arnold schwarzenegger - the first 60 years

ARNOLD:THE MOVIE

1960–1970The inspiration, the dedication and drive that

fueled Arnold’s early years

66

ARNOLD:THE MOVIE

1970–1980The Oak becomesMr. Olympia, andHollywood begins

to take notice of Arnold

Page 190

THE COMPLETE M&FARNOLD COVER COLLECTION

AND AN EXCLUSIVE FREE POSTER

THECOMPLETE

ARNOLDThe best of

Arnold’s trainingadvice featured in one amazing

collection

Page 214

QUOTABLEARNOLDThe words of

the competitors,mentors and

training partnerswho knew the

legend best

Page 230

iNCLUDES

PLUS

THEFIRST

60YEARS

As he prepares to celebrate his 60th birthdayon July 30, we look back at the amazing

life and times of Arnold Schwarzenegger

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ARNOLDTHE MOVIE

2007OLYMPIA.COM 165

Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger; look ateverything he has done since growing uppoor in a tiny Austrian village. See all the

bodybuilding titles he won, all the movieshe starred in, the hundreds of millions of

dollars he made, the political office he nowholds and the influential national figure he’ll be

in the 2008 presidential election. See the enormouslegend growing right there in front of you: One of thelargest yet perhaps most improbable icons the world

has ever seen — maybe even the most recogniz-able person on the planet.

But for a better perspective you must lookthrough the lens of a movie camera. Thenaked eye won’t work — it would neverbelieve what it was seeing. No way, your eyeswould tell you, that this man’s story actuallyoccurred the way it did. Only in a moviewould this happen, and only in the most unbe-lievable of fantasy tales. Through a camera lensit’s easier to understand, even if for only a coupleof hours, that, sure, maybe it could’ve happened.That’s the only way you’ll be able to put Arnold’sstory in context. In fact, he feels the same way.“I still look back today,” he remarks about his

incredible life journey, “and say to myself, ‘How did ithappen? How did that become a reality?’” Through

a series of events that can be told only as ifscripted for a movie, that’s our contention.So sit back, relax and enjoy the picture.

“Truth is stranger than fiction,but it is because Fiction is obliged

to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”— Mark Twain

COVER STORYARNOLD: THE FIRST 60 YEARS

By JoeWuebbenandPeterMcGough

2007 Photosby Robert Reiff

Lights,camera,Arnold!


05.04.2007 04:52

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

ARNOLD: THE FIRST 60 YEARS

1960-1970

Before

The Oak

there was

The Acorn

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05.02.2007 00:53

SCENE I

Summer 1962. Fourteen-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger walksinto a gym for the first time in his hometown of Graz, Austria. The placeis very primitive, like some sort of torture chamber or dungeon.Weightlifters are doing clean and jerks and presses and squats on aweightlifting platform. You can hear the humming of quiet conversations,and every so often someone screams loudly in the middle of a set of squatsor snatches. Outside of that, very little idle chitchat takes place. The wallsof the gym are filled with chalk. In one small area, for instance, “Clean-and-Jerk 20 sets” is written on the wall. Underneath that, white chalklines are drawn to tally how many sets have been performed. Otherlifting stations have different colored chalk on the walls for differentexercises, all serving as archaic training logs.

2007OLYMPIA.COM 167

Forty-five years later, those chalk lines standout in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mind morethan anything else.

And why not? Because, after all, you can moreor less boil the story of Arnold Schwarzeneggerdown to chalk marks: setting goals, drawing upa plan to achieve those goals and then execut-ing the plan successfully. Then setting furthergoals and planning and executing, and so on.No goal was off limits. No goal was too grand,too far beyond Arnold’s reach, whether itmeant setting out to be the best bodybuilderin the world as a 150-pound 14-year-old orsomehow parlaying that into a movie career, in

America of all places. What better way to set a goal than with some chalk on a wall?

“I loved the idea of writing down your goaland then, in the next hour or two, turningit into reality,” Arnold says. “You knew that ifyou made 18 lines and the number 20 was thereyou were short, and you could not really followthrough with your goal, and you better goand do the other two sets. That’s one thingI learned from bodybuilding: If you set a goal,you better follow through. You write it down,you tell everyone about it, so you make anofficial commitment. Then you have to go all-out, otherwise you embarrass yourself.”

ACT ONE

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05.02.2007 00:54

168 MUSCLE & FITNESS Month 2005

Arnold was born July 30, 1947, in Thal, Austria, a small villageof 1,200 people. He was the son of Gustav, a tall, solidly builtman, a former ice-curling champion whomade a career in law enforcement as chief ofpolice for the area surrounding Graz (4miles or so from Thal), and AureliaSchwarzenegger. His older brother Mein-hard was physically gifted in his own right,maybe even more so than Arnold, thoughhe didn’t possess the same drive. (Meinharddied tragically in a car crash in 1971.)

With the encouragement of his father,Arnold grew up immersed in sports: soccerespecially, but also ice-curling, running,swimming, boxing and throwing thejavelin and shot put. The latter activities areevidence that he preferred individualsports, where one person, and one persononly, would receive reward and praise fora victory.

During the summer of 1962, just before heturned 15, Arnold discovered bodybuildingas a way to get stronger for soccer, andimmediately he knew that’s what he wantedto do. At roughly 6 feet tall and only 150pounds, Arnold, though thin, was athletic and muscularfor his age, and older gym members who saw his physical

potential took him under their wings. Soon thereafter, Arnold quit playing all other sports. He

was hooked on lifting weights. Threenights a week he would go to the gym inGraz, 6 miles from his home. He eitherwalked or rode his bike to get there,which didn’t bother him, as he knew itwas helping strengthen his body, specifi-cally his legs and lungs. The gym, housedin Graz’s soccer stadium, was closed onweekends because of matches beingplayed there, which forced Arnold andhis lifting partners to break the gym’swindows to get in and lift. Other days hetrained at home in the gym he constructedout of basic equipment welded to suithis needs.

This home gym wasn’t heated, ofcourse. In the midst of an Austrian winter,Arnold often trained in below-zerotemperatures. The club where he liftedin Graz was similar in that it had just oneprimitive heater for the entire place.Arnold can still recall his hands stickingto the chinning bar while working out

because the room and equipment were so cold, and rippingthe skin off his fingers to remove them.

Arnold can still recall his handssticking to the chinning bar whileworking out because it was so cold

TIM

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The early days: Arnold and his

older brother Meinhard and the

house they grew up in

1907

Aug. 1Arnold’s father Gustav

is born

1922

July 29Arnold’s mother Aurelia

is born

1945

Oct. 20Arnold’s parents marry in

Mürsteg, Styria

1946

July 17Arnold’s older brother

Meinhard is born

1947

July 30 Arnold is born at 4:10 a.m.

in Thal, Austria

1953

Arnold begins attending

the Hans Gross School

in Thal

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168 MUSCLE & FITNESS July 2007


05.02.2007 00:52

MUSCLE-FITNESS.COM 169

SCENE II

Later that summer, 1962.Arnold is looking up at the wallagain; this time it’s the wall of a movie theater in Graz. He is watchingHercules vs. the Vampires. And there he is: Reg Park, the man Arnoldhad already seen and admired in muscle magazines. Reg is rugged,powerful and rough, more so than, say, Steve Reeves, another popularbodybuilder turned movie star, who Arnold finds too polished and elegantfor his liking. Reg Park is Arnold’s new idol.

