Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, born in Thal, Austria in 1947, won his first Mr. Olympia title in 1970, eventually winning seven. He starred in The Terminator 1984 and served as Governor of California from 2003 to 2011.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Arnold Schwarzenegger — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Arnold Schwarzenegger by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Arnold Schwarzenegger — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Schwarzenegger grew up in Thal, Styria, Austria, where his father Gustav served as police chief. His home had no phone, refrigerator, or toilet, and his father nicknamed him Cinderella.
From a young age, he became obsessed with bodybuilding, often saying his goals were to move to America, become an actor, and marry a Kennedy. He cut off his pants at the knee to motivate his calf training after noticing his disproportionate physique.
After emigrating to the United States in 1968, Schwarzenegger debuted on screen as Arnold Strong in Hercules in New York 1970. He won a Golden Globe for Best Acting Debut in Stay Hungry 1976 and the documentary Pumping Iron 1977 brought him wider recognition.
He broke through with Conan the Barbarian 1982, then The Terminator 1984, directed by James Cameron, which made him an action star. He starred in hits like Predator 1987, Total Recall 1990, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991. He later served as Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 and returned to acting in films like The Expendables 2 2012.
Schwarzenegger married television journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of President John F. Kennedy, in April 1986. They had four children: Katherine, Christina, Patrick, and Christopher. The couple separated in 2011 after it was revealed that Schwarzenegger had fathered a child, Joseph Baena, with the family’s live-in maid.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1983. He underwent heart surgery to correct a congenital heart valve condition. In 2004, he saved a man from drowning in Hawaii.
Schwarzenegger won seven Mr. Olympia titles 1970-1975, 1980 and Guinness World Records called him the most perfectly developed man in history. In film, his catchphrase I’ll be back from The Terminator 1984 entered popular culture. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Golden Globe. As Governor of California, he was the second actor to hold the office, after Ronald Reagan.
Browse the complete filmography of Arnold Schwarzenegger — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Arnold Schwarzenegger — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from Arnold Schwarzenegger — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Was Always Interested in Proportion and Perfection. When I Was 15 I Took off My Clothes and Looked in the Mirror. When I Stared at Myself Naked, I Realized That to Be Perfectly Proportioned I Would Need 20 Inch Arms to Match the Rest of Me.
Everything I Have Ever Done in My Life Has Always Stayed. I’ve Just Added to It . . . but I Will Not Change. Because When You Are Successful and You Change, You Are an Idiot.
I Know That If You Leave Dishes in the Sink, They Get Sticky and Hard to Wash the Next Day.
I Would Rather Be Governor of California Than Own Austria.
I Love the Hong Kong Style of Action Movies, but That Only Looks Good for Small Guys. the Reason Why the Whole Style Was Developed Over There Was Because Those Guys Were Very Puny Guys They’re Not Powerful Looking Guys, They’re Also Not Powerful Guys. There’s No Weightlifting Champion Coming Out of Hong Kong Maybe in the Bantam Division or the Lightweight Division or Something Like That, but Normally You Don’t Have Really Strong Men Coming Out of There . . . They Had to Learn a Technique That Small People Can Do That Are as Effective as the Big Guy’s Strength. so That’s Where the Martial Arts Came From.
In the Beginning I Was Selfish. It Was All About, How Do I Build Arnold? How Can I Win the Most Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympic Contests? How Can I Get into the Movies and Get into Business? I Was Thinking About Myself . . . as I’ve Grown Up, Got Older, Maybe Wiser, I Think Your Life Is Judged Not by How Much You Have Taken but by How Much You Give Back.
The Worst I Can Be Is the Same as Everybody Else. I Hate That.
There’s a Lot of People Who Want Me to Get Out of Acting and Want Me to Run for Governor. I Think It’s Mostly Movie Critics.
You Have to Remember Something: Everybody Pities the Weak; Jealousy You Have to Earn.
As a Kid as a Kid I Saw Socialist the Socialist Country That Austria Became After the Soviets Left. Now Don’t Misunderstand Me: I Love Austria and I Love the Austrian People. but I Always Knew That America Was the Place for Me. in School, When the Teacher Would Talk About America, I Would Daydream About Coming Here. I Would Daydream About Living Here. I Would Sit There and Watch for Hours American Movies, Transfixed by My Heroes, Like John Wayne. Everything About America Seemed so Big to Me, so Open, so Possible.
