Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s
ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ]) (born July 30, 1947) is an
Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, currently serving as the 38th Governor of the U.S.
state of California.
As a young man, Schwarzenegger gained widespread attention as a highly successful bodybuilder. He later gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon.
Schwarzenegger was nicknamed "The Austrian Oak" and "The Styrian Oak" in his body-building days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie"
during his acting career, and more recently "The Governator" (a portmanteau of
Governor and Terminator, referring to his internationally popular film
role).[1]
Schwarzenegger is the husband to Maria Shriver. He is a Republican, and was first elected on October 7,
2003, in a special recall election to
replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis' term. Schwarzenegger was
then reelected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election to serve a full term as governor by
defeating Democrat Phil
Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time.
Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on January 5, 2007.[2] In May 2007, he was named as one of
the Time 100 people who help shape the world.[3]
Early life
Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, a small village bordering the Styrian capital
Graz, and was christened Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger.[4] His parents were the local police
chief Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907–1972), and his wife, the former Aurelia
Jadrny (1922–1998). They were married on October 20 1945—Gustav
was 38, and Aurelia was a 23-year-old widow with a son named Meinhard. According to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were
"very strict".[5] "Back then in Austria
it was a very different world—" he says, "if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not sparred
[sic]."[5] It was a Roman Catholic family who attended Church every Sunday.[6] Gustav signed up for membership of the Nazi party and the SA after the 1938 Anschluss.[7][6] At the time of signing up, Austria had not yet been invaded by Germany. Still,
after the war, in 1947, Gustav was allowed to work as a police officer as there was no evidence he had committed war crimes.
[8] He had a preference for Meinhard, the elder of the two
sons.[7] Gustav’s favouritism was “strong
and blatant”, which stemmed from unfounded suspicion “that Arnold wasn’t his child.”[9] Schwarzenegger has said his father had “no patience for listening or
understanding your problems…there was a wall; a real wall.”[6] Schwarzenegger had a good relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her
death.[10] Schwarzenegger has reportedly disavowed Nazi
views.[11] In later life, Schwarzenegger commissioned the
Simon Wiesenthal Centre to research his father's wartime record, which came up
with no evidence of atrocities.[7] At
school, Schwarzenegger was apparently "in the middle" but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humoured and exuberant"
character.[6] Money was a problem in the household;
Schwarzenegger has recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator.[9]
As a boy, Schwarzenegger played many sports—heavily influenced by his father.[6] He picked up his first barbell in 1960 when
his soccer coach took his team to a local gym.[4] At the age of 15 Schwarzenegger chose body-building over soccer as a career.[12][13]
Schwarzenegger has responded to a question asking if he was age 13 when he started weight-lifting: "I actually started weight
training when I was fifteen but I'd been participating in sports, like soccer, for years so I felt that although I was slim, I
was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start Olympic lifting."[5] However, his official website
biography claims: "At 14, he started an intensive training program with Kurt Marnul, studied
psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career."[14] During a speech in 2001 he said: "My own plan
formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he was. My mother wanted me to go to trade
school."[15] Schwarzenegger took to visiting a
gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local cinemas to
see bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves,
and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen. "I was inspired by individuals like Reg
Park and Steve Reeves."[5] When Reeves
passed away in 2000, Schwarzenegger fondly remembered him: " As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable
accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible when others around me didn't always understand my dreams ... Steve Reeves
has been part of everything I've ever been fortunate enough to achieve."[16] In 1961 Schwarzenegger met former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul who invited him to train at the gym in
Graz.[4] He was so dedicated as a youngster
that he was known to break into the local gym on weekends, when it was usually closed, so that he could train. "It would make me
sick to miss a workout … I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it."[5] Schwarzenegger was asked about his first
movie experience as a boy, he replied: "I was very young, but I remember my father taking me to the
Austrian theaters and seeing some newsreels. The first real movie I saw, that I distinctly remember, was a John Wayne movie."[5]
In 1971, his brother Meinhard died in a car accident.[4] Meinhard had been drinking and was killed instantly, and Schwarzenegger did not attend his
funeral.[9] He was due to marry Erika Knapp and the
couple shared a three-year-old son Patrick; Schwarzenegger would pay for Patrick's education and a life in America.[9] Gustav died the following year from a stroke.[4] In Pumping
Iron, Schwarzenegger claimed that he did not attend his father's funeral because he was training for a bodybuilding
contest. Later, he and the film's producer both stated that this story was taken from another bodybuilder for the purpose of
showing the extremes that some would go to for their sport, and to make Schwarzenegger's image more cold and machine-like to fan
controversy for the film.[17] Barbara Baker, his first
serious girlfriend has said he informed her of his father's death without emotion and never spoke of his brother.[18] Over time, he has given at least three versions of why he did not attend his father's
