Arnold Schwarzenegger E-Book

Fiaz Rafiq

• Herausgeber: Birlinn
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 727

Beschreibung

Arnold Schwarzenegger – a bodybuilder-turned-real-estate mogul who turned an undefeated streak at the Mr Olympia contest into an astonishing film career and eight years as the governor of California – is, for many people, the embodiment of the American Dream. From humble beginnings in a small village in Austria, Schwarzenegger has come to symbolise the opportunities that exist for anyone willing to work hard – parlaying success and self-confidence into the influence to shape hearts and minds across the globe. Even today, whether he's campaigning against climate change or fist-bumping fellow strongmen at his self-titled athletic event, he's one of the few men on the planet who's recognisable from his first name alone. Arnold. Fiaz Rafiq uses in-depth interviews with Schwarzenegger's peers to tell the life story of the one-time Governator, featuring exclusive interviews with his personal and close friends, fellow bodybuilders and training partners, Hollywood co-stars, directors, executive producers, political personalities and journalists – all offering first-hand accounts of the man they know. Together, these voices show new dimensions to the Arnold we all think we know – from the driven young man who brought building into the mainstream to the passionate advocate for political change.

Leseprobe

ARNOLDSCHWARZENEGGER

THE LIFE OF A LEGEND

PRAISE FORARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: THE LIFE OF A LEGEND

‘Few can deliver the details and perspective that Fiaz Rafiq achieves in his exhaustive oral history covering all aspects of Schwarzenegger’s epic life and career. This is the hard work of a dogged professional journalist’ – Alex Ben Block, Hollywood showbiz historian and author

‘Candid and entertaining recollections from some of the figures closest to Schwarzenegger reveal the hunger and desire that drove him to realize the American Dream. Rarely heard-before anecdotes underline the self-confidence that helped shape a bodybuilding and Hollywood icon ahead of his alliance with one of America’s great political dynasties. Fascinating reading’ – Simon Jones, Daily Mail

‘A fresh and illuminating look at Arnold, taking in everything from his early days in bodybuilding to his twin careers in film and politics. A fascinating look at a self-made man, as told by the people who know him best’ – Joel Snape, Men’s Fitness

‘This book provides an intriguing insight into the life of a truly global superstar. A truly absorbing book’ – Kevin Francis, Daily Star

‘An excellent insight into all facets of Schwarzenegger’s career’ – Daryl Crowther, Impact: The Global Action Movie Magazine

‘An intriguing new insight into the figure who transcended bodybuilding and movies to become a seminal figure in US politics and society. A mustread for any Arniephile’ – Gareth A. Davies, Daily Telegraph

ARNOLDSCHWARZENEGGER

THE LIFE OF A LEGEND

FIAZ RAFIQ

This edition first published in Great Britain in 2021 by

ARENA SPORT

An imprint of Birlinn Limited

West Newington House

10 Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.arenasportbooks.co.uk

First published in 2011 as Arnold Schwarzenegger: Conversations by HNL Publishing

Copyright © Fiaz Rafiq, 2011 and 2021

ISBN: 9781909715974

eBook ISBN: 9781788853316

The right of Fiaz Rafiq to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library.

Designed and typeset by Polaris Publishing, Edinburgh

www.polarispublishing.com

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD BY ALEX BEN BLOCK

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: BODYBUILDING FRATERNITY

Franco Columbu

Ricky Wayne

Larry Scott

Ed Corney

Bill Pearl

Bill Grant

Mike Katz

Al Satterwhite

Bill Dobbins

Jon Jon Park

CHAPTER TWO: FRIENDS & COLLEAGUES

Charles Gaines

George Butler

Barbara Outland Baker

James Lorimer

Joe Lewis

Eric Morris

Sven-Ole Thorsen

CHAPTER THREE: FILM FRATERNITY

Mark Lester

Bill Duke

Vic Armstrong

Peter Kent

Tia Carrere

Andrew G. Vajna

Mario Kassar

Chuck Russell

Brian Levant

Joel Schumacher

Adam Greenberg

Kevin Pollak

Kristanna Loken

Dolph Lundgren

Peter Bart

Alex Ben Block

Eric Watson

CHAPTER FOUR: POLITICAL FRATERNITY

Bruce E. Cain

Mike Genest

Daniel Weintraub

Carla Marinucci

EPILOG

APPENDIX I: BODYBUILDING TITLES

APPENDIX II: FILMS

NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A big thank you to the staff of M.A.I. and Impact magazines: Moira, Martin, Neal, John, Roy and especially editor Bob Sykes for giving me the opportunity and embracing me earlier on my writing career. The fifteen years working relationship was fun. To all my editors at the magazines and national newspapers whose help and support have contributed to my success in my professional writing career. Also, I would like to thank the personalities I have interviewed over the years from the sports and entertainment worlds – you are an integral part of the reason behind my success.