And there it was, on the wall, another goal: to become thenext Reg Park. Arnold became obsessed with the man. Helearned everything he could about Reg — what he ate, howhe trained — from programs published in muscle maga-zines. He studied every photo of Reg he could, read everyGerman article on Reg he could, and even had a friend trans-late the ones written in English. The men Arnold trainedwith at the gym told him maybe, just maybe, he couldachieve what Reg had in the next 10 years. But Arnold didn’thave 10 years. He wanted it sooner, so he stepped up histraining, lifting six days a week, sometimes more than oncea day. Workouts on top of workouts, and, more importantly,goals on top of goals: Arnold wouldn’t just be the next RegPark. He would be the best-built man in Europe. And hewould eventually be the best bodybuilder in the world. Thenhe would go to America where he, like Reg, would star inmovies. The chalk was on the wall.

But how? No one in those days ever traveled that far, fromNowhere, Austria, to America. No one could afford to. “Thegoal was to become another Reg Park,” Arnold says. “I hadno idea at that point how to do it, but I was absolutely con-vinced that this was going to happen. I always felt that I was

going to get out of Austria and come to America. From thetime I was something like 10 years old I felt this way. But I had no idea how I was going to make that happen, becausethere just seemed to be no way.”

No way he would do all this — move to America, star inmovies, become famous — all because of bodybuilding. Itwas a widely unaccepted sport at the time — most of hisfriends, not to mention his parents, found it a rather peculiarway to spend one’s time — but Arnold set a precedent ofcarving his own path rather than simply doing what waspopular. He didn’t want to be a fireman, detective or sailorlike the other kids. And, for that matter, he didn’t want to bejust another bodybuilder.

“With my desire and drive, I definitely wasn’t normal,”Arnold says. “Normal people can be happy with a regularlife. I was different. I felt there was more to life than justplodding through an average existence. I’d always beenimpressed by stories of greatness and power. Caesar, Charle-magne, Napoleon were names I knew and remembered.I wanted to do something special, to be recognized as thebest. I saw bodybuilding as the vehicle that would take me tothe top, and I put all my energy into it.”

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

2007OLYMPIA.COM 169

1955

Nov. 6 Maria Shriver, Arnold’s

future wife, is born

1962

February Arnold finishes sixth in an

ice-curling competition

1962

JulyA 14-year-old Arnold

meets Kurt Marnul (future

Mr. Austria), manager

of the Athletic Union Graz

in Graz, Austria

Arnold begins work

as an apprentice

carpenter in Graz

1964

FebruaryArnold wins the city

and national curling

championships, junior

division

April 26 Arnold places third

in Mr. Austria and

Mr. Herkules, and fourth

in Mr. Steiermark

»The

odyssey

begins


05.02.2007 00:52

Ladies and

gentlemen, the

“Best Built

Athlete in

Europe”

winner for

1966



05.04.2007 04:56

SCENE III

October 1965. Arnold is staring up at the wall of his armybarracks in the middle of the night. He can’t sleep. He can’t decide whathe should do: obey his orders and not leave the base, or sneak out of campand cross over into Germany to compete in the bodybuilding competitionhe so desperately wants to win. He finally makes his decision. He’ll leave.Not even stopping to pack a bag with extra clothes in it, he gets up andclimbs over the wall, out of camp. He has scrounged barely enough moneyfor a third-class train ticket. The train stops at every station along theway and one day later arrives in Stuttgart.

Three years after first visiting that rundown gym andseeing Reg Park on the movie screen, Arnold was training ashard as ever. And now, at age 18, he had joined the AustrianArmy, conveniently assigned to a camp near Graz andcommissioned as a tank driver. “The army became a luxury,”Arnold says. “Before that, I only ate meat once a week or sobecause my family didn’t have the money. In the army,you could have meat every day. And then, if you screwed up,they would put you in the kitchen at night to peel potatoesand do preparation work for the chef the next day. That wasno punishment to me; it was the ideal situation, to go and eateverything you wanted. There was always meat left over, andthere were eggs that you could make right there. So I workedout, then did my duty for two hours, and then I’m eating.I was actually gaining the most weight during that period[up to around 225 pounds from 200]. Even though we wereworking hard and running every day, it was still the time toreally get in there and gain weight. It was fantastic!”

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

In 1965 Arnold (center) was a tank driver in the Austrian Army

»

1965

SpringArnold wins Mr. Steiermark

Oct. 1 Arnold begins compulsory

one-year service in

Austrian Army as a tank

driver

1966

Aug. 1Arnold begins working

at Putziger’s Gym in

Munich; he buys the gym

the next year

Sept. 24At the NABBA

Mr. Universe in London,

Arnold places second

in the amateur tall class

Sept. 29British magazine Health &

Strength offers its first

mention of Arnold:

“This 20-year-old Austrian

is typical of the huge

improvement in European

entries in our [Mr.] Uni-

verse.” Arnold is erro-

neously called Leopold

Schwartzenegger

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2007OLYMPIA.COM 171


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Only one problem: The Junior Mr. Europe competition, inStuttgart, Germany, happened to fall in the six weeks of basictraining when the soldiers weren’t allowed to leave the base forany other reason besides the death of a family member. Arnoldbolted anyway. When he arrived at the competition, this beinghis first one, he was clueless. He had to borrow posing trunksand body oil from other competitors. For his posing routine, allhe could do was try and mimic what he had seen Reg Parkdoing in the magazines. Somehow it all worked out — Arnoldwent through the preliminary rounds, then got called for thepose-off, and then became the new Junior Mr. Europe.

When he returned to camp, he was caught climbing backover the wall and spent the next seven days in jail with verylittle food and only a cold, stone bench to sleep on and ablanket to keep warm with. But Arnold had his trophy, andby the time he was released from jail, word had spread aroundthe base that he was the new Junior Mr. Europe. He becamea local hero, even among his superiors, who granted him twodays leave for bringing prestige to the Austrian Army. “Youhave to fight to achieve,” the drill sergeants said to thesoldiers in the field. “You have to have courage. Look at whatSchwarzenegger did just to win this title.”