funeral.[9]
In an interview with Fortune Magazine in 2004, Schwarzenegger told how he
suffered what "would now be called child abuse" at the hands of his father. "My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the
kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents, which was the
German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform
and whose will could not be broken. Therefore I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, 'you can't do
this,' I said, 'this is not going to be for much longer, because I'm going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be
somebody'."[19][20]
Early adulthood
Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of
service required of all 18-year-old Austrian males at the time.[4][14] He won
the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965.[13] Schwarzenegger went AWOL during basic training so he
could compete in the competition and spent a week in an army jail: "Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I
didn't carefully think through the consequences. When I got to Stuttgart, I was all confused. I forgot my posing routine, I had
to borrow posing trunks, but still I won!"[5] Contrary to popular belief, it was not Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding debut, which had
occurred two years earlier at a minor contest in Graz, at Steirer Hof Hotel (where he had placed second).
"The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America—the land of opportunity where I could become a star and get rich."[15] Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966,
attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London.[14] He
would come in second in the Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle "definition" of American winner Chet Yorton.[14] He would win the title for the first time in 1967
(he invented new exercises to separate and define his muscle groups), becoming the youngest-ever Mr. Universe at the age of
20.[14] He would go on to win the title an
additional four times.[13] Schwarzenegger
then flew to Munich, training for four to six hours daily, attending business school and working
in a health club, returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr. Universe trophy.[14] He was still to win the Mr. Olympia title.[14]
Move to the U.S.
Schwarzenegger, making his third and most significant journey of his life,[9] moved to the United States in September 1968 at the age of
21, speaking little English.[13][4] He
confirms his poor grasp of English: "Naturally when I came to this country, my English was very bad, and my accent was also very
strong which was an obstacle as I began to pursue acting."[5] There he trained at Gold's Gym in Santa Monica, California, under the patronage of
Joe Weider. From 1970–1974, one of Schwarzenegger's weight training partners was
Ric Drasin, the bodybuilder and professional
wrestler who designed the original Gold's Gym logo in 1973.[21] Schwarzenegger also became good friends with professional wrestler
"Superstar" Billy Graham. In 1970, age 23, he captured his first Mr.
Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title a total of seven times.[14]
In 1969, Schwarzenegger met Barbara Outland Baker, an English teacher he went out with until 1974.[22] Schwarzenegger talked about Barbara in
his memoir in 1977: "Basically it came down to this. She was a well-balanced woman who wanted an
ordinary, solid life, and I was not a well-balanced man and hated the very idea of ordinary life."[22] Baker has described Schwarzenegger as "a joyful personality,
totally charismatic, adventurous and athletic" but claims towards the end of the relationship he became "insufferable—classically
conceited—the world revolved around him"[22] Baker published her memoir in 2006 entitled "Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian
Oak"[23] Although Baker, at times, paints an
unflattering portrait of her former lover—Schwarzenegger actually contributed to the
"tell-all" book with a "foreword" and also met with Baker for three hours.[23] Baker claims for example, that she only learned of his being unfaithful after they split and talks of a turbulent and passionate love life.[23] Schwarzenegger has made it clear that their
respective recollection of events can differ.[23]
The couple first met six to eight months after his arrival in the U.S.—their first date was watching the first Apollo Moon landing on television.[18] They shared an apartment in Santa Monica for
three-and-a-half years, and having little money, would visit the beach all day or cook barbecues in the back yard.[18] Although Baker claims that when she first met him, he had "little
understanding of polite society" and she found him a "turn-off", she says: "He's as much a self-made man as it's possible to
be—he never got encouragement from his parents, his family, his brother. He just had this huge determination to prove himself,
and that was very attractive ... I'll go to my grave knowing Arnold loved me."[18]
Schwarzenegger met his next love, Sue Moray (a Beverly Hills hairdresser assistant) on
Venice Beach in July 1977.[9] According to Moray, the couple led an "open relationship": "We were faithful
when we were both in LA...but when he was out of town, we were free to do whatever we wanted."[9] Schwarzenegger met Maria Shriver at the
Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in August 1977 and went on to have a relationship with both women until August 1978 when
Moray (who knew of his relationship with Shriver) issued Schwarzenegger with an ultimatum.[9] Around this time, Schwarzenegger was prematurely greying and began to dye his
hair, afraid of growing old—steroids were also still part of his life.[9]
Schwarzenegger has said his "big dream" was to move to the U.S. from the age of 10.[24] He questioned what he was doing "on the farm" in Austria, and believed
bodybuilding was his "ticket to America": "I’m sure I can go to America if I win Mr. Universe."[24] LA Weekly said in 2002 that
Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant
in America, who "overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest
movie star in the world in the 1990s."[24]
Bodybuilding career
- See also: Bodybuilding competitions featuring Arnold
Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated
in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition. Schwarzenegger has remained a
prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, in part due to his ownership of gyms and fitness magazines.
