Arnold Schwarzenegger Biography

it's the people you thought you knew like you've never seen them before the public legend Arnold has a hundred percent commitment in the belief in himself and it's thrilling to be around him the private person he's a good dad he's always with the kids you know he's you know very protective the elusive reality everybody loves him so much that's probably why it does it makes people happy Arnold Schwarzenegger next on biography he's one of the most famous faces on earth a superstar actor larger than life known to millions by his first name alone Arnold he's one of the most iconic characters both on screen and off screen in the history of movies and the great thing about him is that he's full of himself and I mean that the best sets work but he's also he's also humble he's terrific he really can do it all growing up in a small Austrian village bodybuilding was Arnold Schwarzenegger ticket to a better life and at his dreams to America and the movies the goal was to get into movies to come to America which was always for me the place to go but the first thing was first they just become the champion in bodybuilding but you wouldn't like it down there let me be the judge of that I am tired of the same old faces but Hollywood hated his name his accent and his oversized body that didn't bother Arnold he was determined to become a superstar I was like precognition it was like being clairvoyant because he is a superstar you know his movies have earned over two billion dollars he's in a rarefied air in Hollywood the ultimate action hero who has a gift for comedy Earl's comic ability doesn't come from being funny it comes from being straight it comes from being Earl his family wife Maria Shriver and four children and his need to give back keep his feet on the ground I think the only thing that's bigger than Arnold's arms is the size of his heart Arnold Aloha Schwarzenegger was born in the early hours of July 30th 1947 in the tiny village of tall Austria his father Gustav was the local police chief his mother Aurelia a devoted homemaker home was a rent-free two-story house reserved by the state for police chiefs gustav schwarzenegger was demanding and strict and arnold and his older brother mine hard grew up knowing the meaning of hard work and self-discipline well he doesn't talk too much about it but he told me personally that father was rough didn't treat him so good gustav schwarzenegger was an amateur ice curling champion he encouraged his sons to compete in boxing skiing and soccer at age 10 arnold joined a soccer league and learned the value of regimented training i think there's no other place no other activity that you can participate in that gives you more discipline than sports because in sports you learn about discipline you learn about camaraderie and you get the message that the harder you work the more you can achieve marled was an enthusiastic student but he also loved the escape offered at the local movie house american film heroes like John Wayne and Kirk Douglas and newsreels of American life captivated him he began to dream of a future far away from his Austrian home and I've fantasized about coming to America but the question really was how do you come to America as an Austrian farm boy I grew up in very poor circumstances so there was no way that that an Austrian could ever go to Holly wouldn't become really big Arnold's life changed the summer he turned 15 after a visit to a local gym in Graz Arnold later wrote the weightlifters shown with sweat they were powerful looking Herculean and there it was before me my life the answer I'd been seeking I remembered that my first workout was so long that next day everything was aching everything was sore and I was so excited that what I trained Brooke because I could really feel my whole body Arnold became obsessed with bodybuilding he soon realized it might be more than a way out of his small town it might some crazy dream be his ticket to the movies in one day I saw a movie Hercules movie and there was a reg Park who won mr. universe three times and I found out that you know muscles and mr. Universe title got him in the movies and got him to star in this extraordinary Hercules movies Thank You Hercules you came just in time so cuz that was from that point on my goal say I have to become a world champion in bodybuilding that's how I get in the movies the 6-foot 150 pound fifteen-year-old rapidly began to transform his body boom boom boom I was like exploding kind of it was going from 150 pounds to 250 pounds within four or five years so of course some of them said man you're taking this too far I'm really worried about it this couldn't be healthy and others were really admiring it as he began to win junior bodybuilding contests his self-esteem grew as well here's a young guy 17 18 19 winning titles people applauding him so that made him feel that he was special and that's what gave him all the confidence to go ahead in life after a compulsory one-year stint in the Austrian army Arnold moved to Munich in 1966 in short order he won the best-built man in Europe and mr. Europe he met and trained with his idol reg Park and learned parks training regimen then in the 1967 Mr Universe contest the self-proclaimed Austrian oak blew everybody off the stage at just 20 years of age Arnold Schwarzenegger became the youngest mr. universe in history Joe Weider who was building a fortune with men's muscle magazines and health products sent Arnold a telegram inviting him to compete in the American version of the Mr Universe competition in Miami wieder also sent him airfare Arnold's literal ticket