His father was a Nazi and a tyrant, and his
mother tried to cure him of his homosexuality. He grew up in poverty when everyone was
content with what they had and did not want more. But he never looked for easy ways,
and even risked emigrating illegally to the United States. Everything was for the sake
of one crazy dream to conquer Hollywood.
Today we will talk about a living legend, the 38th
governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. What was more difficult for him: to get rid of the
German accent or to be a faithful husband? Which of his films did Schwarzenegger recommend using
as an instrument of torture? And what is the old secret that destroyed Arnie's family?
It is the Biographer channel, and we're getting started.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Alois Arnold Schwarzenegger was born on July
30, 1947, in the Austrian village of Thal, near Graz. Arnie was the second son
of Gustav Schwarzenegger and his wife, Aurelia. The family of the future film star
professed Catholicism and attended church every Sunday. A year before the birth of Arnold,
the firstborn appeared in the family - Meinhard Schwarzenegger. Such a sonorous surname comes from
the name of the Swiss village of Schwarzenegg, which is part of the commune of Unterlangenegg.
After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, Gustav Schwarzenegger joined the National
Socialist German Workers' Party, where he became a brownshirt. During World
War II, he served as a military policeman during the invasions of Poland, France, and
the Soviet Union. He participated in the blockade of Leningrad and was wounded there.
According to Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum, Gustav Schwarzenegger served "in theaters
of war where they committed atrocities, but it is impossible to know from the
documents whether he played any role."
After denazification, he was allowed to
work as the chief of the local police, since there was no evidence of Gustav's commission
of any war crimes. The family lived poorly, so their house was above the police
station. The family didn't have indoor plumbing until Arnie was a teenager. Not
surprisingly, Schwarzenegger recalled the purchase of a refrigerator as one of the
most vivid memories of his youth. Later, he admitted that poverty gave him the strength and
incentive to grow, achieve more and work hard.
According to Arnold, his
parents were very strict.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “... I think many
times I'm very strict with my own children, but not like it was when I grew up. Back then in
Austria it was a very different world -- if we did something bad, or we disobeyed our
parents, the rod was not sparred.”
Arnold had a difficult relationship with his
father. Gustav did not listen to his children, often took a drink and never hid that he
appreciated his eldest son Meinhard more. The reason for the latter was the unfounded suspicion
that Arnold was not his biological child.
The military past of the elder Schwarzenegger
affected the way the family. It seemed that the boys were brought up in the barracks. They
were raised from their beds before dawn to do household chores. After that, there were rigorous
exercises. Some sources claim that Gustav bullied and beat his youngest son. But it was he who
nurtured the love of sports in children.
Arnold had a good relationship with his mother and
kept in touch with her until her death. "With the loss of my mother, my world has fallen apart,"
the actor said, claiming that his mother was the "foundation of his success and his first love."
She always encouraged her son in his endeavors and was invariably present at the openings of the
films of the future star. The actor has often said that Aurelia played a key role in his success.
SCHOOL. THE BEGINNING OF A BODYBUILDER CAREER
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “When I was very young, I visualized myself
being and having what it was that I wanted. The mind is really so incredible. Before I
won my first Mr. Universe, I walked around the tournament like I owned it. The title was
already mine. I had won it so many times in my mind that there was no doubt I would win it.
Then, when I moved on to the movies, the same thing. I visualized myself being a successful
actor and earning big money. I could feel and taste success. I just knew it would happen.”
His school successes were very modest. He was a cheerful, good-natured boy, but sometimes showed
his violent character. Arnold's father was an athlete and wanted his sons to become Bavarian
curling champions. Under his father's influence, Arnold began playing football and several
other sports, but at 13 years old, he decided to focus on bodybuilding. Everything
started with Arnie's passion for cinema, which became a kind of escape from reality. Arnie
was seriously interested in the films of Reg Park, a bodybuilder and star of the movies about
Hercules. Among others, the idols of the young man were Steve Reeves and Johnny Weissmuller.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable
accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible when others around me didn't
always understand my dreams. Steve Reeves has been part of everything I've ever
been fortunate enough to achieve.”
They inspired Arnie to choose an occupation
that gave him a ticket to the world and helped develop Schwarzenegger's obsession with
America. It was hard to make dreams come true, but his perseverance helped the young man.
Could the ambitious newcomer then think that one day millions of viewers would fall in
love with him and be happy to review films with him? We do not know this, but we are sure
that his dreams have always been global. Share with us in the comments which Arnold films you
love the most and why. And we're moving on.