1) Arnold came in second at the 1966 Mr. Universe at age 20 2) Doing an impromptu posing routine after the 1966 Mr. Universe

3) Arnold and Chet Yorton (right) at the 1966 Mr. Universe 4) Developing the mind/muscle connection 5) Posing by the lake in Graz

1 2

3 4 5



05.02.2007 00:53

SCENE IV

Early 1966. Arnold is beginning to prosper. He now lives inMunich, Germany, having moved there shortly after winning the JuniorMr. Europe competition and leaving the army. He trains at a gym along-side top-level bodybuilders. For work, he manages the gym where hetrains, after spending just two weeks as a personal trainer. Arnold’slearning curve is steep, having hardly ventured outside of Austria andnot being up to speed with the multitude of languages being spoken atthe gym and around the city, such as Spanish, Turkish and English. ButArnold learns quickly — learning how to train, learning how to become achampion bodybuilder. He’s training to become Mr. Universe.

To truly understand the success of Arnold Schwarzeneggeris to realize that it’s as much due to his aptitude for socialinteraction — specifically that people have always been drawnto him and wanted to help him — as his physical prowess.This is one reason he moved to Munich in the first place, forin Stuttgart he had met Albert Busek, who by that time had aconsiderable presence in the German bodybuilding commu-nity as the co-founder and editor of the magazine Sport Revue,and soon would found the German Bodybuilding and FitnessFederation in 1966. (To this day, Albert is still involved withthe sport as a photojournalist living in Munich, and remainsclose friends with Arnold. In 2005, he received the Artie Zelleraward for photographic excellence at the Ironman Pro Invita-tional in Pasadena, California.) Albert, impressed both byArnold’s physique and charisma, convinced him to move toMunich and work in the gym he managed.

“After the show [in Stuttgart] I took Arnold to a restaurant,”Albert says of his first encounter with the then 18-year-old.“I already knew that, physically, he had the greatest potentialI’d ever seen. As we talked, his personality and sense of funmade a deep impression on me. He had a hunger for successand a drive for improvement I’d never experienced in anyonebefore or since. He told me he was looking to make the nextstep in his bodybuilding career. He told me his ambition wasto eventually go to the United States, become the best body-builder in the world and be a movie star.”

Indeed, the trip to Stuttgart proved in many ways to be aworthwhile, if not deviant, venture, as another individualArnold met there was Franco Columbu, who was competingin the lightweight division of the Europe PowerliftingChampionships at the same location. Arnold and Franco,who was from Sardinia and was now living in Munich, too,

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

1966 (CONT.)

Oct. 9 Arnold wins Best Built

Athlete of Europe, in

Cologne, Germany

Oct. 30 Arnold wins Best Built Ath-

lete of Europe, in Stuttgart,

and wins a heavyweight

powerlifting title; Franco

Columbu wins the mid-

dleweight division

1967

Jan. 28 Arnold gives a barbell-

curling demonstration at

the Mr. London contest,

working up to doing cheat

reps with 260 pounds

March 2 & 16Arnold gets his first and

second covers of Health &

Strength magazine

April 4 Arnold places second

at a powerlifting contest

in Germany

Sept. 23Arnold wins the amateur

NABBA Mr. Universe in

London, tall class and

overall, becoming the

youngest man ever to win

a Mr. Universe title

Even early

in his career,

Arnold

attracted

attention

»

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became training partners and friends right away. “Francowould invite me over to his apartment and cook,” Arnoldsays. “He was already a good cook. So we had a terrific time.”

Arnold began training twice a day, six days a week, using asplit routine that would one day become famous. He trainedin the morning from 9–11 o’clock, and then came back at 7 p.m.for another two-hour lifting session. Fellow gym membersthought Arnold would surely overtrain himself and lose size,but he gained another 5 pounds of quality muscle in less thantwo months using the double-split routine. By the time he wasto compete in his second competition, the Mr. Europe in early1966, rumors were already spreading of the 19-year-oldAustrian giant with the biggest arms in all of Europe, at 20inches. Bodybuilding spectators were clamoring to see him inperson, to touch his enormous physique. Arnold won the Mr.Europe, and soon thereafter won the title of Best Built Man inEurope in a separate competition.

His next contest was the NABBA (National AmateurBody Builders Association) Mr. Universe in London, inSeptember 1966. It was Arnold’s first time on an airplane.Luckily, he was seated next to two German businessmen whospoke English. They immediately were enamored of theyoung bodybuilder — so much so that they, too, like AlbertBusek, felt compelled to help him. “In that hour-and-a-halfflight,” Arnold says, “it became very clear that I didn’t knowhow to even reach my hotel [in London]. The businessmenguided me through the luggage department and passportcheck in the airport. And they offered me a taxi ride, eventhough they were going to a different hotel.”

As for the competition itself, being 230 pounds with 20-incharms gave Arnold all the size he needed, but one look at his

American competition, namely Chet Yorton, told him he hada ways to go yet. Arnold was big, yes, but he wasn’t nearlywhere he needed to be as a bodybuilder. “The kind of thingI was seeing [in Chet and the other American bodybuilders]had very little to do with body size, which was what I hadconcentrated on,” he says. “That was mere foundation material.Now I had to work it down, to carve and shape it. I had to getthe separation, the finish, the tan.”

Regardless, Arnold placed second in the tall class to Chet.More important, people noticed him. After the show, Ameri-can journalists wanted to interview and photograph Arnold.They wanted to know his training secrets, because surelyto get that large he had to be doing something different.Spectators of the event were anointing Arnold the next Mr.Universe. But Arnold took nothing for granted. His hungerto become the best-built man in the world was only growing.

When Arnold turned 20, his weighthad reached between 240 and 250pounds, practically unheard offor a bodybuilder in the late ’60s

Arnold would use his arm strength to do 12-ounce curls…

»

1967 (CONT.)

Oct. 26 & Nov. 9Arnold is on the cover of

Health & Strength

DecemberArnold spends Christmas

with Reg Park and his

family in South Africa

1968

Feb. 2 Arnold’s nephew Patrick

is born

Sept. 21Arnold wins the NABBA Pro

Universe in London

Sept. 27Arnold arrives in Miami,

Florida, brought to the

United States by Joe

Weider for the IFBB Mr.

Universe. They meet for the

first time the next day

Sept. 28 Arnold wins the IFBB Mr.

Universe tall class, but he

loses the overall title to

Frank Zane in Miami



05.02.2007 00:50

He returned to Munich and began training even harder,determined to avenge his loss at the Mr. Universe. By thefollowing summer, when Arnold turned 20, his bodyweighthad reached between 240 and 250 pounds, a bodyweightpractically unheard of for a bodybuilder in the late ’60s. Healso became leaner and more defined, as he’d set out to do theprevious year in London.

To become an even more complete bodybuilder, Arnoldhoned his posing technique, this time with the help of WagBennett, an instrumental player in England bodybuildingcircuits who’d been a judge at the Mr. Universe contest. Wag,in addition to inviting Arnold to do bodybuilding exhibitionsin England, had him over to his home in London to work onposing routines. For the first time, Arnold posed to music. Ashe recalls the educational session with Wag: “‘Arnold, towhat music do you pose?’ [Wag asked.] ‘Reg Park poses toLegend of the Glass Mountains.’ And I said, ‘I pose to no music.I would never know what music to pick.’ And he would say,‘We’ve got to pick some music for you, because when I bringyou over here for exhibitions, there has to be music.’”