to America I remember I came over here with no money with just a gym bag and I was received with open arms I saw for the first time did the generosity of the American people in Miami Arnold was in for a shock he was the biggest but not the best he was well-built guy but I know he wouldn't win because he was too bulky and Europe they trained for size and set up for definition and proportion and beauty after Arnold lost the competition he vowed it would never happen again he accepted Joey ders offered to help him move to Venice California take a small salary from his magazine to write a fitness column and train at the epicenter of American bodybuilding Gold's Gym I met Arnold that the old Gold's Gym I knew right away this guy's going to the top was he had a focus you know usually when somebody's going to the top at Gold's Gym Arnold's intensity became legendary he invented new exercises to develop and define individual muscle groups he worked out with good friend and roommate Franco Columbu a power lifter he met in Germany he studied ballet to hone opposing performance that was second to none he knew all the great poses you know he had he knew how to smile and he he built his body into you know a great muscular symmetry that was just perfected by hours upon hours of work Arnold was loving all America had to offer his outrageous physique drew lots of attention and he dated frequently he enrolled in college business courses and used his growing fame to launch a fitness oriented mail-order business the key thing for me was to educate myself and to understand and learn everything about America and how America operates the whole economic system at the way the democracy works over you all of those things I wanted to learn in 1969 just after Arnold turned 22 years old Joe Weider was asked to recommend the bodybuilder who could act for an upcoming movie called Hercules in New York wieder told the producer about his protege Schwarzenegger he asked me what could he act I say are you kidding the guy was a Shakespearean actor in Vienna and he believed me and that's how he got the role so this has only to speak now for help canoes to obey but before its release the producers decided Arnold's thick accent and thicker last name had to go Arnold made his film debut with a dubbed voice build has Arnold strong it doesn't even look like me look what are you doing oh wow hard part for any actor doesn't anybody performing him so much he needs to learn how to use their gifts proper performance the thing is that Arnold Schwarzenegger started as an athlete not as an actor he never trained himself as an actor and I think that first movie Hercules in New York you know he was coming at it as an athlete this dubious beginning was not the calling card Arnold had hoped for when I asked agents or producers or studio executives if I could go and try out for a movie they all laughed because they say they you're 10 years too late the sixties are gone is it this is the seventies now and now the guys the stars are Dustin Hoffman Warren Beatty this is this guy's a skinny guys there no mr. universes you know now it's like the antihero kind of a look forget it why don't you go back in the health food business and maybe around the gymnasium or something like that it would be seven long years before his next big acting break and when it came Arnold would be ready by the early 1970s with a Hollywood career looking like a long shot Austrian transplant Arnold Schwarzenegger maintained his focus on bodybuilding he soon began to dominate his sport but his success was tempered by the loss of his brother mine hard from a fatal car accident in 1971 and his father Gustav from a stroke a year later Arnold single-mindedness often destroyed his competition even before there posed offs the documentary film pumping iron captured Arnold's psyching out competitor lou ferrigno before the 1975 mr. Olympia contest in South Africa computer diet this year I just never had the limp yeah but you had twice the universe what the hell that's a debate leader pumping iron showcased Arnold's natural screen presence his movie star qualities were undeniable I think Arnold always had a great presence I mean you look at pumping iron I mean that's a fabulous movie and he just knocks everybody out there's one thing that there is no doubt about at all which is all Schwarzenegger is interesting he's interesting to watch on screen Arnold felt he had taken his bodybuilding as far as he could after winning a record seventh mr. Olympia title he retired I only stopped competing but I'm not stopping bodybuilding the greatest thank you bodybuilding had been good to Schwarzenegger with Joe weeders encouragement Arnold had invested his contest winnings and mail-order business profits into real estate less than eight years after coming to America nearly penniless Arnold had made his first million or two I've always thought of Arnold is one of the smartest men I've I've met you know in or out of the movie business financially secure Arnold now began to apply lessons he learned from bodybuilding toward his acting career I asked myself what did they do to become the world champion in bodybuilding well it was five six hours of training a day then I had to ask myself the question am i doing that right now no so therefore I had to jump in do exactly the same thing so do voice lessons acting lessons accent removal lessons in 1975 director Bob Rafelson cast Arnold as what else a bodybuilder in the offbeat comedy stay hungry which starred Jeff Bridges and Sally Field raphelson since Fortson eager to coach Eric Morris for a 12-week crash course in acting