He has presided over numerous contests and awards shows. For many years he wrote a monthly column for the bodybuilding magazines
Muscle & Fitness and Flex. Shortly after being elected Governor, he was appointed executive
editor of both magazines in a largely symbolic capacity. The magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the Governor's
various physical fitness initiatives. The magazine MuscleMag International has a monthly two page article on him and
refers to him as "The King."
One of the first competitions he won was the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965.[4] He won Mr. Europe the following year, at age 19.[4][14] He would go on to compete in and win many bodybuilding, as well as some
powerlifting, contests, including five Mr. Universe (4—NABBA (England), 1—IFBB (USA)) wins and seven Mr. Olympia
wins, a record which would stand until Lee Haney won his eighth consecutive Mr. Olympia title
in 1991.
In 1967 Schwarzenegger competed in the Munich stone-lifting contest, in which a stone weighing 508 German pounds (254 kg/560
lb) is lifted between the legs while standing on two foot rests,and won. At his "peak" Schwarzenegger has said the following on
his size: "During the peak of my career my calves were 20 inches, thighs 28.5 inches, waist 34 inches, chest 57 inches and 22
inch arms."[5]
Mr. Olympia
Schwarzenegger's goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, which meant becoming Mr. Olympia.[4][14] His
first attempt was in 1969 where he lost to three-time champion Sergio Oliva. However
Schwarzenegger came back in 1970 and won the competition.[14]
He continued his winning streak in the 1971–1974 competitions.[14] In 1975, Schwarzenegger was once again in top form and won the title for the sixth consecutive
time,[14] beating Serge Nubret. After the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from professional
bodybuilding.[14]
Months before the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, film-makers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded Schwarzenegger to compete in
order to film his training in the bodybuilding documentary called Pumping Iron.
Schwarzenegger had only three months to prepare for the competition after losing significant weight to appear in the film
Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges. Ferrigno
proved not to be a threat, and a lighter than usual Schwarzenegger convincingly won the 1975 Mr. Olympia. After being declared
Mr. Olympia for a sixth consecutive time Schwarzenegger retired from competition.
Schwarzenegger came out of retirement to compete in the 1980 Mr. Olympia.[4] Schwarzenegger was training for his role in Conan when he got into such good shape because of the running, horseback riding, and
sword training that he decided he wanted to win the Mr. Olympia contest one last time. He kept this plan secret in the event that
a training accident prevented his entry and caused him a loss of face. Schwarzenegger had been hired to provide color commentary for network television when he announced at the
eleventh hour that while he was there; "Why not compete?" Schwarzenegger ended up winning the event with only eight weeks
of preparation.
