Tragic real life story of boy whose rare deformity inspired the famous film 'Mask'

The 1985 film Mask is based on the true life story of Rocky Dennis, a boy with the extremely rare condition of craniodiaphyseal dysplasia.

For the first couple of years of his life, Rocky lived normally, but during a medical examination an X-ray technician noticed a cranial anomaly in the boy's skull and he was diagnosed with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia at the age of two.

Most with the condition die in childhood, and Rocky's mother Florence was told that her son would likely die before the age of seven.

The condition, which is also known as CDD or lionitis, only affects one in every 220 million births and there are fewer than 20 recorded cases, and based on what they knew doctors theorised that the pressure from his skull would build on his central nervous system, robbing the boy of his eyesight and hearing before affecting his brain.

CDD is a rare bone disorder which causes calcium to build up in the skull, changing a person's face and impacting them in other ways.

Wikimedia Commons

The condition pushed Rocky's eyes further towards the edges of his head, but the boy was able to defy expectations and do things doctors didn't believe possible, as he learned to read and went to school.

According to his mother, he did well in school and was popular, as she told the Chicago Tribune in 1986 that 'everybody liked him'.

He also went to a summer camp for handicapped children where he was praised for being friendly and good natured.

Rocky also turned down the offer of plastic surgery that he was told would have made him look more 'normal', and insisted that he should stay at school despite attempts to move him to one for children with special needs.

However, while he had massively defied the odds and verdicts of a plethora of medical professionals he did die in 1978 at the age of 16.

Universal

His life story was adapted into the film Mask in 1985, with Eric Stolz playing the part of Rocky and Cher playing his mother.

The film was a critical and commercial success, picking up an Oscar while Stolz and Cher were both nominated for Golden Globes for their performance.

Also starring Sam Elliott and Laura Dern, the film was not actually released in its original form until the 2004 director's cut of the film, as Mask had originally contained songs from Bruce Springsteen as he was Rocky Dennis' favourite singer.

However, they couldn't get the rights to his music at first and the songs were replaced by Bog Seger tunes, though Rocky's mother was unhappy and said she didn't think her son even knew who he was.

Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

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