I would like to thank my long-time friends Diana Lee Inosanto; Royce Gracie; Rasheda Ali; Ron Balicki; Bob Sykes; Ronnie Green; Lance Lewis; Seyfi Shevket and Peter Consterdine for their countless years of support and encouragement. Special thank you to Alex Ben Block of Alex Ben Block Consulting (www.blockandtackle.biz) for his support.

I would also like to thank Muhammad Ali’s brother, Rahaman, who gave me the opportunity to make history. I would like to thank my agent Charlie Brotherstone.

Thank you to Joel Snape for editing the manuscript. A special thank you must go to Neville Moir and my editor Pete Burns at my publishers, Arena, for believing in me and for all their hard work.

I would like to thank my friends in the industry, both in the USA and United Kingdom, who have enriched my life and supported me.

Being a private person, I never really mention my family and certain friends when it comes to acknowledgments. This doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten them or don’t appreciate them. Work, for me, is a passion and a profession, as much as I made it an obsession in my life, family and close friends are the heart and soul, so is my religion – nothing is worth living for if these three integral elements are absent.

In life we strive to elevate ourselves and reach a higher plane. Some of us take our passion to the extreme and become totally consumed by it. Of course, to succeed and realize our dreams we must endeavor to pursue our passion wholeheartedly and be dedicated. Achievements and accolades and acclaim are all great, of course, but sooner or later we may, or should, realize that the core happiness and meaning of life lies not in merely fulfilling our ambitions and achievements, but by cherishing those who are close to us and appreciating the normal things in life and be content.

FOREWORD

THE TRUTH AND THE LIES

There have been a couple dozen books by or about Arnold Schwarzenegger, on his life, bodybuilding, movies, politics and more. They have covered his improbable rise from obscurity in Austria to his reign as a champion bodybuilder, to his unlikely movie career and subsequent superstardom, to his political career as the ‘Governator’ of California.

However, few can deliver the details and perspective that Fiaz Rafiq achieves in his exhaustive oral history covering all aspects of Schwarzenegger’s epic life and career. It is presented for the most part with a gentle hand, but not without mentioning Schwarzenegger’s controversies, especially the stories about his alleged sexual harassment of women and fathering a child out of wedlock with his house maid.

Mostly, however, this is a loving, warm, friendly tribute to Schwarzenegger that provides a lot of insights. It was done without any interviews with Schwarzenegger himself, although Fiaz says they did meet at least once.

My own connection to Fiaz is through our common interest in the late kung fu movie star Bruce Lee. I wrote the first serious book about Lee after his death The Legend of Bruce Lee (1974), and Fiaz has written two oral histories – of Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali – using his same style.

In this book, the extensive interviews are roughly in chronological order with smart narratives that set up the interviews and fill in gaps. Mostly this is the hard work of a dogged professional journalist who interviewed people who know, worked with, worked around or covered Schwarzenegger for both trade and general media.

As a contributing writer for the tabloid newspaper The Sun and other prominent newspapers, and as a former regular columnist and contributor to martial arts, action movie and fitness and lifestyle magazines, from Martial Arts Illustrated to the MMA publication Fighters Only, he learned his trade and shows it here.

What makes this special for the action stars’ aficionados is that this covers it all: his early years, his bodybuilding achievements (in great details), his early efforts to get into the movies, his rise to superstardom in the 1980s and 1990s, and his surprise move into politics as Governor of California for over a decade.

The tone is always respectful, sometimes fawning and more often just good solid reporting. People are allowed to speak in their own voice, and freely share memories.

“This man born in a small town in Austria,” writes Fiaz, “epitomizes the American Dream perhaps better than anyone else – a ferociously hard worker who moved to the country in his youth, he grabbed every opportunity it offered and now encourages others to do the same.”

In an interview with Schwarzenegger’s first girlfriend (a relationship that lasted about six years), Barbara Outland Baker, talks about the mountain of muscles she met, how she helped him learn English, and supported his bodybuilding, although it was not of great interest to her.

She also reveals the damaged relationship Schwarzenegger had with his father, who found his son too independent and was not an early believer in his career as a bodybuilder. When she accompanied him on a visit back to Austria for a bodybuilding event at a time he was about 24, Baker recalls Schwarzenegger didn’t really want to see his father, but did make a visit out of a sense of duty. She says his father died suddenly not long after that of a heart attack and the wounds between father and son were never really healed.

Actress Tia Carrere, who worked with him on the hit True Lies, remembers that Arnold had a great deal of natural curiosity. “He’s a perfect example of the American Dream. He has achieved what is possible to achieve in America if you work hard and apply yourself.”

At times the Schwarzenegger we all think we know from watching his swaggering, boasting, and self-confidence, masks a deeper brooding inner life.

