Few people know that the image of the protagonist from the animated film of the same name "Shrek", released in 2001, has a real prototype: an unusual physical resemblance unites the green cannibal with Maurice Tiye, a wrestling champion suffering from acromegaly.
Personality
Maurice was a child with such delicate traits that he was nicknamed "Angelo" ("angel"). Then, when he was 17 years old, the first symptoms of the disease began to appear, which changed his face, permanently erasing his angelic features. He is not the only known person with such a disease. For example, Andre Giant (1946-1993) was another wrestler who also suffered from this disease. Tiye's acromegaly led to the development of a disproportionately large head, arms, and legs.
The studio that shot Shrek never confirmed that it was they who were inspired when it came to the image of the green cannibal. However, it is not only physical resemblance that is quite obvious: the golden heart that distinguishes Shrek was one of the main features of Tiye.
Maurice Tillet Biography
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 in a Moscow school. Soon his father died, and when the revolution began in 1917, he and his mother returned to France, to Reims.
When he was 17, the boy's bones began to grow. The diagnosis is acromegaly caused by a benign pituitary tumor. With this disease, the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone. His progressive disease was reflected mainly on facial features. Maurice, however, was not hiding from the outside world: he studied in Paris, and then graduated from the law faculty at the University of Toulouse, but abandoned the dream of practice because of his appearance. However, he went to the fleet and served there for five years; at the same time, he was able to stand out even as a rugby player, without neglecting the study of languages (he spoke at 14). Maurice was also a gifted writer.
Wrestling
In 1937, a meeting took place, deciding his future, with professional wrestler Carl Podzhello, who convinced him to devote himself to this sport. The “French angel,” as he was nicknamed, became one of the main heroes of the struggle in the late 30s and 40s, while his appearance made it possible for journalists to engage in reflection not only about sports, but also about his character.
In 1940, among the comments about his victory at St. One could read the Louis Post Dispatch: “True, his great terrible head scared women around the edge of the ring and would probably also have impressed Boris Karloff” (a British actor who played the role of the Beast in the movie Frankenstein). However, the "unusual" physique of Tiye (who was also called the "ugliest man in the world" or "monster man") made him one of the most recognizable representatives of the professional struggle, as well as a world-class champion.
Maurice Tillet's Disease
Although acromegaly was first described in 1886, newspapers of the time often described it as a kind of primitive person. On July 27, 1943, in the Eugene registration journal, it was written: “Tiye, 280 pounds, who had previously served on a French sailboat, which was taken after being discovered in Mongolia, is considered the strongest man alive for his size - five feet and eight inches. Scientists from Harvard University studied the "Angel", since he is known in the wrestling circles and declared him closest to the Neanderthal. " Indeed, in 1942, a group of scientists from Harvard described Tiye as "a living copy of the famous Neanderthal." At the same time, they noted that this is simply a similarity in measurements due to acromegaly. It seems that this comparison was used to advertise Tiye’s performances in battles, and some journalists simply called him “Neanderthal”.
last years of life
Wrestler Maurice Thiye at the beginning of World War II moved to the United States, where he became a star in the ring, remaining undefeated for 19 months, and the world heavyweight champion from May 1940 to May 1942.
Far from everyone's attention, the champion was shy and restrained, but he was always an inquisitive, avid reader and 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 Podzhello, who died of lung cancer. According to another fighter who knew both of them well, the “monstrous” Tiye died of grief.
Immediately after he died, the so-called "mask of death" 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 of a cannibal who leaves his house in a swamp and saves the princess. It was adapted by Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg in the 2001 film of the same name from DreamWorks.
Stein’s original illustrations cannot be compared with Tiye, but in the latest version of DreamWorks there are a lot of similarities between the image and the prototype. Prior to creating the final animated appearance , Shrek's character went through a long evolution, in part due to major changes in technology.
Actor Chris Farley originally planned to voice Shrek and recorded most of the dialogue (in various sources - from 80% to 95%) until his unexpected death in late 1997 at the age of 33. After this tragic incident, the script was redesigned to adapt the new interpretation to the character of Mike Myers.
Some authors cite an anonymous blogger who allegedly worked for DreamWorks, and said that on the walls of the studio “for inspiration” hung photographs of “wrestling cranks,” not only Maurice himself, but also “The Swedish Angel” (Thor Johnson), “The Irish Angel” (Clive Welch). There is no documentary evidence that Tiye inspired the creators of the image of Shrek, no. In 2014, The Huffington Post tried to get a response from a DreamWorks representative on this issue, but the request was ignored.