The music Wag selected for him was from the soundtrackto the movie Exodus. At first, flexing to music seemed silly toArnold, but soon his poses were in sync with the rhythm.After receiving a strong ovation in his first London posingexhibition, Arnold’s confidence was at an all-time high. Theamateur Mr. Universe competition was approaching onceagain, in September of 1967, and in Arnold’s mind, he hadalready won.

He was right. Dennis Tinerino, who’d just won the Mr.America competition, was Arnold’s biggest threat, with

Chet Yorton not competing this time around. But just as hadbeen predicted a year earlier, the outcome was clear. Leaner,more defined and now armed with a new posing routine,Arnold was the obvious winner, the youngest man ever towin the Mr. Universe title. And he soaked it all up. As pho-tographers’ light bulbs flashed and fans screamed, Arnoldthought to himself, over and over, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Universe 1967.

“It was unlike anything else, the amount of help I gotfrom so many people,” Arnold says in reference to, amongothers, Albert, Wag and even the lucky encounter with theGerman businessmen on the plane. “I think they saw I wassincere, that I wanted in the worst way to be a champion,that I appreciated any help I could get. It’s amazing how I’ma product of people helping me and pushing me along.”

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

…within a few years they measured 22 inches

Arnold and Franco Columbu, friends for more than 40 years

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176 MUSCLE&FITNESS Month 2005176 MUSCLE&FITNESS July 2007

SCENE V

December 1967. It’s 4:30 in the morning in South Africa andArnold is sleeping. Reg Park: Come on, Arnold, we got to go training.Arnold: What? The two train together from 5 to 7 in the morning. After the workout

they eat protein powder and corn flakes for breakfast. Arnold is stayingat Reg’s house, located on a mountain called Mount Olympus. Reg has atleast one dog named Hercules. This is total madness, Arnold thinks tohimself. But where is he — at the theater again, watching another RegPark movie, mistaking some other Austrian teenager for himself? Noway that Arnold is actually working out with his idol and staying at hishouse. But it is happening. It isn’t a movie. Arnold may not be the nextReg Park just yet, but hell if he isn’t training with him!

By the time Arnold won the Mr. Universe title, Reg hadbecome very familiar with the enormous young Austrianand invited him to South Africa to train with him. Arnoldcouldn’t believe it; not only did he finally get to meet his idol,but he was now working out with him, too, learning thethings from Reg he could never have gotten from the maga-zines. Every morning they trained together, from 5–7. Arnoldwas a sponge, soaking up every bit of advice Reg had to offer.

“I was like a panting puppy dog,” he recalls, “lapping up allthe tidbits my master tossed at me. Working out with Regdefinitely changed my view on when to work out, becauseI always felt before that the body doesn’t get up to speed until

around 9, 10 o’clock. With him, we always had to do calf raises at 6 o’clock with 1,000 pounds, and squatting with 500pounds at 5:30 in the morning. I don’t think I’ve ever metanyone who could come close to those kinds of experiences. I mean, you come from Austria, from the farm, and then allof a sudden you step into this! You’re living and training withyour idol, who you’d first seen in movies.

“When I came back to Munich, I worked out not from 5–7,but from 7–9,” Arnold says. “And having my first workoutearly in the morning, I could actually put in three workouts a day — morning, a lunch workout and one in the evening.Experiences like that will change your way of thinking.”

Arnold couldn’t believe it;not only did he finally get tomeet his idol, but he was nowworking out with him, too


05.02.2007 00:49

MUSCLE-FITNESS.COM 1852007OLYMPIA.COM 185

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

1 2 3

“How d’ya

like the

trunks?”

4) Arnold sizes up his idol Reg Park

5) In 1967, Reg Park (left) was Arnold’s mentor.

Three years later, the pupil beat Reg for the

1970 Mr. Universe title

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1) Arnold’s first Mr. Universe win 2) At one of his many magazine photo shoots 3) Victorious in London at the ’67 Mr. Universe


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SCENE VI

September 1968. Arnold is in America. Finally. In Miami.He’s seeing, for the first time, things he has only seen in movies and booksand magazines: six-lane highways, concrete overpasses that seem to allspiral together to join this freeway to that freeway. He senses an energyaround him he has never felt before, what he would later describe as a“Cuban flavor.” He hears Latin music everywhere he goes. Where he’sfrom, it’s cold this time of year, but in Miami it’s hot and humid. Allthis newness going on around him leads to one simple conclusion: This isa totally different place.

Arnold was fresh off winning his second NABBA Mr.Universe contest on Sept. 21. Immediately afterward, he wascontacted by Joe Weider and invited to come to America andcompete in the IFBB Mr. Universe to be held in Miami oneweek later. Joe told him that they would then discuss Arnoldcoming out to California for a few months afterward to train.

Arnold was confident heading into the contest. Americanonlookers were seeing him for the first time and were imme-diately taken aback by his size, especially for how younghe was, still only 21 at this point. But Arnold learned yetanother lesson in quality over quantity from one of America’stop bodybuilders, Frank Zane. Arnold outweighed Frank byat least 50 pounds, but his definition was no match for theAmerican’s meticulously carved physique. Arnold won thetall class but ended up finishing second overall to Frank.

Joe Weider was not deterred. He was fascinated by thegigantic young bodybuilder with the thick Austrian accent.Joe and Arnold worked out an agreement shortly thereafter:

Arnold would spend one year in America, training anddivulging his techniques to Joe’s magazines. He would alsocompete in the following year’s Mr. Universe in New York.Arnold moved to Southern California and immediatelyresumed his training. Only this time, instead of aimingmerely for size, definition and muscle quality held a higherpriority, as he whittled his physique down to 230 pounds from250 in preparation for the Mr. Universe.

Arnold and Joe formed an immediate bond. Where onceArnold was like a sponge soaking up Reg Park’s every ounceof knowledge, now Joe was hungry for every detail ofArnold’s new life in America. At one point, in 1969, he sentArnold to Chicago to train with the reigning Mr. Olympiaand Cuban behemoth Sergio Oliva, who Arnold wouldcompete against later that year. Joe wanted to know every-thing about their time together so he could write a storyabout it. “Tell me about your day and about working out withSergio,” Joe said each night on the phone. “What did Sergio

1969

Arnold wins the

Mr. International in

Tijuana, Mexico

Arnold begins writing

under his own byline in Joe

Weider’s MUSCLE BUILDER

Franco arrives in America

and becomes roommates

with Arnold

Sept. 13Arnold wins the IFBB

Mr. Universe in New York

City, then places second

to Sergio Oliva in the Mr.