Mark Lester, who directed him in Commando, recalled that, “The night before shooting (began) we had dinner at the hotel . . . Arnold says to me, ‘I’m scared to death.’ I asked him why. ‘The first day of shooting, I’m always scared to death.’ I said, ‘So am I. Everybody is until we get the first shot, then we’re okay.’ But I was kind of surprised to hear that.”

There are lots of other interesting anecdotes, revealing insights and details about a career that is too amazing even to pass as a movie plot. It was all real to Schwarzenegger. Enjoy this for all the intimate history, color, insights and surprises you will discover about this one-of-a-kind personality. And remember this will not be Schwarzenegger’s end. As his famous catch phrase puts it, “I’ll be back.” And Fiaz will probably write another book about that.

Alex Ben BlockHollywood showbiz historian and author

PREFACE

In an age where the word ‘superstar’ is tossed around lightly, there are still only a few people to whom the title really applies. Of these, there are even fewer personalities who are recognizable around the globe by their face or first name alone, having changed the world and our culture irrevocably: Madonna, Elvis, Pelé . . . and Arnold.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the greatest bodybuilder in history, icon of machismo, archetype Hollywood action hero and successful politician is a global celebrity and one of the greatest success stories of all time. This man born in a small town in Austria epitomizes the American Dream perhaps better than anyone else – a ferociously hard worker who moved to the country in his youth, he grabbed every opportunity it offered and now encourages others to do the same. From a tough childhood and impoverished youth, he used his considerable talents to pursue first a career in bodybuilding, then films, then politics, and made himself wealthy as he rose to fame. Now, he simply aims to help other people and make the world a better place, paying forward the opportunities he’s been given.

Speaking personally, I have always been interested in those legendary and iconic figures – particularly in the sporting and entertainment fields – whose influence on pop culture continues to endure and even grow after they pass their physical prime. After researching the life and legacy of two of the greatest icons of the century – Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali – I began to mull over the possibilities of paying homage to another celebrity with global appeal. In a sense, Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been to bodybuilding what Bruce Lee is to martial arts. Lee achieved worldwide fame by coming to America – introducing a whole country to the rigors of a new style of physical discipline – then transmuted that early success into a movie career that changed cinema history. Schwarzenegger did the same, then went on to live a long and happy life, giving us a glimpse of what Lee might have been if not for his untimely death. Like Ali, he was unquestionably the best at his chosen sport – and like Ali, he sought to change the world politically, in an even more direct way than the Greatest of All Time.

Of course, no one lives a blameless life, and controversies surrounded Schwarzenegger during his campaign to become the governor of California. The one-time action hero’s past was dredged for details pertaining to his personal life, and his father’s views became the subject of popular discussion. He had to contend with his personal life, which had long been a subject of public interest, being freshly dissected in the tabloid press, a situation rarely forgiving for anyone.

Arnold himself would be the first to admit that he has made mistakes. But whatever one’s sentiments toward his personal life or political views, his outlook on self-improvement and motivation is harder to criticize. For that reason, I hope that everyone will find something to help them in the next few hundred pages.

This book, of course, is composed of exclusive interviews with his close friends, fellow bodybuilding colleagues and training partners, Hollywood co-stars, directors, executive producers, political personalities and journalists – offering fresh perspectives on a man who has already written two autobiographies. You will discover new details about Arnold’s meteoric rise to fame, his ways of training and his early years in Hollywood. You’ll also hear about his achievements as ‘the Governator’ – as well as what was happening behind the scenes during his time holding one of his country’s most important offices.

Arnold is an ambitious, intelligent and a profoundly driven individual, a shining example of what monomaniacal drive can accomplish. For me, one of the most striking aspects of this most enthusiastic pursuers of success is his resolute optimism, tenacity, business savvy and insatiable desire to venture beyond the limits – but sometimes, drive is not enough, and one must rely on other people to help. In this book you’ll learn just how a scrawny kid from a small European village with an inexplicable thick accent and an unpronounceable name defied the odds to become one of the biggest names in the world.

INTRODUCTION

According to the people who knew him in his youth, the Austrian Oak’s relentless drive was in place when he was little more than a sapling. Born Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger on July 30, 1947, in a small village named Thal in Austria, to Aurelia and Gustav, his immense ambition and restless energy, along with a relentless hunger for new challenges, developed during Arnold’s youth. Perhaps part of this was due to his older brother – his parents, Gustav and Aurelia, also had a son called Meinhard, a year older than Arnold, and Gustav – a local police chief who had once served in the army – is rumored to have favored his elder son. With a strict disciplinarian for a father, Arnold grew up a rebel – even if he was able to channel his energy in productive ways.

