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MAURICE TILLET PICTURES


Maurice Tillet "The French Angel" Pictures

Take a look at all the pictures pictures of Maurice on this page.  Many of which are, one of a kind pictures I have collected.   

Next you need to checkout this amazing collection at the following link: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?f[subject_facet_ssim][]=Wrestlers&q=Angel&search_field=all_fields
They are pictures of Maurice Tillet wrestling:
1.   The Swedish Angel - Phil Olafson.
2.   Maurice's championship winning match with Steve Casey.
3.   Maurice's first U.S. match in 1940 in the U.S. at Boston Gardens against Luigi Bacigalupi.



Maurice Tillet - age 13

A GREAT picture of Maurice Tillet, The Angel.

Maurice Tillet, Karl Pojello, and Rudy LaDitzi

Maurice Tillet, Karl Pojello, and unknown

Maurice Tillet, Karl Pojello, and some very familiar looking gentlemen.

Maurice Tillet, Karl Pojello, and some very familiar looking gentlemen.

Maurice Tillet and Wild Bill Zim
This picture was sent to me by Mike Zim, son of Wild Bill Zim from his fathers collection.  What I want you to notice is how perfect in height they are.  Wild Bill was 5ft 9inches, Maurice was 5ft 8.5inches. Many of the stories and pictures of Maurice focus on how different he was proportionately to others, but it is not until you see him next to another man of equal height do you really see how different he was.  Mike noted that his father said that Maurice was a very kind and decent man, who gave away much of his money to children in need. 


This picture is truly wonderful and comes from the daughter of those two around Maurice.  Credit should go to
"A. Prencipe Collection".
"My parents were proud to have met Maurice Tillet, the French Angel, while on their way to Ireland, May 1948. Mom would have politely acknowledged her career as a fencer and Dad would have told a story about some Irishman who wrestled. This was a very special and fondly remembered moment for them both."  
 

This photo came out of the scrapbook of William P. Spangler, Ward 8, of Pennsylvania, and was sold on Ebay.  William is husband to Private R. Spangler / Dussinger, and father of Patricia R. Spangler. Patricia died December 13, 1999.  This is presumed to be William.  For the record, the seller had no idea who this was, and searched google for Angel with head like Shrek.  Again this tells you how, even people who have NO IDEA his Shrek connection see how much he looks like Shrek.

The man here with Maurice is Dr. John Bonica, the father of all modern pain management.   I was overjoyed to understand from John's nephew that Dr. John cared for Maurice.  You want to be impressed - research Dr. John.  A huge portion of the worlds population owe their relative comfort in this lifetime to Dr. John and how he approached pain management.  That includes every woman that ever got an epidural during childbirth.  He administered the very first to his wife, who almost died during her first child's birth.

Maurice Tillet, The French Angel and Frank Sexton.

 Maurice Tillet, The French Angel and Frank Sexton.

 Maurice Tillet with Gormley in a press photo - notice the genuine expression on Maurice's face.  Look closely and you will see how the newspaper erased Gormley's hand so they could detail / highlight Maurice's face.

 The above found here -
EBAY - http://www.ebay.com/itm/1940-Packard-Factory-Photo-Maurice-Tillet-The-Angel-uc6935-/351055057469?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51bc83123d

The above article clipping also came from her.  I love this picture.  Now although I focus on Maurice here, this is one cute kid with Maurice.  Something about Maurice's big warm smile and the unamused child is just too perfect.


Absolutely love this picture.  Had to pay real money for it, so please use and enjoy it.  Maurice with the original Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller.  The picture was taken at Treasure Island's Aquacade in SanFrancisco in 1940.  
Such a great picture:







Below From Weekly Sporting Review in the UK, Oct 21st 1938 -



The following are all pictures taken by Irving Pen.  They are of Maurice Tillet with the original super model Dorian Leigh:

This one was also of Maurice and Dorian, and was apparently sold in 2013 - why didn't anyone tell me?
http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--penn-irving-1917-2009-usa-dorian-leigh-et-maurice-tillet-3738208.htm

This guy with Maurice is Jack Dhempsy.   There is a picture above of Wild Bill Zim with Maurice and his son, Mike Zim said the following about Jack -  "Dempsey smacked my dad, Wild Bill Zim, when he refereed one of his matches."








