later moved to the United States, where he immediately attracted attention and quickly became a local celebrity, performing under the pseudonym “The French Angel” and winning several championship titles in various versions of the World Championship. wrestling.
However, let’s not focus only on Tillet’s sporting achievements; the famous wrestler had a lot of other talents. He played excellent chess, acted in films, spoke 14 languages fluently and had a great sense of humor. Maurice happily posed for the paleontolic museum next to the exhibits of Neanderthals, whose resemblance greatly amused him.
Over time, health problems made themselves felt, constant headaches, excessive fatigue, weakened vision and - this is just a few that are typical for acromegaly, and, of course, professional wrestling made its own adjustments - Maurice developed serious heart problems. Despite this, Maurice continued to perform until 1953, after which he left the sport.
Carl Pagiello, Maurice Tillet's best friend and promoter, died of cancer on September 4, 1954, on the same day Tillet died of a heart attack, unable to cope with the loss of a close comrade. A monument was erected at their common grave:
“And death cannot separate friends.”
They are both buried in Lithuanian National Cemetery in Justice, Cook County, Illinois, twenty miles from Chicago.
And almost half a century later, the famous cartoon “Shrek” was released, the main character of which, an ogre named Shrek, is very reminiscent of Maurice Tillet, both in appearance and in his good disposition! However, despite numerous questions about this, the Dreamworks film company declined to make any official comments.
Few people know that the image of the main character from the animated film “Shrek” of the same name, released in 2001, has a real prototype: an extraordinary physical resemblance unites the green ogre with Maurice Tillet, a wrestling champion who suffered from acromegaly.
Personality
Maurice was a child with such delicate features that he was nicknamed "Angelo" ("angel"). Then, when he was 17, the first symptoms of a disease began to appear that would change his face, erasing his angelic features forever. He is not the only famous person with this disease. For example, Andre the Giant (1946-1993) was another wrestler who also suffered from this disease. Tiye's acromegaly resulted in the development of a disproportionately large head, arms and legs.
The studio that made Shrek never confirmed that it was inspired by him when it came to the image of the green ogre. However, it's not just the physical resemblance that's clear: the heart of gold that defines Shrek was one of Tiye's main traits.
Biography of Maurice Tillet
Maurice was born in Russia in the Urals (according to another version - in St. Petersburg) in 1903. His parents were French. His father was a railway engineer who worked on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, while his mother taught French at a Moscow school. His father soon died, and when the revolution began in 1917, he and his mother returned to France, to Reims.
When he was 17 years old, the boy's bones began to grow. The diagnosis is acromegaly caused by a benign tumor of the pituitary gland. In this disease, the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone. His progressive disease was reflected mainly in his facial features. Maurice, however, did not hide from the outside world: he studied in Paris and then graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toulouse, but abandoned his dream of practice because of his appearance. However, he joined the navy and served there for five years; at the same time, he was able to excel even as a rugby player, without neglecting the study of languages (he spoke 14). Maurice was also a gifted writer.
Wrestling classes
In 1937, a meeting that decided his future took place with professional wrestler Carl Pogello, who convinced him to devote himself to this sport. “The French Angel,” as he was nicknamed, became one of the main heroes of wrestling in the late 30s and 40s, while his appearance gave journalists the opportunity to speculate not only on the sport, but also on his character.
In 1940, among comments about his victory in St. The Louis Post Dispatch could read: “It is true that his great terrible head frightened the women at the edge of the ring and would probably also have impressed Boris Karloff” (the British actor who played the role of the Monster in the film Frankenstein). However, Tillet's "unusual" physique (who was also called "the ugliest man in the world" or "the man-monster") made him one of the most recognizable representatives of professional wrestling, as well as a world-class champion.
Maurice Tillet's disease
Although acromegaly was first described in 1886, newspapers of the time often described him as some kind of primitive man. On July 27, 1943, the Eugene's log book recorded: "Tillet, 280 pounds, formerly of a French sailing ship taken after being discovered in Mongolia, is considered the strongest man alive for his size, five feet eight inches." Scientists at Harvard University studied "Angel" because he is famous in wrestling circles and declared him to be the closest thing to a Neanderthal." Indeed, in 1942, a group of Harvard scientists described Tillet as "a living copy of the famous Neanderthal." They noted that these were simply similarities in measurements due to acromegaly. The comparison appears to have been used to promote Tillet's fighting performance, with some journalists simply calling him a "Neanderthal".
last years of life
Wrestler Maurice Tillet moved to the United States at the outbreak of World War II, where he became a star in the ring, remaining undefeated for 19 months, and world heavyweight champion from May 1940 to May 1942.