Olympia that same evening

Sept. 20Arnold wins the pro NABBA

Mr. Universe in London

Sept. 28Arnold wins the IFBB

Mr. Europe in Essen,

West Germany

Arnold

takes

Miami by

storm



05.04.2007 04:52

say? How many protein drinks does he take?” Shortly after, Joe flew Arnold out to stay with him in his

New York apartment (before Joe lived full time in California).During the stay, one story in particular paints a picture ofJoe’s affinity for Arnold. As Arnold tells it, “It was just a regular-sized apartment, but it was really nice, withbeautiful antiques and Tiffany lamps and paintings. And Joesays, ‘The only thing is these two chairs, don’t touch them,because they’re antiques. I’m really a fanatic about antiques.’So it comes time to go to bed and I start taking off my pants.And you know how you take off your pants and you getstuck? I started falling straight over the antique chair, and I wiped it out into like 15 pieces lying on the ground. So I went to Joe and said, ‘Joe, I don’t know what happened.’ Ifanyone else would have done it, he would have killed themright there. But he just looked at it and said, ‘Ah, don’t worryabout it. I’m gonna get it glued together tomorrow.’ Thatwas really funny because he was probably freaking outinside over the whole thing.”

This all leads up to Sept. 13, 1969, in New York. It was amomentous night for Arnold, a microcosm of his competitionexperience to this point — a victory and confidence-builderfollowed immediately by yet another humbling lesson.The victory: an easy win in the IFBB Mr. Universe. Thelesson: a loss in the Mr. Olympia competition that samenight to Sergio, who had won the title in 1967 and 1968. Mostnotable about the loss was how in awe of Sergio Arnold was.No sooner did the Cuban strip down to his posing trunksthan did young Arnold concede victory to him. So sure ofhimself was Arnold just hours earlier at the Universe, he wasnow second place before he even stepped onto the Olympiastage. But the experience marked an end to two things: Thiswas the last time he would be intimidated by an opponent.And it was the last time Arnold would lose.

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

1) This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship 2) Arnold and Franco soak up the California sun 3) Arnold offers

congratulations to Sergio Oliva for winning the 1969 Mr. Olympia 4) One of Arnold’s favorite issues of MUSCLE BUILDER/POWER

5) Joe Weider congratulates Arnold on winning the 1969 Mr. Universe

Arnold quickly fell in love with Southern California

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2007OLYMPIA.COM 187


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ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

ARNOLD: THE FIRST 60 YEARS

1970-1980

The Oak is

now fully

grown


05.02.2007 02:44

SCENE I

1970. Arnold’s back in the gym, in America for good, and training ashard as ever. There’s no chalk on the walls in Southern California gyms.Doesn’t need to be. Arnold knows his goal: to become Mr. Olympia.Besides, he’s got Franco Columbu to train with now, having talked JoeWeider into bringing his friend over to America so Arnold would have a competent training partner. Arnold is taking no chances in his prepara-tions. He’s spending hours in the gym every day, keeping strict with hisdiet, and even taking ballet lessons at UCLA to perfect his posing.

2007OLYMPIA.COM 191

Not that the extent of Arnold’s Californiaexperience was training. Los Angeles, not sur-prisingly, was a far cry from Graz, or evenMunich, and Arnold soaked itall in. “I had some really greatexperiences right away,” hesays. “It was always a greattime. Joe would always havephoto shoots on the beach witha bunch of girls, great-lookinggirls. And other bodybuilderswere at the shoots, too, and theywere always a lot of fun. Afterseveral months in California I returned to Austria for a visit.After the second day there, I was already homesick for America.”

The Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia wereheld back to back the year before, but in 1970Arnold competed in three major competitions

in a 15-day span. The first one, the defense of his pro Mr. Universe title on Sept. 18 inLondon, might have been his toughest, based

solely on one factor: Reg Park,staging a comeback, competedin the show. Before the contest,Arnold weighed his options:Compete and likely beat hisidol, or drop out and avoid thesituation altogether. Arnoldstayed in the competition andbeat Reg, who finished animpressive second place 20years after his bodybuildingdebut. “We were both com-petitors, sportsmen, and there

was a dignity in that,” Arnold said afterward.“I didn’t look at it as beating Reg Park but asbeing able to step up beside him, to finallyshare an equal place with him.”

ACT TWO

Arnold and Franco hit the weights at

Southern California’s Muscle Beach

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The next show was the AAU Pro Mr. World a day later inColumbus, Ohio. It was here that Arnold first met promoterJim Lorimer, who had arranged for Arnold to fly from Lon-don to New York and then hop on a private jet to Columbusin time for the contest. The two men immediately bondedand would later become business partners in the ArnoldSchwarzenegger Classic, today one of the two biggest body-building competitions in the world. More memorable, how-ever, was the surprising entry of Sergio Oliva, whom Arnoldhadn’t expected to compete against until the Olympia twoweeks later.

As in the previous year, Sergio looked monstrous, butArnold was better now than in ’69 — more defined, more sep-arated and a more astute poser at 240 pounds. This time,Arnold was victorious, bringing the crowd to its feet inshouts of “Arnold! Arnold! Arnold!” The upcoming Mr.Olympia contest, in New York City on Oct. 3, was immedi-

ately billed as the ultimate heavyweight showdown. But the psychological edge was clearly in Arnold’s favor,

for after the Columbus show he cleverly “advised” Sergio toadd 15 more pounds to his frame before the Olympia, explain-ing that the extra size would improve his chances of winning.Sergio trusted Arnold’s advice and aimed to add the weight.“I told Sergio [at the Mr. World contest], ‘Everyone out theresaid that you were ripped, but you somehow had lost yoursize,’” Arnold says. “And he says, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to gain15 pounds so quickly. In New York I’m going to be big again.’And of course that backfired big time, because you cannotgain 15 pounds that quickly. You can gain maybe 3, 4 poundsin two weeks, but not 15.”

Arnold went on to win his historic first Mr. Olympia title,becoming indisputably the best bodybuilder in the world,just as he’d set out to be less than 10 years earlier. And yet, hisstory was still in its infancy.

TIM

ELIN

EARNOLD’S

By

Jo

e R

oa

rk

1970

Arnold stars in his first

film Hercules in New York

(sometimes called

Hercules Goes Bananas),

under the stage name

Arnold Strong

Sept. 18Arnold wins the pro

NABBA Mr. Universe in

London, beating his idol

Reg Park

Sept. 19Arnold wins Mr. World

in Columbus, Ohio,

beating reigning

Mr. Olympia Sergio Oliva.