In 1960, Arnie began strength training. Every
day he devoted several hours to workout in the gym and at home. He even allocated a special
room, in which there was no heating. In addition, Arnie began to study anatomy and nutrition to
understand how to become even more resilient. In one of the interviews, his mother recalled that
at 14 years old, the young man often slipped away from home. He sneaked out the door while his dad
was sleeping and ran to the football stadium to lift weights there before coming home for a short
nap. He spent the night in a barn to escape his father's wrath. Remembering that period, Arnie
said: "I learned something from all these years of lifting and training hard... What I learned
was that we are always stronger than we know."
In 1961, Schwarzenegger met his first
coach, the former Mr Austria, Kurt Marnul, who invited him to train at the gym in Graz.
Arnie was so dedicated to the work that he sneaked into the local gym on weekends to work
out even when it was closed. "It would make me sick to miss a workout... I knew I couldn't
look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it." - recalls the actor.
Arnie's parents were worried about his new hobby. Years later, on the 60 Minutes program, the actor
admitted that his father beat him with a belt because he thought his son was gay. His mother
also did not appreciate the posters of half-naked men on his wall and called the doctor to help.
Inset quote: "She asked the doctor, 'Can you help me? I don't know if there's something wrong with
my son because his wall is full of naked men. All of Arnold's friends have pictures of girls
above their bed. And Arnold has no girls.'"
Arnie went to work at 13 years old to buy
himself sportswear. He tried various jobs in his youth. It taught Arnold to earn money.
When the young man turned 15, he was obliged to pay for his stay in the house. Every month
he gave 100 shillings out of 300 earned, which were supposed to compensate
for his food. According to the actor, he hated it because he knew his friends did
not pay for their accommodation, unlike him.
Such conditions forced him to grow up early.
On May 20, 1971, Arnold's brother, Meinhard, died in a car accident while drink-driving.
Arnold could not attend Meinhard's funeral, as he learned of his brother's death only three
days after the incident. Meinhard had a wife and a three-year-old son, Patrick. Later, Arnold
paid for his nephew's education and helped him with emigration to the United States.
The second tragedy in the family happened a year later, when Gustav Schwarzenegger died of a
stroke. In the upcoming documentary Pumping Iron, Arnold revealed that he didn't attend his
father's funeral because he was preparing for a competition. But later, he and the producer
admitted that they took the story from the biography of another bodybuilder. Thus, they only
wanted to show things that some athletes could do. That deception was an attempt to make
Arnold's image colder and to introduce contradictions into the film. For a long
time, Schwarzenegger gave at least three versions of why he was absent from his father's
funeral, so we can only guess the real reason.
In an interview with Fortune in
2004, Schwarzenegger revealed how he suffered from his father's abuse.
“My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. - Arnold admitted, - So was the
kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken
by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an
individual. It was all about conforming.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): I was one who did
not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I became a rebel. Every time I got
hit, and every time someone said, 'You can't do this,' I said, 'This is not going to be for much
longer because I'm going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.'”
MILITARY SERVICE. FIRST COMPETITIONS
In 1965, eighteen-year-old Arnold was drafted into
the Austrian army for a year, where he received a military speciality as a driver of the M47 Patton
II tank. He received the position even though, in the Austrian army, it was usually for persons
over the age of 21. The actor was not against the service, and even vice versa, jokingly saying
that he went there to eat and sleep. At home, they were fed poorly. The meat appeared at the
family table just once a week. In the army, on the contrary, it was three times a week and
positively affected the growing organism. In the end, Schwarzenegger gained 30 ft.
During the service, Arnie took part in the competition "Mr Europe" among juniors, in
which he won. For the sake of the competition, the future governor went AWOL, after which
he ended up in a military prison for several weeks. In his book, Arnold: The Education of
a Bodybuilder, Schwarzenegger recalled that he was in the punishment cell for a week,
after which he was given a two-day holiday, as the officers considered his victory brought
prestige to the army. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a debut at all. Two years
earlier, Arnie took an honorable second place at a lesser-known competition in Graz.
He received the title of best-built man of Europe, which made him very famous among bodybuilders.
Schwarzenegger found time and place for training even during tactical exercises, when he
lived in the field for several weeks. He equipped the barbell with improvised
materials and kept it in the tank.
“I made a lot of progress in the early stages
of my training when I was in the Austrian army and had a lot of things to do. When we were on
maneuvers along the Czechoslovak border for six weeks, I had to drive a tank for fifteen hours a
day, fill fuel with a hand pump, "fight" huge fuel drums and make repairs. We slept in the trenches
or under the tanks and had to get up at six in the morning. However, my friend and I got up at
five, climbed into the tank tool compartment, where we kept our rods and practiced for an hour
until the general woke up. After the end of the day part of the exercises, we trained for another
hour. I can't imagine more difficult training conditions, and therefore I affirm that finding
the time and energy to practice is a matter of motivation and interest. A real athlete will
always find time and place for training in any situation.” - proudly recalled the actor.