he was very articulate and picked picked up things like that Arnold is very perceptive you know I saw that immediately Arnold's reward a surprising win for Best Newcomer at the 1977 Golden Globe Awards while Hollywood was learning how best to use Schwarzenegger unique appeal Arnold became a favorite at celebrity events one of them changed his life in 1977 Arnold attended the Robert F Kennedy tennis tournament hosted by members of the Kennedy clan including 21 year old Maria Shriver I ran into her and I met her I think was Tom Brokaw that actually introduced us and I we went dancing on the dance floor and then be eight together and it was like you know like this then she took me up to Hannah's board the next day after the tennis tournament and it was like love at first sight Maria a broadcaster on the rise was president john f kennedy's niece she grew up surrounded by political power and privilege her father sergeant Shriver was the original head of the Peace Corps and her mother Eunice sister to both JFK and Robert Kennedy had founded the Special Olympics in the 1960s she had everything that they always dreamt of that they wanted in a woman she was gorgeous beautiful a woman with long dark hair which I always like she didn't outstanding personality she was very smart but you know in she's just an extraordinary woman they could not have been more different Arnold was a Republican Maria from Democratic royalty but their ideologies didn't matter the Schreiber family in Arnold you know is like that doesn't fit does it you know but I think they have a lot of fun with it in May of 1979 Arnold received a degree in economics and business from the University of Wisconsin that year he was also offered his biggest part to date the lead in the sword & Sworcery epic Conan the Barbarian for producer Dino De Laurentiis and director John Milius Deena De Laurentiis became kind of like a father figure for me as much as Joey de was for me in bodybuilding I remember the first few days of filming Conan the Barbarian he came to me he says hey as about thanagar yo Conan ah you know he was so proud that he picked the right guy the role was a perfect fit when you look back on it his talent was raw and Conan but his talent is who he is released in 1981 Conan the Barbarian grossed over 100 million dollars and earned Schwarzenegger a devoted following that camera either love you or it doesn't and you can't predict but maybe the fact his his idiosyncrasies were just enough to make you relate to them as more the common guy and yet a super version of the common guy arnold schwarzenegger had become the action movie star he had dreamed of of as usual he had even bigger ambitions by the early 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger had parlayed unprecedented success as a bodybuilder into a new career in the movies his hard work had paid off Conan the Barbarian had made him a star audiences fell in love with the very things casting agents said would not work in Hollywood Arnold's super-sized body and thick accent I think about the top movie stars in the world they're not straight cookie cutter model types that you'd see in magazines you know modeling you know men's clothing they're all sort of unusual in some way they're all interesting in September of 1983 Arnold invited steady girlfriend Maria Shriver to an occasion he had long awaited he became a citizen of the United States he says I wouldn't live any other place in a world my god this is the greatest country in the world you can do anything you want he says I'm gonna take advantage of everything after filming a sequel to Conan the Barbarian Arnold went on a hunt for a new character a new movie persona he soon found it in a film that would change the course of his career it was called The Terminator when I was approached about Terminator 1 I remember that the first thing that it was approached for was to play the hero The Terminator was a low-budget film land unknown but talented director James Cameron Schwarzenegger said if he took the hero role of Reese the guerrilla fighter from the future Cameron had to be sure to cast the perfect cyborg as his opponent someone who was cold lethal and machine-like after I was through with this whole spiel and this took like a half an hour of hyping you know Jim Cameron of how this person has to prepare himself in order to be really true to this character the way he wrote it he said you are the Terminator you should play the Terminator I said no no no no no wait a minute the guy only has 24 lines don't do this to me as the hour delay the hero in Cameron's ingenious script the herminator is sent from the future to eliminate the mother of a yet unborn rebel leader Arnold's would make the Terminator his franchise character one that he could play multiple times come with me if you want to live deep down inside I knew that I could do more with the Terminator character than I could do with the Reese character because I just somehow click did click and I just fell in love with that character and could visualize how he should act and walk and talk and do all those things and that's exactly what I felt like the first day when I shot that the first scene I felt like I was the Terminator despite its low 6 million dollar budget the Terminator broke ground in the use of robotic effects it meant Arnold had to endure hours in the makeup chair to make film goers believe he was living flesh on the outside robot skeleton on the inside when Arnold has to sit through a three or four-hour makeup you never hear a whimper you never hear a complaint nobody works harder nobody cares nor he is there to do the