Arnold meets Jim Lorimer

at the same contest

Oct. 3Arnold wins his first

Mr. Olympia title in

New York City

Dec. 5 Arnold receives IFBB

Certificate of Merit

»

1) A classic photo shoot on the beach with the Weider gang 2) Arnold and Betty Weider in an iconic ad from the early 1970s

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05.02.2007 02:47


SCENE II

Early 1970s.Arnold is looking up again, this time through the sky-light windows at Gold’s Gym. He’s going to college in Santa Monica, heand Franco have established their own bricklaying business, and he hasstarted his own mail-order operation. And whether he knows it or not,he’s living in the Golden Age of bodybuilding, training practically everyday at Gold’s with the Francos and Dave Drapers of the world. And howbeautifully and organically it’s all coming together. Arnold and his friendstrain early in the morning, as does legendary photographer and friend ofArnold’s, Artie Zeller, before starting his shift as a postman — and healways brings his camera. Those skylight windows are perfect for photo-graphing. So here are Arnold and Dave and Franco, lifting away, andArtie, clicking away, and morning sunlight shining down on the entirescene, helping to create the timeless, legendary photos you’re looking atnow. Take away one of these factors — Arnold or Artie or the skylightwindows — and there is no Golden Age, at least not on film.

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

But amid all the serendipity, Arnold was as hungry as ever.It had always been his goal to beat the world’s best body-builders, and now that he was the best he still desired to takeon any would-be champions. The 1971 Olympia had all themakings of the most competitive contest ever, particularlybecause of the top two challengers to Arnold’s title. “If therewas ever a heavenly situation, it was [the Mr. Pro Universe in]London in 1971. Because there was Sergio and [reigning Mr.Universe] Bill Pearl,” Arnold says. “Sergio had gotten so big— he went up to 245 pounds or so — and he was scary. And Billwas the king of the conservative world of bodybuilding, thetraditional NABBA Mr. Universe. I was big, too. I was train-ing hard and I was around 246 pounds. I felt like this was it —there is no better place to go and just destroy these guys.”

But Arnold didn’t get his wish. A few weeks before the con-test the IFBB announced that anyone who had competed in a non-IFBB-sanctioned competition would be ineligible tocompete in that year’s Olympia. Consequently, Arnolddefended his Olympia title unopposed. Looking back at theBill Pearl clash that never happened, Arnold says, “To me, tak-ing on Sergio and Bill would have been pure heaven. It’s a challenge I would have relished.”

In 1972, he beat Sergio for the last time to claim his thirdstraight Olympia win, in Essen, West Germany. The victory,however, wasn’t without some controversy, as Sergio hadimproved significantly and came in as big and sculpted asever, so much so that many bodybuilding insiders felt he hadthe decidedly superior physique. But here was the differencebetween having star power and simply having physical power,between being able to outsmart your opponent and being sus-ceptible to being outsmarted. It was the difference betweenArnold and Sergio. Had Sergio possessed the intangibles ofhis rival, maybe the Olympia outcomes in ’70 and ’72 wouldhave been different. But, of course, this wasn’t the case — allthe more fortuitous for Arnold.

Arnold won the Olympia again in ’73 and ’74, minus thecontroversy that had surrounded wins in previous years. Noone argued his victories anymore, what with Sergio havingremoved himself from IFBB contests after his defeat in ’72,Arnold continuing to improve his physique and his chief com-petition being Franco and Frenchman Serge Nubret, bothquality bodybuilders but not quite in Arnold’s league. Run-ning out of challenges on the bodybuilding stage, Arnold hadhis eye on the horizon.


05.02.2007 02:47

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“To me, taking on Sergio and Billwould have been pure heaven. It’sa challenge I would have relished”

1) Arnold and Dave Draper going for broke 2) Front squats were an Arnold staple 3) Joe and Arnold shared an easy friendship

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05.02.2007 02:47

ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

1971

May 20Arnold’s brother

Meinhard dies in a car

crash. Arnold would later

bring his nephew Patrick

to the United States

Sept. 25 Arnold wins the

Mr. Olympia for the

second time (in Paris)

1972

Arnold studies general

courses at Santa Monica

City College in California

Sept. 16Arnold meets George

Butler for the first time,

and George almost imme-

diately decides that Arnold

should be the main focus

of an upcoming book and

movie tentatively titled

Pumping Iron

Sept. 24 Arnold wins the

Mr. Olympia for the

third time in Essen,

West Germany, with his

father in the audience

November Arnold injures his knee

when a platform collapses

during a South African

guest-posing appearance

Dec. 11Arnold’s father Gustav

dies of a stroke at age 65

»

4) In the Golden Age of bodybuilding, Gold’s Gym featured a who’s who in the sport. From left: Paul Grant, Ed Corney, Danny Padilla

and Arnold 5) Arnold and Ed Corney 6) An off-camera moment from the movie Stay Hungry 7) Arnold and Frank Zane in Santa Monica

5

4

6 7

2007OLYMPIA.COM 195


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SCENE III

October 1974. Arnold wants to retire from bodybuilding. Whatmore is there he can do in the sport? He has just won his fifth Mr.Olympia title. It’s as if the chalk on the wall said, “Mr. Olympia 5 times,”and Arnold has drawn five lines underneath that. Time for a new goal.Time to advance his movie career. But wait. What if going for OlympiaNo. 6 will advance his movie career? One more go-round, then. He can’tmiss the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest. George Butler will be there.

Who? George Butler, the author, along with CharlesGaines, of the book Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport ofBodybuilding, released in 1974, that delved into the subcultureof bodybuilding and profiled its major players, includingArnold. The book was well-received, so now George wanted to turn it into a movie documentary. And he wanted,no, needed, Arnold to be the star. Noother bodybuilder had the résumé, pres-ence and charisma of the Austrian. Theplan was to shoot a number of body-builders preparing for the 1975 Mr.Olympia, to be held in Pretoria, SouthAfrica, with the climax set for the finalsonstage. Arnold couldn’t pass up theopportunity. The cast would includehim, his new “rival” and eventual starof The Incredible Hulk series Lou Fer-rigno, Franco, Serge, and amateur com-petitors Mike Katz and Ken Waller, among others.

Not that this was Arnold’s first motion picture. He hadjust filmed the movie Stay Hungry in the spring/summer of’75, which found him playing a considerable role as Austrian

bodybuilder Joe Santo alongside Jeff Bridges and Sally Field.The role required Arnold to drop down to 210 pounds. Thismade for close timing, as filming concluded in July andArnold had just three months before the Olympia to get his

weight back up to 230–240 pounds. Withcameras on him throughout his precon-test training, he managed to pull it off.