Arnold admitted that he was never an exemplary soldier, and once even drowned his tank.
Talking about his service in the army, Arnold waited with great impatience for the
order to begin physical training. He called the main result of the service a significant
increase in muscle mass and strength.
Few people know that in the early years of
bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger also participated in several Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting
competitions. Schwarzenegger's first professional competition took place back in 1963. He won two
weightlifting competitions from 1964 to 1965 and two powerlifting competitions in 1966 and 1968.
In 1967, Schwarzenegger won the Munich stone-lifting competition.
MISTER UNIVERSE
After the army, nineteen-year-old Arnold moved
to Munich, where he got a job in a fitness club. During that period, he slept on the floor in
the gym until he managed to rent a flat. In his autobiography, Schwarzenegger recalled that
at that time, he behaved extremely aggressively, getting into fights almost every day and
collecting traffic tickets. “I was like a bull that was fattening up its meat,” he wrote.
After some time, Arnie began to manage the gym, but his financial situation remained poor.
In 1966, Schwarzenegger flew on a plane for the first time to take part in the Mr Universe
contest in London for the first time. Arnold took second place, losing only to the American
Chet Yorton. Such a good result was a pleasant surprise even for Arnie himself. Initially, he
thought about sixth or even seventh place.
Charles "Wag" Bennett, one of the
judges for the 1966 competition, was impressed with Schwarzenegger and offered
to coach him. Since Arnold had no money, Bennett invited him to live in his crowded family
home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London. As part of the training program developed
by Bennett, Arnie focused on improving the muscles and strength of his legs. Life in London
has brought its benefits. In addition to the development of muscles, Schwarzenegger
also could pull up his English quite well.
Life in the Bennett family strongly
influenced Schwarzenegger's personality: “Being with them made me so much more
sophisticated. When you're the age I was then, you're always looking for approval, for love,
for attention and also for guidance. At the time, I wasn't really aware of that. But now, looking
back, I see that the Bennett family fulfilled all those needs. Especially my need to be the
best in the world. To be recognized and to feel unique and special. They saw that I needed that
care and attention and love.” Arnie recalled.
The 66th year was decisive for the
future star. At Bennett's house, Schwarzenegger met childhood idol Reg Park, who
would later become his friend and mentor.
Bennett's mentorship paid off handsomely. In 1967,
Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time and became the youngest Mr Universe in history.
Arnie, at that time, was only 20 years old.
Schwarzenegger continued to collect titles,
becoming Mr Universe twice more. But by that period, another dream warmed the young man's
heart. Arnold often said to his English teacher: “I'm going to become the greatest actor!”.
Arnie dreamed of moving to the USA (since he was ten years old) and looked at his career in
bodybuilding as a chance to fulfill his dream. In the late 60s, he decided to act.
EMIGRATION
In September 1968, Arnold arrived
in America. It was risky because, until the end of the 70s, he was there
illegally, violating his visa conditions.
By his admission, then, Arnie did not speak
English well and spoke with a strong accent, which created difficulties for him.
Arnold's personal life with the beginning of a
bodybuilding career became extremely stormy and caused the emergence of many legends and
tales about it. Witnesses tell how once, on a California beach, he approached an
unfamiliar girl and, without further ado, made her an intimate proposal. One of his friends,
hastily intervening, began to explain to the girl: “My friend is new in the USA and does not yet
know our customs.” To which she replied: “No, no, don’t stop him!”. In an interview with
Penthouse magazine, Arnold said that one woman offered to smear his body in chocolate
and lick it. Other legends include the case when a fan undressed at the signing of autographs
and asked: “Do you want to pump this body?”.
But it was not women that interested Arnie in
the first place. After moving to the USA, Arnold called his main task as a bodybuilder "cutting
the muscle mass brought from Europe and giving it the desired shape." In his New Encyclopedia
of Modern Bodybuilding, Schwarzenegger wrote: “I was a capable student. I went up to the judges
and asked what they thought I did wrong.”
Arnie learned a lot from his colleagues,
including his idol, Olympic champion and four-time world weightlifting champion Yury
Vlasov. They met during the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna in 1961, where the
young and thin boy, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was introduced to Vlasov.
1969 was marked for Schwarzenegger by the beginning of his first serious
relationship. He met Barbara Outland Baker, an English teacher. Their romance
lasted until 1974. In his autobiography, Arnold mentioned Barbara more than once.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “Basically it came down to this: she was a well-balanced
woman who wanted an ordinary, solid life, and I was not a well-balanced man and
hated the very idea of ordinary life.”