I Have No Sexual Standards in My Head That Say This Is Good or This Is Bad. Homosexual That Only Means to Me That He Enjoys Sex with a Man and I Enjoy Sex with a Woman. It’s All Legitimate to Me.
I Didn’t Think About Money. I Thought About the Fame, About Just Being the Greatest. I Was Dreaming About Being Some Dictator of a Country or Some Savior Like Jesus.
I’m 6’2. I’ve Heard Rumors That I’m Really Much Shorter in Real Life Like 5’6 or Something Like That Which Is Ridiculous. I Can Assureyou This Is Not the Case. People Look up to Me, and Not Just Because I Do a Lot of Work in the Community. I Mean, Most People Really Look up to Me.
California Will Not Wait for Our Federal Government to Take Strong Action on Global Warming. We Won’t Wait for the Federal Government. We Will Move Forward Because We Know It’s the Right Thing to Do. We Will Lead on This Issue and We Will Get Other Western States Involved. I Think There’s Not Great Leadership from the Federal Government When It Comes to Protecting the Environment.
Money Doesn’t Make You Happy. I Now Have $50 Million but I Was Just as Happy When I Had $48 Million.
Little-known facts about Arnold Schwarzenegger — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
During a 2004 vacation in Hawaii, Schwarzenegger saved a man’s life by swimming into the sea to rescue him from drowning.
He refused the salary for Governor of California and used a private jet at his own expense.
Childhood friends stated that he often said his goals in life were to move to America, become an actor, and marry a Kennedy. He accomplished all three.
He performed many of his own stunts in his films, largely because it was hard to find stunt doubles who matched his size. Billy D. Lucas, Joel Kramer, and Peter Kent became his personal stunt doubles and close friends.
He was asked to reprise his Dutch character from the first Predator 1987 film for the sequel, but declined because he did not like the script. He chose to do Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 instead.
The famous line I’ll be back from The Terminator 1984 was originally written as ‘I’ll come back’.
During filming of Total Recall 1990, he noticed that Michael Ironside was constantly on the phone between takes. When he asked, Ironside told him he was calling his sister, who had cancer. Arnold immediately brought Michael to his trailer and had an hour-long three-way conversation with his sister, advising her on exercises and foods. Ironside has never forgotten that kindness.
He is the second actor to be elected Governor of California, after Ronald Reagan.
His personal favorite of his own films is Kindergarten Cop 1990.
He kept the sword he used in Conan the Barbarian 1982 in the Governor’s office when he served as California’s governor.
He grew up in a house with no phone, no fridge, and no toilet.
He initially refused to star in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003 because James Cameron, who created the character and directed the first two films, would not be directing the third. Arnold tried to persuade Cameron to do it, but Cameron declined and advised Arnold to do the film and ask for a lot of money.
Although German is his native language, all his movies have been dubbed into German by Thomas Danneberg because his strong rural Austrian accent does not fit the type of roles he plays.
He turned down the role of Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket 1987 and opted to do The Running Man 1987 instead.
His parents feared he was gay when he was a teenager because he worshipped bodybuilders. His mother Aurelia phoned a doctor because she thought her son was turning south due to all the pictures of oiled-up males on his bedroom walls.
He said that filming the climatic fight at the end of Predator 1987 was made difficult because the late Kevin Peter Hall, who played the Predator, could not see through his mask.
He graduated from University of Wisconsin-Superior with a major in international marketing of fitness and business administration.
After he started lifting weights as a teenager, he noticed his body was becoming disproportionate: arms, shoulders, and chest were developing nicely, but calves and lower legs were not. To motivate himself, he cut off all his pants at the knee, walking around so people would see his chicken legs. It worked.
He underwent a genioplasty, a procedure in which his jaw was moved back so that it no longer juts out.
He turned down the role of John McClane in Die Hard 1988. The role went to Bruce Willis instead. Ironically, Willis has a line in the film where he says the terrorists have enough explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger.