But the groundbreaking documentaryalmost didn’t happen. If Charles andGeorge thought pulling off a book aboutbodybuilding was tough — the book’sfirst publisher, Doubleday, pulled outupon receiving the manuscript, reason-ing that no one would be interested inthis character named Arnold Schwarz-enegger — completing a movie projectwas a much more difficult (read: expen-sive) challenge. George had raised$400,000 for the filming but soon found

that wasn’t enough. He resorted to fund-raisers, dipping intohis own pocket and incurring serious debt to finance the film,but it was eventually completed and sold. Once again, fatewas on Arnold’s side, for if the movie had never been made,

1973

Arnold starts taking

business courses while

attending night school

at the University of

California, Los Angeles

JanuaryArnold has surgery on his

left knee, which was

injured in South Africa

March 7Arnold’s second movie,

The Long Goodbye,

premieres

Sept. 8Arnold wins his fourth

Mr. Olympia title (in New

York City)

1974

Charles Gaines’ and

George Butler’s book

Pumping Iron: The Art and

Sport of Bodybuilding is

published and well-

received

Oct. 12Arnold wins his fifth

Mr. Olympia title (in New

York City)

OctoberSports Illustrated

features Arnold in

“The Men and the Myth”

by R.W. Johnson

Nov. 19Arnold appears on the TV

show Happy Anniversary

and Goodbye with Lucille

Ball, playing the character

of an Italian masseur

Arnold wins his fourth Mr. Olympia title



05.02.2007 02:47

2007OLYMPIA.COM 197

who knows what would have become of his Hollywood fate.In Pumping Iron, Arnold brought the metaphysical — what

he calls “it” — into play. Franco didn’t have “it,” nor did Mikeor Ken, and Lou, playing the role of the subordinate son to thedomineering father, definitely didn’t have “it.” But whatexactly is “it”? Maybe it’s Arnold so eloquently describing in a now-legendary segment of the movie how the musclepump he achieves in the gym is like sex and how he achievesthat orgasmic feeling all day, every day. Maybe it’s Arnoldhaving breakfast with the Ferrigno family the morningbefore the contest, talking trash, telling the Ferrignos he’djust spoken to his mother on the telephone and told her hehad already won the Mr. Olympia for a sixth time, eventhough the contest was still hours away, yet somehow man-aging to endear himself to Lou and his dad, the latter twolaughing right along with Arnold. Maybe “it” is Arnold own-ing the spotlight throughout the film, concluding in the final

scene with his arm around “Big Louie” on the bus going backto the airport in Pretoria, even though he’d just beaten him(Lou finished third). Maybe that’s what “it” is.

But who cares what “it” is? Arnold certainly doesn’t, solong as he has it. “I had the personality better than anyoneelse,” Arnold says. “And I had ‘it,’ whatever ‘it’ is. In terms ofthe personality, I think it’s a combination of a zest for life,curiosity and being entertaining, enjoying being on the stageand being in the spotlight. Lighting up the room when youwalk in. This is what ‘it’ is. In movies, the camera guysalways come up to me and say, ‘You can’t take any credit forthis because the camera loves you.’ Certain people have it,and luckily only a few. It means you can go further, you canpush the envelope much harder…you can get away withmore,” Arnold says, smiling.

Arnold, of course, won the 1975 Mr. Olympia competitioneasily, beating out Serge and Lou in the over-200-pound class,

1975

June 16People magazine

features Arnold in “Arnold

Schwarzenegger: A Name

to Remember in the Body-

Building Business”

by Andrea Joiner

Nov. 8 Arnold wins his sixth

Mr. Olympia title

(in Pretoria, South Africa),

then announces his

retirement from

competitive bodybuilding.

His preparation for the

’75 Olympia is the

backdrop for the ground-

breaking documentary

Pumping Iron, produced

by George Butler

Nov. 22–23Arnold begins a six-city

seminar tour

in Pittsburgh

1976

Feb. 25With Frank Zane and

Ed Corney, Arnold poses

at the Whitney Museum

of Art in New York City in

an exhibition titled

Articulate Muscle: The

Male Body in Art

April 23Stay Hungry is released.

Arnold stars with Jeff

Bridges and Sally Field

»

In the midst of filming the groundbreaking documentary Pumping Iron, which would introduce him to a worldwide audience

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202 MUSCLE & FITNESS 05.10

198 MUSCLE & FITNESS Month 2005198 MUSCLE & FITNESS July 2007

“So I did the meditation and it reallyhelped me for about a year. And thenI stopped, and I never needed it again”

then beating his best friend Franco, theunder-200-pound class winner, in thepose-off. At the end of the contest,Arnold predictably announced his retire-ment from competitive bodybuilding,adding, among other things, “This is thebest sport in the world.” In a scene fol-lowing that, he strutted around back-stage wearing a T-shirt that read“ARNOLD IS NUMERO UNO.”

“That year [1975] was the one timethat I had to take transcendental medi-tation [to relieve stress],” Arnold says. “Ihad to bring myself down because I wasso wired with bodybuilding, Stay Hungry

and Pumping Iron — it was the only timeI felt as though there was really a lot onmy plate. Like with Pumping Iron, it wasthe experience of having a camera there24 hours a day. The film crew justdescended on the gym, you were filmedall the time, and it rattles you occasion-ally. So I did the meditation and it reallyhelped me for about a year. And then I stopped, and I never needed it again.What it came down to was this: You have24 hours in a day, and you have onlyso many years to reach your dreams. Iutilized the 24 hours more than anyone I know. You snooze, you lose. So whatare you gonna do?”

1) Arnold endorsed a few products along the way 2) Winning his sixth Mr. Olympia in South Africa

1

2


05.02.2007 02:45


ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

3) In the gym, no one worked harder than Arnold 4) Reflections of a Golden Age

3

4

Arnold believed

in always moving

forward, never

standing still

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ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

SCENE IV

January 1977. Arnold is staring up at the stage at the BeverlyHilton Hotel in Los Angeles. This is all new to him. Sure, he has beenonstage many times before, he has even sat in the audience. But always inposing trunks or a sweatsuit, and always around bodybuilders. Never ina tuxedo. Never in the company of Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffmanand Sylvester Stallone. And then suddenly, his name is called, and he’s uponstage. Arnold has just been awarded the Golden Globe for Best ActingDebut in a Motion Picture, Male, for his role in Stay Hungry, whichwas released in 1976.

Pumping Iron was finally released on Jan. 18, shortly afterArnold won the Golden Globe, and the documentarybecame an instant cult classic. Arnold went on a full mediatour to promote the film, from CBS’s program Who’s Who tothe Today show with Barbara Walters. Just like that, he wasthe hottest actor in America, at least temporarily. The littleboy from Thal was standing 10 feet tall.

And was this all brand-new to him? Of course. But he wasright at home, even at the Cannes Film Festival following thereleases of Stay Hungry and Pumping Iron. “Yes, I was athome,” Arnold says, articulating his innate ability to enter anew arena and play by its rules. “That’s exactly the way itought to be every day, the whole year, with girls lyingaround on the beach, and playing soccer with Pelé, andtalking with producers. But it was all crap. Ninety-nine percent of the dialogue at Cannes is nonsense.This guy or that producer promises you three movies,so you go back to the press and say, ‘I have so many dealsand now I’m going to make all these movies.’ But it

was nothing, it was bogus.”And what did the two movies, Stay Hungry and Pump-

ing Iron, have in common? In the latter, Arnold playedhimself, a champion bodybuilder from Austria; in theformer, Arnold played the role of, um, a champion

bodybuilder from Austria. A formula for success: Playyourself, Arnold, be yourself, and you’re set.

1976 (CONT.).