On the other hand, Barbara described Arnold
as a fun, charismatic, but adventurous guy and explained the break-up by the fact that he
became unbearable - the world revolved around him. Subsequently, Barbara wrote the book Arnold and
Me: In the Shade of the Austrian Oak, the writing of which Arnold not only did not interfere
but even gave her a three-hour interview.
But back to sports achievements. In the USA,
Schwarzenegger surrounded himself with true professionals in his field. He trained
under the guidance of the eminent Joe Weider. Between 1970 and 1974, one of Arnold's
strength training partners was professional wrestler Ric Drasin. Schwarzenegger also became
friends with the legendary Billy Graham, whose protégés include Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.
In 1970, in New York, twenty-three-year-old Arnold won his first Mr Olympia title.
Hard work brought numerous victories, Arnie received the title 6 more times, but the
victory at the Mr Olympia competition in 1980 occupied a special place in his career. It was
a surprise comeback after a five-year hiatus. During the absence of Schwarzenegger, thanks to
the growth in the popularity of bodybuilding, competition increased significantly, and few
expected that Arnold would win again. The number of Arnie's victories at Mr Olympia became
a record that no one could beat until 1991.
Schwarzenegger was considered one of the most
important figures in bodybuilding history, so his legacy was immortalized in the annual
Arnold Classic bodybuilding competition. He remained a prominent figure in the sport long
after his retirement. Partly, it happened because he owned gyms and regularly was published in
specialized magazines. Arnie also managed numerous competitions and awards for a long time.
At 30, the star returned to studies and graduated remotely from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Arnie was serious about education. He visited the campus, took exams, and met with teachers.
According to the university blog, in 1979, the actor received a bachelor's degree
in international fitness marketing and business administration. He even received an
honorary doctorate in 1996 for his contribution to sporting events like the Special Olympics.
In 1977, Schwarzenegger admitted to using anabolic steroids for performance enhancement.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “Steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size
while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but
rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up.”
He also explained that they were legal,
and Arnie wanted to see what he could achieve with them. “We were experimenting
with it. It was a new thing,” he added.
At the same time, Arnie emphasized that
he did not encourage drug use and did not want to set a bad example for children.
But he said he had no problem with athletes taking nutritional supplements and other legal
substances to improve their performance.
In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Willi Heepe, a
German doctor who publicly predicted his early death based on an association between steroid use
and subsequent heart problems. Since the doctor never personally examined Arnold, Schwarzenegger
won the case and received a $10,000 settlement.
Meanwhile, Arnold's personal life was in full
swing. In 1975, Schwarzenegger met hairdresser Sue Moray, and in August 1977, he began
dating television journalist Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy.
Arnold met Maria at the Robert Kennedy Tennis Tournament in Forest Hills. Her brother
Bobby decided to invite Arnold to a party full of celebrities after watching the film
Pumping Iron. When Maria and Arnold met for the second time, rumors about their
love relationship immediately spread.
In an interview with Penthouse magazine, Arnold
stated that Maria has always been his most ardent fan, who was well versed in bodybuilding
and screamed his name the loudest in the hall at performances.
FIRST ROLES IN FILMS
After 1980, Schwarzenegger finally ended his sports career.
Inset quote: “There was a time where I wanted to be the most muscular man onstage and to wipe out
everyone else was the most important thing. There was literally nothing more important than that.
But when I won the last Mr. Olympia [in 1980], I said, ‘What am I doing still running out
with a little bathing suit here, oiled up?’”
That prompted Arnie to devote himself to
acting and directing all his energy to it.
Starting in 1969, Arnold Schwarzenegger acted in
films, as did many of his idols, such as Reg Park and Steve Reeves. His main problems were too much
muscle mass, not quite natural looking for a film, and a noticeable German accent, because of which
he had to avoid complex dialogues for a long time. For several films, Arnold had to lose weight.
During that period, Schwarzenegger took acting lessons and worked on good pronunciation.
His debut acting work in the cinema was the film Hercules in New York in 1970.
Arnie got his role thanks to Joe Weider, the coach of the Champions, who recommended
him to the filmmakers. At the same time, Joe had to deceive, saying that before the
actor brilliantly played Hamlet in London.
Arnie's accent in the film was so noticeable that
his lines had to be dubbed after production. By the way, it is the only film where Arnold was
mentioned in the credits under the pseudonym Arnold Strong. The producer decided that the name
"Schwarzenegger" did not sound good in English. Years later, Schwarzenegger would call the film
his most disliked work in cinema. He considers the role so terrible that he even suggested that
the US intelligence agencies use the film as an instrument of torture for prisoners.
