Akron Public Library

The award-winning drama based on the life of John Merrick focuses on a horribly deformed man's introduction to London society and his transformation from a sensational object of pity to the witty favorite of the aristocracy and literati.

Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a deformed man, who is discovered by a dedicated surgeon and is given a chance to live his last years in comfort rather than as a circus freak.

When the London surgeon Frederick Treves meets the freak-show performer John Merrick, who has severe skeletal and soft tissue deformities, he assumes that he must be intellectually disabled as well. As the two men spend more time together, though, Merrick reveals the intelligence, gentle nature, and profound sense of dignity that lie beneath his shocking appearance, and he and Treves develop a friendship