Arnold Schwarzenegger

Bodybuilder, actor, and politician

• Born: July 30, 1947
• Place of Birth: Thal, Austria

Early Life

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was born in the village of Thal, Austria, near the city of Graz, on July 30, 1947, to Aurelia and Gustav Schwarzenegger. While he was still a boy, Schwarzenegger shifted his interest from soccer to bodybuilding because it emphasized the individual. He worked out and displayed his already muscular body at the small lake in Thal. He used the primitive weightlifting equipment at the Graz Athletic Union, where Kurt Marnul, Mr. Austria, suggested that Schwarzenegger take anabolic steroids, then legally available and commonly used by bodybuilders. More important than the steroids, however, was Schwarzenegger’s genetic tendency toward muscularity and his extreme determination. Having seen a magazine cover with bodybuilder Reg Park posing as Hercules, Schwarzenegger decided that he wanted to become Mr. Universe, a movie star, and a rich man.

Bodybuilding

Before he could achieve his goals, however, he had to serve in the Austrian army, which he entered on October 1, 1965. Late that month he went absent without leave and traveled to Stuttgart, Germany, to enter the junior division of the Mr. Europe competition. He won, and while there, he also met two men who became his close friends: Albert Busek and Franco Columbu. Busek invited Schwarzenegger to move to Munich, Germany, after he finished his military obligation and work out in facilities owned by Busek’s boss. When Schwarzenegger returned to his army post, he spent a week in its prison. However, he had become a hero by daring to break a rule and winning a title. Thus, he served as part of a tank crew in the mornings and worked out in the afternoons. In January 1966, he appeared on the cover of a bodybuilding magazine that Busek edited.

Arriving in Munich as a civilian on August 1, 1966, Schwarzenegger worked as a trainer in a gymnasium but preferred to be the one exercising. His appearance of immense strength was not illusory, as demonstrated by his win in the heavyweight class of the 1966 International Powerlifting Championships and his German Powerlifting Championship two years later. His focus, though, was still on bodybuilding, and he won the 1966 Mr. Europe and the amateur and professional Mr. Universe contests of the National Amateur Bodybuilders’ Association in 1967 and 1968, respectively.

After his victory in London in 1968, Schwarzenegger traveled to the United States for the first time, intending to win the Mr. Universe title of the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB). In Miami, however, he lost the contest to the lighter, shorter Frank Zane. Losing self-confidence and being able to speak only German fluently, Arnold accepted an invitation from Joe Weider, a publisher of bodybuilding magazines, to travel to Los Angeles to train. In California, Schwarzenegger worked at Gold’s Gym with his usual fanaticism to increase the size of his muscles and lose the excess weight that had counted against him in Miami. Soon, at Schwarzenegger’s request, Weider brought Columbu to the United States, and the two European bodybuilders shared an apartment. Weider intended to promote his magazines by making Schwarzenegger even more famous, and Schwarzenegger was happy to cooperate.

Schwarzenegger continued to win bodybuilding titles, including the Mr. Olympia contest, the most prestigious in the IFBB. After finishing second in 1969, Schwarzenegger went on to win the title six years in a row, from 1970 to 1975. As the documentary Pumping Iron (1977) shows, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from competitive bodybuilding after his 1975 triumph. He did, however, make a surprising reappearance in the Mr. Olympia contest in 1980, achieving a controversial victory over Zane.

Hollywood

Schwarzenegger’s movie career started with his title role in the low-budget Hercules in New York (1970). Before the release of Pumping Iron, he had also appeared in The Long Goodbye (1973) and Stay Hungry (1976). For the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award for the Best Motion Picture Debut by a Man. Even though his talent as an actor was debatable, Arnold’s compelling presence in front of the cameras, like his presence on bodybuilding stages, led to other movie roles. He achieved Hollywood stardom in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and its sequel, Conan the Destroyer (1984), and superstardom in The Terminator (1984) and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). He appeared in a number of other successful films, including Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), Predator (1987), Red Heat (1988), Total Recall (1990), Kindergarten Cop (1990), and True Lies (1994). He earned a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a musical or comedy for his appearance in Junior (1994) before going on to star in the family comedy Jingle All the Way (1996) and the action film End of Days (1999).

In the early twenty-first century, he made further big-screen appearances. After portraying a man battling a conspiracy around cloning technology in The 6th Day (2000), he reprised his role as the Terminator for the third installment in the series, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Schwarzenegger made cameo appearances in films throughout the early 2000s, but his attention turned to politics.