Schwarzenegger's second film work was the role of an assassin in Robert Altman's
1973 detective thriller The Long Goodbye. It was followed by a much more prominent
role in the adventure drama Stay Hungry, which appeared on the screens in 1976. For the
role of Joe Santo, Arnold was awarded the Golden Globe Award in the New Movie Star nomination.
Schwarzenegger often recalled the difficulties at the beginning of his acting career.
Inset quote (Schwarzenegger): “It was very difficult for me in the beginning – I was told
by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird', that I had a funny accent, and that
my name was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it. Basically, everywhere
I turned, I was told that I had no chance.”
Schwarzenegger raised his acting
profile quite well by appearing in the 1977 bodybuilding film Pumping Iron,
which we mentioned earlier. Initially, Arnie did not want to participate in the movie
because, by the time of filming, he was a little fed up with the sport. But the directors still
managed to persuade Schwarzenegger. Probably, the main argument was that participation in the film
made it possible for the future star to appear on the big screen. The film worked well for the
image of Arnold, and it eventually paid off.
Also in 1977, he made guest appearances
on standalone episodes of the sitcom The San Pedro Beach Bums and on the police
drama The Streets of San Francisco.
Surely, many have heard that Arnold
Schwarzenegger auditioned for the lead role in the TV movie The Incredible Hulk,
but did not get it because of his height. It was true. The role later went to the taller
bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Did you know about this fact? Let us know in the comments.
In 1979, Arnold appeared in the comedy The Villain with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret.
A year later, he played the role of Mickey Hargitay (husband of 50s star Jayne Mansfield)
in the biopic The Jayne Mansfield Story.
The public accepted the first films with Arnold
Schwarzenegger with great restraint. His first success came to him in 1982.
SUPERSTAR OF THE 90S
Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was
the adventure epic Conan the Barbarian, released in 1982. The fantasy action movie was
Arnie's first remarkable film role. Filming took place in the province of Almeria (near Madrid),
and lasted about five months. The film director, John Milius, decided to refrain from using optical
special effects, preferring to implement his ideas with the help of mechanical structures and optical
illusions. The actors were forbidden to remove their costumes between takes to add reliability.
In addition, weapons and equipment were made in natural weight. Therefore, actors had to sweat
a lot to make everything look realistic.
Exhausting training lasted about a year. The
actors had to learn how to swing their weapons beautifully, pump up their physical form and learn
how to ride horses. Arnie did not avoid training, either. He had already lost weight and did
not reach the director's requirements.
John Milius recalled:
Inset quote: If there were stars in my film with inflated egos, I would
never have done what I planned. Arnold is a great person. He is very disciplined and close
to Conan in real life. Schwarzenegger himself created his character and his career.
He worked hard, trained every day, and constantly repeated his lines. He
was obsessed with them! (John Milius)
Schwarzenegger performed most of the
stunts himself, and the two swords that Conan fought with were made for the
film and cost about $10,000 each.
During the filming of the wolf chase
sequence, Arnie tripped and hit his head on the rocks. It was rumored that
he was close to the fatal outcome.
The shooting of the love scene between
Schwarzenegger and Bergman was the most difficult for the actor. For both Arnie
and the girl, that experience was new.
The film became a box office hit. It
grossed more than $68 million worldwide, but the level of revenue did not allow the film to
be classified as a "blockbuster" at that time.
Some scholars and critics have interpreted
the film's plot as a development of the themes of fascism and individualism. At the
same time, critics spoke negatively about Schwarzenegger's acting skills and the scenes
of violence in the film. Moreover, the actor was even nominated for the Golden Raspberry.
However, despite that, Conan the Barbarian became incredibly popular among young men, and
the future governor brought real-world fame.
Schwarzenegger became a US citizen on September
17, 1983. Shortly before that, he asked the Austrian authorities to keep his Austrian
passport, since Austria usually does not allow dual citizenship. Arnie's request was granted.
In 1984, as expected, a sequel Conan the Destroyer followed Conan the Barbarian. The continuation
of the saga was supposed to overshadow the first part. Universal Pictures, especially after the
huge success of Steven Spielberg's ET, relied on positioning their products as entertainment for
the whole family. It was decided to significantly reduce the amount of blood, violence and sex, for
which the first part was so fiercely criticized, and at the same time remove pagan images from the
picture. With such decisions, the studio hoped to attract more viewers, including children.
For the same purpose, basketball superstar Wilt Chamberlain and outrageous singer
Grace Jones were invited to the movie.