Away from the spotlight, the champion was shy and reserved, but he was always inquisitive, an avid reader and a polyglot. In 1953, in Singapore, Tiye lost his last fight.
He suffered from heart problems due to his illness and died in September 1954, just 13 hours after the death of his longtime friend Carl Pogello, who died of lung cancer. According to another fighter who knew them both well, the “monstrous” Tillet died of grief.
Immediately after he died, the so-called “death mask” was made. According to one rumor, DreamWorks animators used it to create the Shrek model.
Shrek
William Stein wrote and illustrated the book Shrek in 1990. It tells the story of an ogre who leaves his home in the swamp and rescues a princess. It was adapted by Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg into the 2001 film of the same name from DreamWorks.
Stein's original illustrations are in no way comparable to Tillet's, but in the latest DreamWorks version there are many similarities between the image and the prototype. It went through a long evolution before the final animated appearance was created, due in part to major changes in technology.
The actor originally planned to voice Shrek and recorded most of the dialogue (according to various sources - from 80% to 95%) until his unexpected death in late 1997 at the age of 33. Following this tragic incident, the script was reworked to accommodate a new interpretation of the character of Mike Myers.
Some authors quote an anonymous blogger who supposedly worked at DreamWorks, who stated that on the studio walls there were photographs of "wrestling weirdos" hanging on the studio walls "for inspiration", not only Maurice himself, but also the "Swedish Angel" (Thor Johnson), the "Irish Angel" (Clive Welsh). There is no documentary evidence that Tillet inspired the creators of the image of Shrek. In 2014, The Huffington Post attempted to get a response from a DreamWorks representative on this issue, but the request was ignored.
Scary on the outside, but very kind on the inside, the giant actually existed in the first half of the 20th century. And his name was Maurice Tillet.
ChildhoodAs a child, Maurice was a completely normal child. His family even called him Angel because of his sweet face. He was born on October 23, 1903 in the Urals into a French family. Maurice's father worked as a railroad engineer, and his mother was a teacher. The father died when the boy was still very young. Then in 1917 there was a revolution in Russia, and he and his mother moved back to their homeland.
From angel to ogres
When Tiye turned 17, he noticed that his feet, hands and head were swelling. Two years later he was diagnosed with acromegaly. This is a fairly rare disease caused by a benign tumor on the pituitary gland, as a result of which a person's bones grow and thicken. So Maurice turned into a real giant, and not a trace remained of his angelic appearance, at least outwardly.
It was very difficult to go through this. “My peers called me a monkey, and I was very upset. Who would like this? To hide from ridicule, I often went to the pier and spent all my free time near the water. The people who lived there were completely indifferent to what I looked like,” Tiye said many years later.
Despite his creepy appearance, he was a very smart man. He entered the University of Toulouse at the Faculty of Law and studied there quite successfully. His mother taught foreign languages, so Maurice studied them since childhood. It is known that by the age of forty he spoke excellent Russian, French, Bulgarian, English and Lithuanian. He also played chess well and wrote poetry and stories. So there was no shortage of mental abilities, but I still had to give up my career as a lawyer. The fact is that the disease progressed and gave complications to the vocal cords.
“Maybe with such a face I could become a lawyer, but my voice, like the braying of a donkey, is simply impossible to listen to, so I went to the Navy,” said Tiye.
He served in the French Navy for five years as an engineer.
Possessing a good disposition and a penchant for positive thinking, Maurice treated his appearance quite easily and with humor. He even posed for a paleontological museum next to Neanderthal exhibits. He found this resemblance amusing.
Wrestling
When he was 34 years old, in Singapore, Maurice met Carl Poggello, who was a professional wrestler and quickly realized that Tillet would have incredible success in this matter. They went to Paris together and began training.
For two years, Maurice Tillet performed in the rings of France and England, until the Second World War began, from which his friends left for the USA.
In the USA, real success awaited the wrestler. His appearance was quite remarkable, so he attracted huge crowds to the matches, and the “directors” of the games decided to keep Tillet invincible. Even at that time, wrestling was quite a staged type of fighting. So he could go 19 months straight without losing until the public got bored.
At first he performed under the nickname "The Ugly Ogre of the Ring", but then it was decided to add drama, and Maurice turned into the "French Angel".