work the futuristic thriller was cited by Time magazine as one of the years 10 best films it catapulted Arnold to superstardom and it's the magic art of a cast and why are some actors right for certain roles and and sometimes it just can't be explained it just it just is I think it was that way with Arnold the following year in 1985 Arnold finally popped the question to his longtime girlfriend Maria Shriver his mother Aurelia was thrilled as were some five hundred guests at their lavish Hyannisport wedding the couple honeymooned in Antigua after which Arnold flew to Mexico to resume work on his new project predator Arnold's jungle faceoff with a hideous alien being was another box-office Bonanza Schwarzenegger however was hungry to try something new I think he had this idea that he had to find some other way to communicate on films beyond just being the toughest guy in town our had always been willing to make fun of himself and his image now he wanted to test his acting chops in light comedy and he met the perfect director to make that a reality while on a ski trip in Colorado right after I did the movie ghostbusters and he sort of comes up to me in the lobby of some Club and he says here that Ghostbusters guy right I said yeah hi I'm Ivan Reitman and he said you know I could be a Ghostbuster I just sort of looked at him and wondered what he actually meant by that and what he was trying to tell me is look I'm actually a pretty funny guy and I think I can do comedy a few weeks later director Reichman went into Danny DeVito before you knew it there was a bidding war for this comic tale of two mismatched test-tube siblings excuse me but I was just taking a shower good singing oh I baked you some cookies cookies I guess it was a dumb idea I don't know that all I I'm really looking forward to tossing them it's a very funny light silly comedy but it's also got a real tenderness and he was so sweet and yeah you really saw in that tenderness come out I thought that was really terrific because normally he's this big macho guy with all the amazing bod and stuff like that and you really got a sense of his sweet side when twins made 112 million dollars in the US alone Arnold who had shrewdly waived his upfront fee for a percentage made a reported 19 million dollars even more valuable was his new family-friendly image I think twins was a big stepping-stone for him because it made him much more accessible to women to younger kids and it showed him as a performer not just as kind of the tough-guy muscle guy the Schwarzenegger had been trying for a family of their own in 1989 they welcomed their first of four children I remember when our first child was born and Kathryn was born Maria it was so dedicated you know and she was she was like glued to this child day and night and I was looking at her all the time in the same as it I cannot believe of how selfless this woman is so that was really the biggest surprise about her is what a great mother she was the Action Hero was now the star of hit comedies based on his box-office muscle the show business paper variety announced Arnold Schwarzenegger had become the most popular movie star in the world by the late 1980s 43 year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger was on a roll small-town boy had conquered bodybuilding the movies married into the Kennedy family and created a chemistry with his fans that few movie stars could equal I don't has a 100% commitment in the belief in himself and that just penetrates a screen and penetrates you when you speak to him and it's thrilling to be around him he's a man who is a movie star who is not ashamed of being a movie star and who has sort of taken on that mantle with appreciation a lot of people think you know being a movie star is easy just you know fly around private jets and limousines and get wined and died but the bottom line is you get to be a movie star by incredibly hard work and discipline with box-office cloud came the power to get projects made Arnold's next film Total Recall was one such project Ronald shoe said the co-writer producer of the smash alien had tried for nine years to bring Total Recall to the screen it seemed doomed sunk in the bankruptcy of a company owned by Arnold's old friend Dino De Laurentiis sonal called me mr. Ronnie Betty make todrick Hall I was just totally stunned I said well yeah I'm ready to make a huge part of Tino's bankruptcy now it's tied up into bankruptcy he said I'd know I untied it with a couple of phone calls dealmaker Arnold freed up the rights to the long-delayed movie he just effortlessly got it made as well as getting Paul Verhoeven's directed so I had both I didn't lift a finger so here Arnold did the whole thing for me just like he does in the movies it was like totally awesome based on a story by science-fiction legend philip k dick whose other works inspired Blade Runner and Minority Report Total Recall finds Arnold the victim of a virtual vacation to Mars on Iran kitch get ready for a surprise the structure he loved don't change the structure but he said you got to remember I am my personality if you start giving me complicated dialogue that I can't pronounce correctly I want the audience a here comes that big Austrian so one with the South evaluation of himself is perfect most people's egos get out of control they want to do Hamlet whatever you Lauri co-starring event unknown Sharon Stone Total Recall used over-the-top violence clever plot twists and Arnold's one-liners to conjure up 260 million dollars in worldwide ticket sales after all we're married consider that a divorce we're talking about this he said you know