The French Angel, whose real name is Maurice Tillet, was one of the most well-known wrestlers of the 1930s and 40s, though it’s his appearance that has gained him the most notoriety.

Speculation has been rife over the years that the French Angel was the inspiration behind the 2001 film character Shrek, but this has never been confirmed by the film’s creators at DreamWorks.

Maurice was born on October 23, 1903, to French parents in St Petersburg, Russia. His unusual appearance actually didn’t come until around age 20, when he began to notice swelling in his head, hands and feet.

The French Angel had no unusual features whatsoever as a child and was nicknamed The Angel by his friends due to his angelic looks and blonde hair.

After spending his early years in Russia, Maurice Tillet and his mother moved to Reims, France in 1917 due to the Revolution, though sadly his father died when he was a young boy.

He wasn’t diagnosed with acromegaly until he was around 20, a condition that causes bone to overgrow and is usually the result of a benign tumour on the pituitary gland.

Despite dreams of becoming a lawyer after studying law at university, his medical condition meant that he ended up joining the navy as an engineer for five years before finding fame as a wrestler.

His decision to become a wrestler came as a result of him meeting a professional wrestler from Lithuania named Karl Pojello, who convinced him to join the sport.

In 1939, Tillet moved to Paris with Pojello for two years to train, until World War II led them to continue on to the US where he competed in Boston and Chicago and was often referred to as ‘the freak of the ring’.

While living in Boston in 1940, Tillet became so popular as a ‘main eventer’ that he was eventually billed as being ‘unstoppable’ and was scripted to win every one of his matches for the next 19 months.

This also led to him appearing in a number of French films over the years, including the 1935 Josephine Baker film Princesse Tam Tam.

The wrestler baffled scientists in the US as acromegalics often did not live past their 30th year (and he was notably strong and healthy) and doctors at Harvard University even asked if they could study him.

The French Angel agreed, and it was noted that at age 37 he was 5 ft 8 in, weighed 276 lbs, and had a 47-inch chest.

Though he was a private man, he did let doctors take a cast of his face on his deathbed in 1954, which is now on display at the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame in the York Barbell Building in York, Pennsylvania