The following five pictures were shared by Wrestling historian Dave Cameron.  The first is my favorite.  Dave said that Bulldog Clayton took this picture of Maurice next to their match board.  Bulldog said that Maurice and he were friends.  Dave and Bulldog were friends and he was given this photo.  This is before 1940 while still in Europe.

This above picture was taken in England sometime between 1937-9. The picture was provided by Dave Cameron.
Dave said, "(Bulldog Clayton) knew him and Carl (Karl Pojello) very well....  The bout (was) at the Tower New Brighton Wed May 25th...  ...He told me 'The Angel' was a lovely guy and they became good friends. Bulldog Clayton would have taken that photo."
























































 

Canada's Sports HALL of FAME is where the following three pictures reside:
http://www.sportshall.ca/




The below taken from here:
http://mapleleafwrestling.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-pics-from-1981-mlg-book.html
 

 The below picture was taken from : WRESTLER MAURICE TILLET as LOU NOVIKOFF  - January 20, 1944  MILITARY SERVICE EDITION of THE SPORTING NEWS.






















 























































Wadyslaw Tulin (Polish Angel) and Maurice Tillet (Original Angel)
Wadyslaw 303lbs 6ft 8inches.  Maurice 276lbs just under 5ft. 9inches.


Per comments left at the bottom by Anonymous -  


The following FOUR pictures were graciously shared from Dave Camerons personal scrapbook collection -














 
Death Mask Bust Measured to give accuracy to Andre vs. Tillet head debate that went on here:
http://www.celebheights.com/s/Andre-The-Giant-2039.html



42 comments:

  1. Appreciate that - I work very hard to take in every bit of information and every picture and share it with everyone. Thank you for the WOW. I want everyone to know this incredible man.

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  2. Tom, FYI, the guy arm-wrestling Maurice looks a lot like Jack Dempsey. Dempsey smacked my dad, Wild Bill Zim, when he refereed one of his matches.

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    1. Have you seen Maurice face to face? #peace from Australia

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  3. Hey! Here you can find a photo of Maurice Tillet when he came to Barcelona, to wrest in the Price theater: http://www.elpuntavui.cat/imatge.php?i=aHR0cDovL2VzdGF0aWMuZWxwdW50Lm5ldC9pbWF0Z2VzLzQ3LzQ4L2FsdGEvNzgwXzAwOF80NzQ4MzI0XzhiNjU2MzI2ZDdmNjdmYzBiMGFkYzA5MGM1MzFkNmUxLmpwZw==&j=2

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    1. Update - Just by chance, I recently obtained copy of a postcard that Maurice sent to his manager Karl back in Chicago from Barcelona. Apparently he was with someone called FRED. If interested give me a write back and I will show it to you.

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  4. Wooow this is great! Love it...

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  5. Hi, My late father-in-law Ron Jackson was also a professional wrestler and I understand he went against the Angel during his career. One of his wrestling names was Husky Jack the Canadian lumberjack.

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  6. I think your right. I know this picture well AND I know he was doing a spoof on King Kong. I actually had a copy of this one in my collection. Steve Yohe was kind enough to provide me a copy of "AN IHC PRESENTATION - THE RING RECORD of MAURICE TILLET - "THE FRENCH ANGEL", and if I am not mistaken it was in the back of the book. Steve, Jim Melby, J Michael Kenyon, Fred Hornby, Matt Buziak, Libnan Ayoub, Don Luce, Normal Kietzer, Jim Melby all contributed to this book and I feel it appropriate to thank all of them for their effort, as I likely would have little to nothing when I started this mission. Special thanks for Steve Yohe finding and sending me a copy he had in his possession. I will add a copy of this picture from my collection.

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  7. Great Photos and History of Maurice Tillet. I am curious if I could get a Larger Scan of one of the Photos to use for Art? Could I get your Email or a way to contact you? thank you

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    1. Of course - Email me at thefrenchangeldeathmask@gmail.com and let me know which one's your interested in.

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    2. Thanks for your quick response regarding the poster / photo . I just sent an email.

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  8. I have a picture of the French Angel wrestling my grandfather. His name was Edward DeNoewer and he wrestled under the name of King Edward, Monarch of the Mat. I will scan and send picture to this site. What a great era this must have been!