Sunset
An active wrestling career lasted with varying success until 1945, and then acrohemalia again made its adjustments to Maurice’s life. His health was deteriorating, he suffered from headaches, he got tired quickly, and his vision weakened. Professional wrestling also made itself felt - heart problems appeared.
He was no longer given the role of invincible in wrestling matches. The last fight took place in Singapore in 1953. After this, Maurice left professional sports.
Death
Soon his friend and promoter Carl Paggello contracted pneumonia, which resulted in a complication in the form of lung cancer. He died after a long and painful illness.
This shocked Maurice Tillet so much that just a few hours after the news of his friend’s death, he himself died of a heart attack.
They were buried side by side at Lithuanian National Cemetery in Justice, Illinois.
Although the DreamWorks film studio has never revealed how and where the image of the famous Shrek came from, one glance at photographs of wrestler Maurice Tillet will be enough to understand who became the prototype of the green, kindly giant.
Russian French
Maurice was born in 1903 in the Urals, not far from Chelyabinsk. His parents, French, worked in Russia under contract. His father, an engineer by profession, built the Trans-Siberian Railway, and his mother worked as a teacher.
Maurice Tillet in 1916
Probably, thanks to his mother’s teaching talent, in addition to his native French and Russian, which he knew since childhood, Maurice was able to master several more foreign languages. The boy lost his father quite early, but grew up as a completely ordinary child. After the October Revolution took place in the Russian Empire, mother and son returned to France.
From lawyers to sailors
Maurice completed his primary education in Reims - he graduated from a Paris college. Around then, doctors diagnosed him with acromegaly, a disease in which the growth of the hands, feet, and skull increases significantly. The disease changed Maurice's life forever, but could not break him.
At first, Tiye continued to live a full life: he studied to become a lawyer and played well on the university rugby team, but when his appearance changed greatly, he realized that he was unlikely to make a career as a lawyer.
Maurice Tillet in 1936
Maurice abandoned his studies and signed up as a mechanic on a military ship. He wanted to go to sea, where no one cared about appearance, and people were judged only by their actions. The young man served in the navy for about five years. It was there that he began to engage in wrestling: regular competitions helped the ship's crew keep fit and at least somehow have fun during long sea voyages.
A bit of cinema
During the years of naval service, Maurice became quite accustomed and even treated his peculiar appearance with humor, and after finishing his service, he got a job at a French film studio. Tillet starred in about a dozen films, although all his roles were episodic.
Maurice did not become a movie star. To earn extra money, between filming he worked as a security guard at the same film studio, driving away and scaring away local onlookers. So Maurice would have vegetated as an unknown actor, and part-time watchman, if a significant meeting had not occurred in his life - Tillet met Karl Poggello.
Oh sport, you are the world!
Karolis Pozela (or, in European terms, Karl Pogello) was from Lithuania. He was a professional wrestler, so he constantly traveled, taking part in sports competitions around the world. In his youth, Pogello performed in the rings of America, France, Italy, Japan and China, and later took up production activities - he began training young and promising fighters.
Walking along the boulevards of Paris, Karl noticed the colorful Maurice, who stood out sharply from the crowd. Pogello's experience as a producer told him that he had a future wrestling star in front of him. The men got to talking, and Karl was convinced that he was not mistaken: Maurice had a memorable appearance, physical strength and acting experience - a full set of qualities necessary for a sports show.
Great wrestler
Maurice had nothing to lose, so he easily agreed to become a wrestler. Tillet began performing in sports arenas in England and France. Karl trained his ward, thought through the image necessary for the show and suggested spectacular techniques. Over time, Maurice Tillet gained popularity not only in Europe, but also in the United States, which allowed him to obtain American citizenship.
Maurice Tillet in 1940
Tillet was nicknamed the French Angel with the "deadly bear grab." He worked as a “ruthless” wrestler for two decades and repeatedly won the championship title. However, the real Maurice Tillet was a completely different person.
Despite his worldwide fame, the devout and deeply religious athlete remained kind and responsive to the misfortune of others. Maurice repeatedly participated in charity performances, the proceeds from which went to orphanages.
Best friends
Over the years of working together, Tiye and Pogello became close friends. Maris became practically a member of the family for Karl. By coincidence, even the health of friends deteriorated almost simultaneously.
