His background is mostly shrouded in mystery, but in the end, what’s key to the character, in this case, isn’t necessarily who he is — we have no idea if the two characters have much in common from a personality standpoint — but what he looks like, and a look at Elias Orr in the comics makes it quite obvious how he inspired Henry Cavill’s facial hair decisions.
One has to assume that Cavill came across Elias Orr while reading comics to prep for his role as Superman.
The character of Elias Orr, or simply Mr. Orr, is a mercenary who has gone to work for everybody from world governments to Lex Luthor.