Steroid use
He has admitted to using performance-enhancing anabolic steroids while they were
legal, writing in 1977 that "steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a
contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up." Schwarzenegger has called the
drugs "tissue building."[25]
It has been alleged that Schwarzenegger won his first of seven Mr. Olympia titles in 1970 with the help of Dianabol and testosterone propionate.[26]
In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Dr. Willi Heepe, a German doctor who publicly predicted an early death for the bodybuilder, based
on a link between steroid use and later heart problems. Because the doctor had never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger
collected a DM 20,000 ($12,000 USD) libel judgment
against him in a German court. In 1999 Schwarzenegger also sued and settled with The
Globe, a U.S. tabloid which had made similar predictions about the bodybuilder's future health. As late as 1996, a
year before open heart surgery to replace an aortic
valve with a human homograft valve,[27] Schwarzenegger publicly defended his use of anabolic steroids during his
bodybuilding career.[28]
Schwarzenegger was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, an aortic valve with only
two leaflets (a normal aorta has three leaflets). According to a spokesperson, Schwarzenegger has not used steroids since 1990
when they were made illegal.[25]
Acting career
| Arnold
Schwarzenegger |
A sketchbook type painting from Conan the
Barbarian |
| Other name(s) |
Arnold Strong
|
| Years active |
1970 - present |
|
|
- See also: Arnold Schwarzenegger
filmography
In 1970, Arnold Schwarzenegger was known as the World's Strongest Man. He had long planned to move from bodybuilding into
acting, as many of his idols had done, such as Reg Park. Initially he had trouble breaking into films due to his long surname,
"overly" large muscles, and foreign accent, but he was nevertheless chosen to play the role of Hercules (as both Reg Park and
Steve Reeves had done) in Hercules in New York (1970). He has written with
Smellbac.
Credited under the name "Arnold Strong", his accent in the film was so thick that producers feared he would not be easily
understood by audiences, and had his lines dubbed after production.[29] His second film appearance was as a deaf and mute hit-man for the mob in director Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), which was
followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for
which he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best New Male Star. Schwarzenegger has
discussed his early struggles in developing his acting career. "It was very difficult for me in the beginning—I was told by
agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird,' that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. You name it and
they told me I had to change it. Basically everywhere I turned I was told that I had no chance."[5]
Schwarzenegger drew wide attention and boosted his profile in the body-building film
Pumping Iron (1977),[13][12]
elements of which were dramatized. In 1991, Schwarzenegger purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and associated still
photography.[25]
Arnold also appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the 1979 comedy, The Villain.
Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was the "mythical epic" Conan the
Barbarian in 1982, which was a box office hit.[12] This was followed by a sequel, Conan the
Destroyer in 1984, which performed disappointingly.[30] Later, he appeared on the cover of High Times
magazine dressed as "Conan The Barbarian".[31]
In 1983 Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in the promotional video "Carnival in Rio".[32]
As an actor, he is best-known as the title character of director James Cameron's
influential science fiction film The
Terminator (1984) and its sequels.[13][12][33]
Following The Terminator, Schwarzenegger made Red Sonja in 1985 which
"sank without a trace".[30]
He also made a mark for injecting his films with a droll, often self-deprecating sense of humor (including sometimes famously
bad puns), setting him apart from more serious action heroes such as Sylvester Stallone. Schwarzenegger's alternative-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day which, in that
alternate universe, had Sylvester Stallone as its star; a similar in-joke in
Twins suggested that the two actors might one day co-star, something which has yet
to come to pass. During the 1980s audiences had a large appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester
Stallone becoming international stars.[13]
Following his arrival as a Hollywood superstar, he made a number of successful films: Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986),
The Running Man (1987), and Red
Heat (1988). In Predator (1987), another successful film,
Schwarzenegger led a cast which included future Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Ventura also appears in
Running Man as well as Batman & Robin in which
Schwarzenegger starred) and future Kentucky Gubernatorial candidate Sonny Landham.
Twins, (1988) a comedy with Danny DeVito,
was a change of pace and also proved to be successful. Total Recall (1990), at that
time the most expensive film ever, netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the gross, and was a widely praised,
thought-provoking science-fiction script (based on the Phillip K. Dick short story
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"). Kindergarten Cop (1990) was another comedy which reunited him with director Ivan Reitman who also directed him in Twins.
Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV
series Tales from the Crypt, entitled "The Switch", and then with the 1992 telemovie Christmas in Connecticut. He has not
directed since.
Schwarzenegger's critical and commercial high-water mark was the 1991 sequel to his 1984 hit The Terminator,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day which was one of the highest grossing films
of the year and surpassed the original film's success. In 1993 the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the
Decade".[4] His next film project, the
1993 self-aware action comedy Last Action Hero had the misfortune to be released
opposite Jurassic Park, and suffered accordingly. Schwarzenegger's career
never again achieved quite the same prominence, his aura of box-office invincibility suffering, although the action comedy