While filming the behind-the-scenes documentary for the special edition DVD of Conan the Barbarian 1982, a microphone hit him in the head at the end of the interview, to which he immediately joked: You see, I can’t even do an interview about Conan without getting hurt.
He was called by the Guinness Book of World Records the most perfectly developed man in the history of the world.
He sold off his Planet Hollywood stock and is no longer a part owner of the chain.
He and his 11-year-old son Patrick were injured in a traffic accident when a car ran into Arnold’s motorcycle. Patrick was in a sidecar. Arnold received 15 stitches.
He won the Mr. Olympia title seven times 1970-1975, 1980.
He was good friends with WWE Hall of Famer André René Roussimoff.
While he was governor, a Burger King promotion poster for the triple whopper stated: It’s so big and beefy it just might run for governor.
In Demolition Man 1993, Sandra Bullock’s character Lenina Huxley tells Sylvester Stallone’s character about the Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Library, explaining that due to his movie popularity, a Constitutional amendment was passed for him to run for President. In 2003, ten years after the film’s release, Schwarzenegger ran for Governor of California and won. Though he cannot run for President as a naturalized citizen, some members of Congress considered an amendment for him. The idea died after Schwarzenegger stated that foreign-born citizens should not be eligible.
He went AWOL from the Austrian army to enter his first bodybuilding contest.
James Cameron originally wanted him for the role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator 1984, but after reading the script, Arnold asked to play the Machine. Cameron replied: No, no! Reese is the star! He’s the big hero! And the Terminator hardly has any lines! but Arnold asked him to trust him.
He was the original choice to play the title character in RoboCop 1987.
He has a pet miniature pony named Whiskey, which was also the name of Kirk Douglas’s horse in The Villain 1979 in which Arnold co-starred. He also has a pet miniature donkey named Lulu.
At his bodybuilding peak, his chest was 57 inches, waist 34, biceps 22, thighs 28.5, calves 20, and his competition weight was 235 lbs 260 lbs off-season.
He was considered for the title role in the 1970s TV series The Incredible Hulk 1977, but was reportedly deemed not tall enough. His former bodybuilding competitor, Lou Ferrigno, ultimately won the part.
He holds the record for winning the most major bodybuilding events: 13 titles 1 Mr. Junior Western Europe, 7 Mr. Olympias, and 5 Mr. Universes.
As governor on December 12, 2005, he refused to grant clemency to convicted quadruple murderer and former gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams, who had been on Death Row for 24 years.
He underwent heart surgery to correct a congenital heart valve condition.
In his childhood, he considered John Wayne his idol and role model. As Governor of California, he issued a proclamation making May 26, 2007 John Wayne Day in the state.
After leaving Austria for the first time, he came to England to work, earning under £30 a week.
Due to the dismal failure of Conan the Destroyer 1984, Schwarzenegger rarely did sequels. He turned down sequels to Commando 1985, Predator 1987, Total Recall 1990, and True Lies 1994, as well as the third Conan film which became Kull: The Conqueror 1997. Exceptions are Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003, The Expendables 2 2012, The Expendables 3 2014, and Terminator Genisys 2015.
His wife Maria Shriver is a niece of the late President John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1983.
He lobbied to promote an anti-juvenile delinquency initiative on the California ballot that would commit the state to allocate $400 million for extracurricular activities and tutoring for students from kindergarten through ninth grade.
His father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, nicknamed him Cinderella as a child, and his older brother, Meinhard, constantly picked on him growing up. Both men were killed while driving under the influence.
In his bodybuilding days, he once bench pressed as much as 450 pounds.
Unlike George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell, he does not regret taking the part of Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin 1997. Joel Schumacher threatened not to direct the movie if he did not play Mr. Freeze.
He was the first private citizen in the U.S. to own a Humvee High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle.
The Green Party of Austria has resolved to strip Schwarzenegger of his Austrian citizenship due to his support for the death penalty.
While filming Predator 1987, he became close friends with co-star Jesse Ventura, who was also later elected a state governor Minnesota.
The character Rainier Wolfecastle in The Simpsons 1989 is based on him.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Celebrities similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger — same craft, ranked by reach.
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