Sept. 18In partnership with Jim

Lorimer, Arnold promotes

the Mr. Olympia contest

in Columbus, Ohio

1977

Douglas Kent Hall’s Arnold:

The Education of a Body-

builder is published;

Arnold wins a Golden

Globe for Best Acting

Debut for his role in Stay

Hungry

JanuaryThe world’s best-known

bodybuilding movie to

date, Pumping Iron, is

released

Jan. 24Newsweek magazine

reviews the movie

Pumping Iron

May 5Arnold appears in an

episode of TV’s The

Streets of San Francisco

called “Dead Lift”

Aug. 28Arnold meets

Maria Shriver at the

Robert F. Kennedy Tennis

Tournament in Forest

Hills, New York

Oct. 1Arnold co-promotes the

Mr. Olympia with Jim

Lorimer in Columbus,

Ohio. Frank Zane wins

»

Arnold with fellow Stay Hungry cast members Sally Field

and Jeff Bridges

Premiere of

Pumping Iron

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ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

SCENE V

August 1977. Look at Arnold now. He’s trying his hand at tennis.

Is he playing? Well, not exactly. He’s mingling with American royalty,

the Kennedys, attending the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in

Forest Hills, New York, on Aug. 28. He’s being himself, despite being

in the presence of some of the most powerful people in the country. He’s

a smashing success with the Kennedys, especially with the 21-year-old

niece of JFK, Maria Shriver.

Arnold wasn’t just a bodybuilder any-more. He was now a recognizable moviestar, as well as a businessman, having begunpromoting bodybuilding contests, his firstmajor one being the 1976 Mr. Olympia inColumbus, Ohio, with Jim Lorimer. Natu-rally, Maria was impressed by the fact thatArnold was a self-made man with as muchpassion and ambition as one human beingcan possibly have. And the feelings were

mutual. Although Maria obviously benefited from being a member of one ofthe country’s most famous families, she was extremely ambitious, a talentedbudding journalist who had just graduated from Georgetown University. Thetwo were immediately attracted to each other and began dating.

The remainder of the 1970s was, by Arnold’s standards, a bit mundane. Fol-lowing great success in Stay Hungry and Pumping Iron, his most notable role wasthe part of “Handsome Stranger” in the movie The Villain, opposite Kirk Dou-glas and Ann-Margret. It wasn’t until 1982 that his film career picked up wherePumping Iron had left off. Before that, in 1979, CBS aired the Mr. Olympia andhired Arnold to be an expert commentator. He would have done it again in 1980but instead opted for a more controversial role in that year’s contest.

1978

The Pumping Iron

calendar is published

and sells for $3.95;

Arnold declines a role

in the Mae West movie

Sextette

Sept. 23Arnold co-promotes the




1979

Arnold’s Bodyshaping

for Women by Arnold

and Douglas Kent Hall

is published;

Arnold and Bill Dobbins

co-author Arnold’s

Bodyshaping for Men;

Arnold is named Special

Olympics International

Weight Training Coach (he

currently serves as a

Global Ambassador to

the Special Olympics);

CBS hires Arnold as an

expert commentator

to assist in their

coverage of the 1979

Mr. Olympia contest in

Columbus, Ohio;

Arnold stars in The Villain

(also known as Cactus

Jack) with Kirk Douglas

and Ann-Margret;

Arnold has a cameo

appearance in the movie

Scavenger Hunt with

Richard Benjamin and

James Coco

Oct. 7Arnold co-promotes the




Nov. 10 Arnold graduates from the

University of Wisconsin,

Superior, with a major in

international marketing of

fitness and business

administration

»

1) Arnold and Maria in the late ’70s

2) As a color commentator for CBS

12

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ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

SCENE VI

October 1980. Arnold is looking out the window of an airplaneen route to Sydney, Australia, for the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest. He’s aCBS employee, making the trip overseas to cover the competition as a TVanalyst. But for some reason, he has been training hard leading up to theshow. But why? Was it for a movie role? Or was he planning on makinga comeback? Couldn’t be. He has been asked that question countless timesrecently, and every time he has said no. Frank Zane, Mike Mentzer — thetop bodybuilders of the time — have nothing to worry about. Or do they?

So why was Arnold training so hard? He had told somepeople that it was for the part of 1956 Mr. Universe MickeyHargitay in the upcoming made-for-television movie TheJayne Mansfield Story. But he had already finished filming it.Leading up to the show, Frank asked Arnold if he was plan-ning on competing. Arnold said no. But what was he sup-posed to say? That he was indeed competing,only to motivate Frank and others to train thatmuch harder? Arnold would compete, but he would keep it a secret up until the morningof the competition. He’d psyched out SergioOliva 10 years earlier at the Olympia. Nowhe’d do the same to Frank and Mike with hissurprise entry.

Arnold won the competition in what is stillconsidered the most controversial Olympiain history, with Frank finishing third andMike fifth. Some called the win a gift, sayingArnold wasn’t in the shape he was in hisprime and that his legs weren’t nearly big

enough to justify the victory. Either way, it was his seventhOlympia title, the most of all time at that point (two men,Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman, have since surpassedArnold’s record with eight titles each). It only proved that,even when not at his best, Arnold still was the best.

“It was maybe the wrong decision, the wrong motivation


With Loni Anderson and Russ Warner at the

premiere of The Jayne Mansfield Story

1980

The 1980 Arnold

Schwarzenegger

Calendar With Exercises

is published by

Simon & Schuster

October

Arnold appears with

Loni Anderson in the TV

movie The Jayne

Mansfield Story, playing

Mickey Hargitay

Oct. 4

As a last-minute entrant,

Arnold wins his seventh

Mr. Olympia title in

Sydney, Australia

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ARNOLD: THE MOVIE

[to compete],” Arnold said recently. “The fact of the mat-ter was, I was an established bodybuilding champion. I wassomeone who switched over to entertainment. I was some-one who was making money from the movies, so whywould I take something like this, a title like this, away fromthe [other bodybuilders]? But I always had a big ego andthat also came into play in the whole thing. And I barelywon. I remember that. I barely won. It was really like a hair-raising experience.”

The 1980 Mr. Olympia would prove to be Arnold’s lastbodybuilding contest. He left the competitive side of thesport as the greatest ever (many feel he still deserves thataccolade), the king of his domain. For most, such accom-plishment would have been enough — but come on, this wasArnold Schwarzenegger. There were new worlds to con-quer. Hollywood beckoned, and as we’ll discover in Part 2of his story in the next issue, he was merely scratchingthe surface of his legend. M&F

Check out our next

issue for part 2 of

“Arnold: The Movie.”

He’ll be back!

In 1980 Arnold

leaves competitive

bodybuilding

behind, but he

carries all the

lessons he learned

into the next

phases of his life

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arnold schwarzenegger - the first 60 years

Documents

movie arnold

complete arnold

quotable arnold

notice of arnold page

movie camera

mark twain cover story

arnolds early years

amazing collection page