I gotta be careful because I'm I kill people ruthlessly but they're always people deserve it he said I've got to remain a good guy but still I've got to be the gentle giant and that's what people want to see Schwarzenegger followed up with the 1990 hit comedy Kindergarten Cop another collaboration with Ivan Reitman co-starring Penelope Ann Miller the film showed Arnold as that gentle giant loves kids so suddenly a movie like Kindergarten Cop where he's surrounded by a classroom full of five-year-olds became a great opportunity for comedy where he uses some of the energy of being a father and the kind of experiences that he had in his real life and then sir it's just cocked a little bit in the humorous way you really sense that Arnold is always having fun no matter what he is doing and there's something incredibly appealing about it you really have a feeling he loves his life I mean he loves his wife he loves his children he's a good dad I mean what I know it's not like I live with him you know but what I see I mean we look at some Valley's always with the kids you know it means you know very protective there's a natural progression with Arne and he's someone who has always been giving back to the public and to especially to kids Arnold had long supported his mother-in-law you knew Shrivers special olympics for the mentally handicapped he became their national weightlifting coach the Kennedy clan quickly saw the depth of character their son-in-law possessed some people will do things just for how it makes them look curse me possibly for their image and he's not like that at all he really puts a lot of time and a lot of effort into helping people in his different causes it's just who he is even future presidents took note Arnold's dump for George Bush in 1988 in his inimitable way of course we don't have to talk about the Democratic candidates right now they all looked like a bunch of girlie man after he was elected president Bush returned the favor Schwarzenegger was named chairman of the President's Council on physical fitness he traveled to all 50 states at his own expense preaching the gospel of the great American workout for all the bravado that that man has he's got a huge sense of bravado and a huge sense of confidence and that same huge sense that you see is the same amount of compassion he has for people for families for children it's all comes from a very organic and honest place of that Arnold also became the chairman of the Los Angeles intercity Games what makes me happy today is to be able to teach kids how to say hasta la vista baby to drugs gangs and violence and to say yes to education yes to sports yes to hope and yes to life I once said to Arnold you know it's it's a full-time job just being you because there's so many demands in his time not just from the movies but he's involved in so many charities and political causes by 1991 the time was right if not overdue for a sequel to The Terminator at Arnold's insistence he returned as a kinder and gentler cyborg in Terminator 2 Judgment Day The Terminator character is interesting to play because you can blame one time as a bill and then he can play mr. savior and as a good guy at the time of its release it was the most expensive movie ever produced with over 500 million dollars in box-office receipts the returns were equally impressive making Terminator 2 Judgment Day one of the 20 highest-grossing films of all time Arnold's a showman he loves to entertain he loves to amaze the world his ego is so inject he said look I've never seen myself as a superb actor and I never don't care to be one I want to do just what I'm doing I want to make great movies I want audiences to love the movies and I hope they'll like me in them Arnold's American Dream had become a Technicolor blockbuster he had hit movies and lucrative real-estate deals including a 10 million dollar development in Southern California and an Austrian restaurant in Santa Monica called Schatzi he also had a high-profile joint venture with fellow action heroes Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis in the Planet Hollywood theme restaurants with his popularity in an all-time high the last thing Arnold expected was a major bump in the road but in 1993 Schwarzenegger was paid an unprecedented fifteen million dollars to star in The Last Action Hero the film was a huge disappointment to both audiences and critics Arnold was mortal after all he's a very confident guy I think he sees life beyond just acting at the same time he's very competitive he wants to do his best he wants to win and when you don't win it hurts I don't care what Heights you achieve in this but I don't care what Heights you chief what is inevitable is that there's a slide back and if you put all your apples in that basket if you know if that's your life and that slide happens which it will those are people who wind up hurting themselves box-office flops were part of the game but now Arnold had to prove he had staying power by 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger films had grossed nearly two billion dollars at the box office when the last action hero failed to live up to expectations it was the first time Arnold experienced what most actors take for granted the highs and lows of the movie game I was surprised how much it hurt him I thought he was new year to it and to me I liked that he said you know he says I'm not used to it he said it's a bad feeling easy to make a movie that nobody likes he's money hitches you had he said I don't like that to happen remarkably Arnold took personal responsibility for the failure of the film and vowed to do