Political Career

On September 16, 1983, Schwarzenegger became a US citizen. With him at the ceremony was his close companion Maria Shriver, a television journalist and the niece of the late former president John F. Kennedy. On April 26, 1986, Schwarzenegger and Shriver married. Despite his marital ties to a prominent Democratic family, Schwarzenegger was a Republican and an admirer of President Ronald Reagan. President George H. W. Bush named Schwarzenegger chair of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. Schwarzenegger served with enthusiasm, and he was also actively involved with the Special Olympics, which had been founded by Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

He announced his candidacy in the 2003 California recall election for governor of California in August 2003. Shortly before the election, the Los Angeles Times published a series of allegations from several women accusing Schwarzenegger of sexual misconduct. Nevertheless, in October 2003, the recall election removed Governor Gray Davis from office and named Schwarzenegger as his successor with 48.6 percent of the vote. Schwarzenegger ran for reelection in 2006, winning 56 percent of the vote and earning more than one million votes over Democratic candidate Phil Angelides, the California state treasurer. Schwarzenegger left office in January 2011 with a near-record low approval rating of 23 percent and a record-high state budget deficit of $28 billion. Critics claimed that he failed to develop a political base to advance issues in the state legislature. Nevertheless, Schwarzenegger was able to pass landmark environmental laws that curbed greenhouse gas emissions and boosted the state's economy in green technology.

Return to Acting

Following his departure from political office, Schwarzenegger was once again offered big-screen roles, particularly in the action genre with which he was often associated. As part of an ensemble cast portraying a team of mercenaries that included Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li, he appeared as Trench in the action film The Expendables 2 in 2012. His next performances were in the films The Last Stand (2013), Escape Plan (2013), Sabotage (2014), The Expendables 3 (2014), Maggie (2015), and Terminator Genisys (2015). In 2017, he had starring roles in both Aftermath, a drama, and Killing Gunther, a mockumentary in which he played a legendary hitman.

Schwarzenegger remained active throughout the remainder of the 2010s and into the 2020s. In 2019, he appeared in Terminator: Dark Fate, another installment in the Terminator franchise. In 2023, he starred in the Netflix action/comedy series FUBAR; this marked the first time Schwarzenegger had ever starred in a scripted television series. That same year, he was also the focus of Arnold, a well-received documentary series chronicling his lengthy career. In June 2023, FUBAR was renewed for a second season.

Personal Life

Schwarzenegger and Shriver had four children together: Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher. The couple separated in 2011 after twenty-five years of marriage. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Schwarzenegger had an extramarital affair in the late 1990s with Mildred "Patty" Baena, a household employee, with whom he fathered a son, Joseph. Baena gave birth just days after Schwarzenegger and Shriver's youngest son, Christopher, was born.

Schwarzenegger began serving as chair of the Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at the University of Southern California in 2012. In addition to his acting, bodybuilding, and political careers, Schwarzenegger also became well-known for his involvement in a number of charitable causes. In 2011, he founded R20 Regions of Climate Action, a group committed to sustainable, low-carbon economic development, and in 2017 launched the Austrian World Summit, an annual climate conference.

Schwarzenegger remained an active figure in the sports, entertainment, and business world as the twenty-first century progressed. He also became an active political comedian and motivational speaker. Schwarzenegger remained popular with fans of all generations, primarily through his relatable social media posts showing his personal home life and interactions with his many and varied pets. 

Bibliography

Andrews, Nigel. True Myths: The Life and Times of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Pumping Iron to Governor of California. Bloomsbury, 2003.

Blitz, Michael, and Louise Krasniewicz. Why Arnold Matters: The Rise of a Cultural Icon. Basic Books, 2004.

Guerassio, Jason. “Arnold Schwarzenegger Interview About 'Killing Gunther,' His Most Outlandish Role.” Business Insider, 19 Oct. 2017, www.businessinsider.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-killing-gunther-interview-2017-10. Accessed 9 June 2024.

Hibberd, James. "Arnold Schwarzenegger Gets Candid on Career, Failures, Aging: 'My Plan Is to Live Forever.'" The Hollywood Reporter, 16 May 2023, www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/arnold-schwarzenegger-interview-netflix-fubar-terminator-conan-1235491977/. Accessed 24 Jul. 2023.

Mandell, Andrea. “Arnold Schwarzenegger Opens Up About Life, Family and Work (Exclusive).” People, 1 Oct. 2023, people.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-opens-about-life-family-career-feel-good-where-i-am-exclusive-8285926. Accessed 9 June 2024.

Mathews, Joe. “Opinion: How Schwarzenegger's Recall Victory 20 Years Ago Reverberates in California Now.” Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2023, www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-16/recall-california-2003-arnold-schwarzenegger-gray-davis-lesson. Accessed 9 June 2024.

Mathews, Joe. The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy. PublicAffairs, 2006.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold, and Peter Petre. Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story. Simon, 2013.