The French Angel
Maurice Tillet (1903 – August 4, 1954) was a French professional wrestler known as The French Angel who was a leading box office draw in the early 1940s and was recognized as world heavyweight champion by the American Wrestling Association run by Paul Bowser in Boston. His usual finishing move was the bearhug.
Career
Born in France, he could speak 14 languages and was also a poet and actor. In his twenties, he developed acromegaly, a rare disease that causes bones to grow wildly and uncontrollably. Soon his whole body was disfigured as a result. Seeking a new identity to fit his disfigurement, Tillet moved to the United States where he made a living on his appearance by becoming a professional wrestler, and was dubbed as the "freak ogre of the ring". His villain persona ("the French Angel") was an instant success with the crowds, becoming one of the largest draws in professional wrestling and spawning a series of "Angel" imitators. On August 1, 1944, The French Angel defeated Steve "Crusher" Casey for the Boston-based world championship.
Later years
He became a recluse, although a few people did manage to befriend Tillet, including the businessman Patrick Kelly, whose home in Braintree, Massachusetts Tillet would often visit. There the pair would often play chess together. Tillet died in 1954 from heart disease at age 51. Wrestler Bobby Managoff asked Tillet on his death bed if he could make a plaster cast of his face. Tillet agreed, and Managoff made three masks of his face, one of which was given to Milo Steinborn, while two ended up with Patrick Kelly. Steinborn donated his mask to the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame inside the York Barbell Building in York, Pennsylvania. One of Kelly's masks sat on his office desk for years, he donated the other to the International Wrestling Museum in Iowa.
Memorials
There is a life-size bust of Tillet on display at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, Illinois. The bust was done in 1950 by Louis Linck. Irving Penn made several publicity photographs of Tillet in 1946, and in 1990 reprinted one of these using the fine art Platinum/Palladium process.
Championships and accomplishments
Bibliography
- Parker, Mike. The World's Most Fantastic Freaks (1983). ISBN 0-7064-2145-0.