better next time in a business known for inflated egos and outrageous demands from its superstars Arnold was a breath of fresh air it makes you embarrassed of us to say that your attack would you hear some of the things that people demand I mean they serve less purpose to commune in the garbage collected I think himself seriously so Arnold is on the good side of that back for his next project Arnold brought back an old and trusted ally his Terminator and t2 director James Cameron True Lies featured Arnold as a suave super spy whose wife Jamie Lee Curtis thinks he's a mild-mannered salesman blending comedy and incredible action sequences True Lies was one of the biggest films of 1994 Arnold was back in a type of character he new audiences liked best he knows his range and you know if that's what makes him popular why you know why mess with it I think he knows what he can do well and that's what's made him so famous and and so good at what he does but Schwarzenegger was not afraid to gamble with how far he could push his ultra masculine image in junior his third comedy with director Ivan Reitman Arnold starred as the world's first pregnant man audiences unfortunately were indifferent I actually think it's the best of the three Arnold Schwarzenegger movies that I directed it actually tested the highest of the three movies but it did the least in the box office that's because audiences I guess didn't want to see him play a pregnant guy at the same time he was very proud of it we were disappointed but we moved on in 1997 after appearing as comic villain Mr Freeze in Batman and Robin Arnold laughed it up with co-star George Clooney at Planet Hollywood would you want to explain about how you got those muscles oh yeah those were all score by grenading but Arnold's next project was not so light-hearted in 1997 at age 49 he underwent elective heart surgery to repair a defective valve Arnold would make a complete recovery and just one month after surgery he felt well enough to promote Batman and Robin back home in Austria he also had the honor of opening the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium in Graz this home country tribute gave Arnold time to reflect and appreciate just how far he had come 1998 became a year of tributes dozens of Schwartz [ __ ] colleagues and friends turned out to honor him at the American Cinematheque he has done more movies and less dialogue than possibly any actor besides Lassie the last few years have been a challenge for Sports Nagar at the box office end of days the sixth day and collateral damage all brought in respectable grosses but they did not reach the stratospheric Heights Arnold had regularly achieved in the past well you have to ask my wife I do action all the time at home Simon asked her I don't think he wants to continue repeating himself though because you can't do it any better or any bigger than he's done it there was one film that Arnold's millions of fans had been waiting for in early 2002 he scored a huge payday reportedly 30 million dollars to return as the Terminator in t3 Arnold then aged 54 upped his daily exercise regimen to get in shape after all robots weren't supposed to age it was very important to really prove that it is the same terminal so therefore my body had to build up again to that size the way I was in the first Terminator and in the second Terminator because again Terminator arrives from the future to the present time totally naked so you know I again went back to the gym worked out for 2 hours 2 and 1/2 hours every day to really show that I am in the same kind of shape as it was 20 ten years ago in t3 rise of the machines Christina Logan co-stars as the lethal new Terminator the TX he was in such great physical health that you know he was always ready for the challenge and he loves it he thrives on that in the role that made him an icon Arnold was back I love it in the summer of 2003 Arnold Schwarzenegger once again visited the character that rocketed him to fame and movie icon status 20 years ago in the massive 170 million dollar t3 rise of the machines Arnold was back eager to raise the bar and deliver an eye-popping box office busting sequel to a classic movie franchise TX can you find a way to destroy her unlike me I'm an obsolete design first of all let me just say that it is such an honor to be involved with such a great franchise that of course at the same time there is a lot of pressure when you need to a movie like Terminator 3 because the enormous expectations Arnold is the Terminator and he is back and and it still works it's an amazing accomplishment it's a it's that it's that unstoppable thing about him I'll Drive in the film Arnold battles the technologically superior TX Terminator t3 delivers the cutting edge effects Arnold's fans have come to expect desire is irrelevant machine Arnold took t3 to the Cannes Film Festival he's always realized that selling his films is an art unto itself few actors are better at it and enjoy it more but Arnold seemed ready for other challenges as well in 2002 he persuaded California voters to pass an initiative promising millions for after-school programs it is important for me since I have gotten the opportunities here in this country to be successful did I help other kids to be successful after conquering bodybuilding and the movies Schwarzenegger has been hinting for a long time that politics would be his next challenge Arnold didn't wait very long he is now the Governor of California and at the helm of the fifth largest economy in the world it turns out a dire situation in the state of California created the perfect opportunity for him