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  9. I have a picture of the French Angel wrestling my grandfather. His name was Edward DeNoewer and he wrestled under the name of King Edward, Monarch of the Mat. I will scan and send picture to this site. What a great era this must have been!

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    1. Don, Thank you SO much - I absolutely love new pictures of Maurice, and anything you would like posted with the picture, meaning details of your grandfather, and anything that you may know about Maurice, etc. I checked Maurice's Ring Record, and I am not seeing your grandfather. His record is missing much, so if you have any details when/where they wrestled, that would be ideal. If you could send me the details / picture at the following: thefrenchangeldeathmask@gmail.com. Also my name is Tom and Thank you again!!

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  10. You said you wanted everyone to know this man. I never heard of him, but wish I was alive then to have known him. He seems so strong, gentle, kind, compassionate, and intelligent. It's horrible the way some of what was written of him, but I guess he was intelligent enough to take it in stride and to his advantage. Thanks for this!

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    1. It is my pleasure to share what I know about him. I find that the most truly balanced persons in this world can put aside what others say and think, and do what is right for themselves and others. Maurice would absolutely have to have come to terms with how different he really was. He said something to the affect that he long time ago realized that he was not an ugly man, just a different man. He became a truly beloved person, to all those that knew him. He really was that example of how one transcends life's, sometimes cruel challenged, to create a truly admirable life. In the wrestling world, he seems to have turned from "Heel" to "Face". He became more of a hero type, in the ring, as time progressed. Personally, I suspect he could not keep up that "Heel" persona for too long.

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  11. I am so, so glad I surfed into your site. My dad and I watched the wrestling every Saturday afternoon together and we felt we knew all the characters by watching them so much. Unfortunately this was in the 50s and early 60s so after this wonderful man's time. He has such a gentle gentleman's face and I would not have been frightened to meet him in real life, but in the ring? Thank you for introducing me to such a nice person and his life. I miss the old style wrestling. Do you have film of him in action in your collection? You probably do. Great piece of work and well done.

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    2. One of the pages highlighted in green at the top of this page is dedicated to all the clips and video I have found on Maurice. You can see them all here - http://deathmaskofmauricetillet-theangel.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_23.html. I was hoping it would hyperlink, but it did not. You can also pull to the top of this page and look for "Maurice Tillet Video and Film" It's in green at the very top. REGARDS

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  12. Loved going through these. They really exposed the angelic side of Maurice. I wish that I could have met him.

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  13. https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/8ctxko/the_french_angel_maurice_tillet_russianborn/

    It seems you would appreciate this more than anyone else.

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    1. Thanks for the comments. I caught the comment slamming me for being obsessed with an ogre. It made me chuckle. I love reading those strings and the comments people leave, as it's all over the board what people think / feel. At least their interested enough to chime in.

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  16. Remind me of Mike Tyson. Very interesting.

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  17. The picture of The Angel getting a manicure (as well as at age 13 pic and the Eiffel Tower)is from Look magazine,April 25, 1950. It was taken on board a cruise ship. My mother was the beautiful manicurist.

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    1. Are you kidding? Your mother was the manicurist in the photo? If you see this, reach out to me at my email address, thefrenchangeldeathmask@gmail.com. I'd love to hear what you know. You're absolutely right that the pictures are from Look Magazine. In fact I pulled those pages, merged them, and had them framed up because Look did such a nice job. I'd love to hear from you! Tom

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  18. My grandad mentioned the French Angel to me when I was a boy, he spoke of seeing him in a newspaper where they compared his hands to a bunch of bananas, I see you have some similar photos here!
    Great Site

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  20. I appreciate the time you put into this! Love your page and enjoyed reading it!

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  22. Merci pour ses photos et cette histoire. Les gens passionnés sont passionnants.

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  23. He is beautiful inside and outside. I hate that they said he is the ugiest man and even picture him as a cave man. Thats so disgusting and unacceptable. I never knew that Shrek came from him. Disney should be so ashamed of themselves just to make a money.

    To be honest, I will treat him like a human being and not his appearance. No judge! And I love those people's appearance in 1900's. Much better than modern of 1990's-2024, really!

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