Karl's lung cancer progressed, and Maurice's acromegaly-related diseases worsened. Pogello died on September 4, 1954, and literally a few hours later, upon learning of the death of his comrade, Tiye also died. The French angel is gone, but Shrek has appeared, who reminds us of the wonderful man and great wrestler Maurice Tillet.
On February 14, 1953, the famous Frenchman fought his last match in the professional wrestling ring. Maurice Tillet, whose appearance is still controversial. He was born in the Urals into an ordinary French family, and his kind parents nicknamed him Angel from childhood, as many children are called. The child's face could indeed resemble the appearance of an angel, but the nickname remained with him for the rest of his life. In 1917, after the death of his father due to the October Revolution, Tillet and his mother moved to their historical homeland in Reims.
Donkey's roar and the appearance of a Neanderthal
As he reached adulthood, Maurice noticed that his bones continued to grow and thicken, and his face took on angular and not at all angelic features. Doctors soon diagnosed him with acromegaly, a disease in which a tumor forms in the pituitary gland and continues to produce growth hormone into adulthood. Due to his huge bones, the 170-centimeter Tiye soon weighed 120 kg, turning into a huge, ugly giant. Because of this, he had to give up his dream of becoming a lawyer.
But even if a potential client agreed to entrust his fate to a person with such a face, it was impossible to listen to Maurice’s voice, like a donkey’s bray, which made his chances of winning any case close to zero. Tillet went to work for the navy, and subsequently worked as a doorman at a film studio, periodically starring in horror films. Rumor has it that he even played the hunchback Quasimodo in the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Despite his deformity, he remained a kind and very erudite person, and by the age of 40 he had mastered 14 languages. But for a long time he failed to find himself in life, until he met another native of Russia, the former owner of a pharmacy, Karolis Pozela.
King of Wrestling
Lithuanian Pozhela in St. Petersburg was fond of Greco-Roman wrestling and knew that the shortcomings of a new acquaintance could be turned into advantages. He began teaching Tiye how to fight, simultaneously becoming his manager and promoting him to the professional wrestling ring. Maurice's talent and colorful appearance were simply doomed to success, and the giant, who had recently received 60 francs a week, began to earn a thousand for one performance. After Hitler's attack on France, Tillet was forced to flee for the second time in his life - now to America, where enormous success awaited him.
In 1940, he won the Boston World Heavyweight Championship, and in 1942 he won a similar title in Montreal. During the war years, he almost did not lose, because he was well prepared and liked by the public, and fights in professional wrestling were already well-orchestrated. The success of the French angel was so great that he had a whole army of successors: Tony Angelo(Russian angel), Tour Jonsson(Swedish super angel), Jack Rush(Canadian angel), Vladislav Tulin(Polish angel), Stan Pinto(Czech angel), Clive Welsh(Irish angel), Jack Faulk(golden angel), Gil Guerro(black angel) and Gene Noble(lady angel), but none of the copies could compare with the original.
Illness and death
Tillet's career began to decline in 1945, when his health began to deteriorate sharply. Due to severe headaches, he lost his former form and was no longer suitable for the role of an invincible champion. Against the backdrop of heavy workload and the development of the disease, he began to have heart problems. He ended his career at the age of 50 on February 14, 1953, losing in Singapore Berthoud Assirati. Trouble also crept up on his best friend Pozhela, who, due to complications of pneumonia, received lung cancer.
In the fall of 1954 Pozhela died after a long and prolonged illness in the arms of his Russian wife Olga Nikolaevna. Tiye could not cope with the loss of his close friend and died of a heart attack a few hours after the bitter news. “And death cannot separate friends,” says the inscription on their common grave in the outskirts of Chicago.
Monument in the form of Shrek
However, Tiya received the main monument many years after his death. The DreamWorks studio, although it officially considers this to be its creative work, under the influence of the image of the French strongman, created the image of Shrek, which you only need to look at once to see Tiye in him. Chicago sculptor Louis Lin also created a number of plaster busts, one of which is kept in the International Museum of Scientific Surgery.
People with pronounced features of gigantism in the wake of Tillet's success are still interesting to the public. Suffice it to recall the bright performances in Japan of the colorful giant Silva or opponent Fedora Emelianenko Hong Man Choi. In 2011, the Russian giant Nikolay Valuev was forced to end his boxing career and remove a benign tumor, because of which he also had the characteristics of gigantism. Finally, another rival of Emelianenko is a Brazilian Antoni Silva about the nickname Bigfoot” has been experiencing serious health problems in recent years and is knocked out even after not the most powerful blows.
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