California was facing a 38 billion dollar budget deficit and an electorate dissatisfied with their Democratic governor Gray Davis for the man with an indomitable will to succeed and a master plan there was finally an outlet this is really embarrassing I just forgot the name of our state governor's name but uh I know that you will help me recall Henry Californians were so unhappy so eager for change that they were willing to consider recalling their recently re-elected governor something that had occurred only once before in American history 135 names were on the ballot a colorful roster of would-be politicians including a part-time actress and self promoting starlet named Angeline my motto is I love California and if you love California you'll vote for Angela Arnold entered the race at the last possible second Oh angry for the papers okay for the recall election on October 7th did you know who I am right now I will go to Sacramento and I will clean house I will represent everybody we'll get to concentrate on his leadership and everything I ever did I show great leadership horns campaign was noticeably short on specifics but his wife Maria fixed that already a veteran of countless family campaigns herself she insisted on adjusting his message less on the celebrity and more on the issues throughout it all Arnold continued to receive the kind of media attention the other candidates could only dream up and then five days before the election a bombshell the Los Angeles Times began publishing a series of investigative stories about Arnold's behavior towards women over the years and it quoted a number of women who said they had been groped by him in one way or another very few would come forward I was a newlywed too body builder Robbie Robinson and he was training in Gold's Gym and Venice California on Pacific Avenue I was just there watching him work out the gym was rather full and Arnold passed me by and he groped my breast it completely caught me off guard I was just shocked Arnold's extramarital conduct had been widely discussed in Hollywood for years his history of questionable behavior toward women could have stopped his candidacy cold but the woman who knows him best would not let that happen the question is these allegations in the LA Times are true he has humiliated women he's put well you know what I don't I don't see it that way I see that you know all the women that work for him admire him I have met thousands and thousands of women who have come up to me and said they have worked with him they have worked for him alongside it and he has been an extraordinary gentleman Arnold would apologize sort of if I did behave inappropriately you know I want to just say that I'm sorry and I apologize for that because there was not the intention it was like you know what what was once considered playful behavior on a movie set there now is considered something else so you know I didn't want to offend anyone overly you know do anything that is any harm to anybody as everybody knows by now it was a total recall for Arnold Schwarzenegger the clear message about Schwarzenegger sex life is that Californians and maybe all Americans don't care very much about the sex lives of their politicians anymore it was shocking in this case at least to me because the accusations were of a criminal nature he was accused of sexual battery which is different from consensual sex among adults it seemed more anger was directed at the Los Angeles Times for revealing the allegations than at the candidate himself more than one thousand readers canceled their subscriptions surprisingly Arnold has remained unscathed he has been filmed smoking marijuana and his brag in an interview about participating in group sex but it appears The Terminator has been dipped in Teflon clearly it was his celebrity clearly it was a kind of straight ahead macho sort of image and clearly it was an act of faith and ignorance on the part of the people of California faith because he didn't present anything of substance in his campaign and ignorance because clearly the people in California weren't aware enough of the issues to understand how they might be addressed the real test is still to come because the governor's office may not be the last stop for Arnold some say he has his eyes on the presidency there's a cache article 2 of the US Constitution States in order to become president you have to be born in this country in July Utah senator Orrin Hatch introduced what could become the 28th amendment admittedly a longshot it would allow anyone who has been a citizen for 20 years to run for the highest office in the land and Arnold as it turns out has been a citizen for exactly that long anyone who underestimates Arnold Schwarzenegger it's gonna get courts short this is a man who is interested in power and he's good at what he does he accomplishes his goals it is true that at the moment Arnold is widely acknowledged to be the Republican Party's brightest star but in California stars have sometimes been known to fade rather quickly I mean he's facing an impossible governing situation there if he manages to clean up Calif or solve the budget deficit revive the economy you know preserve the environment and ease traffic in Los Angeles then maybe he should be President you

Channel: Dalibor Dodic

Views: 327,739

Rating: 4.8051724 out of 5

Keywords: Arnold, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Proposition Issue), Biography (TV Program), Bodybuilding (Sport), Arnold Schwarzenegger (Celebrity), Dalibor Dodic

Id: ilaNK82eL0Y

Length: 48min 22sec (2902 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 06 2014