After taking up bodybuilding in his early teens, to the regular disapproval of his parents, Arnold quickly focused on becoming the best in a sport that was lightly regarded in Austria at the time. His father encouraged him to pursue a ‘real’ career, but Arnold would have none of it. Inspired by the legendary bodybuilder Reg Park, he began to voraciously read about and follow his idol’s methods to build up his body. Soon, Arnold started to compete and a mentorprotégé relationship between the two began, eventually shifting to a friendship that would last until the older man’s death in 2007. With the on-screen Hercules’ help, the young Schwarzenegger made his own first steps toward stardom, winning several bodybuilding championships in Europe, and fueling his desire to take things to the global stage. “The hunger and the desire, this burning desire inside…to be somebody,” Arnold recalled, decades later, “I want to make it and I want to be the best. I think that came from growing up in a little village. I wanted to go out of there and I wanted to be part of something big.” And for Arnold, America symbolized that: the American Dream.

He left for America in 1968, invited by the bodybuilding magnate Joe Weider, and quickly made a home for himself in Southern California, the Mecca of bodybuilding and the motion picture industry. As a young man who had dreamed of moving to America since he was ten years old, it didn’t take long for Arnold to adapt to his new home. The twenty-one-year-old Arnold arrived with absolutely nothing other than a gym bag, $20 in his pocket, a rudimentary command of English and a grand dream – but he set to work harder than ever, both in and out of the gym.

Unparalleled success in bodybuilding followed, culminating in Arnold winning the Mr. Olympia title – the most prestigious in bodybuilding – seven times. The release of Pumping Iron in 1977, which documented his sixth victory, helped to introduce him to the masses – a charismatic, charming young man who trained like an animal and wasn’t above using psychological warfare against his competitors. With Hollywood right down the freeway, his next course of action was clear.

Arnold wanted to be the best in whatever he pursued. “I had a lot of motivation and energy and had a very clear vision of what my goals were, and I was going to achieve them, and I went after my dream,” Arnold would explain. “I’ve always thought if you achieve your goals and become the best, then you will achieve notoriety and fame, anyway. It follows naturally.”

Despite appearances in a handful of movies in the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1982 and the release of Conan the Barbarian, that his break came. It was the perfect role to catapult him to stardom – a swords-and-sandals epic that showcased his physique in the role of a Cimmerian warrior who did most of his talking with his blade. In 1984, he made his first appearance in what some would say was the signature role in his acting career, playing the Terminator in the film of the same name. Even though he barely had a dozen lines, Arnold’s screen presence as a relentless, near-invincible killing machine, propelled him to superstardom and his reputation as a box-office draw was sealed. Famed for his high-octane action roles and even higher body counts, a string of action movies later saw Arnold became the king of the multiplex. He was already wealthy, having made enough money in real estate to allow him to pick and choose roles rather than jumping at anything that would pay – but by the late 80s, he became the highest paid actor in the world.

The 1980s and early 1990s were the years for testosterone-fueled action movies with tough talking leading men – Sylvester Stallone; Steven Seagal; Bruce Willis; Jean Claude Van Damme; Dolph Lundgren and Arnold – dominating the action genre. Arnold led the way and in 1993 a poll concluded that Arnold was the man most Americans would want to spend time talking to on a longdistance flight (Oprah Winfrey was the only person to outscore him overall). The public had fully embraced this actor who had gone from playing villains and silent muscle-men to action heroes and comic roles.

For Arnold, however, unprecedented success in the motion picture industry did not make him content. He married into American royalty when he tied the knot with Maria Shriver, the niece of President John F. Kennedy, allowing this multi-millionaire to move among the upper echelons of American society. Already, he was contemplating politics. He had fulfilled his childhood dreams – bodybuilding champion and a movie star. Arnold said, “All of a sudden I realized that, You know, I’ve done this. I’ve gotten to the top – the highest paid actor that there ever was in history. Done all of these different things. So I said to myself, I’m tired of the same things, jumping over car hoods three in the morning and then going up to someone and saying, ‘I’m back’, and blow him away. All of this is great, but eventually it gets old.”

Though he had a keen interest in politics well before he came to America, he first came to the public’s attention as a Republican during a campaign rally for then-vice-president George Bush in 1988. He admired President Ronald Reagan, who himself went from a movie star to venturing out into politics. He knew he could never be President himself, but his own political ambitions took him to office as the Governor of California, where he served from 2003 to 2011. Since then, he’s made something of a return to acting, reinvigorating the Terminator franchise and appearing in The Expendables series alongside a slew of lower-profile roles. He’s also become increasingly outspoken on the issues that matter most to him, from climate change to plant-based eating – a dramatic shift in position for a man who once drove a Hummer and ate 200g of animal protein a day.

Arnold’s life, ultimately, has been a celebration of self. Many may perceive him as a man with an inflated ego – failing to realize that this self-belief is one of his greatest assets, something, without which he could never have achieved his unprecedented level of success. Other’s perception is of a man with a ferocious work ethic and a burning desire for supremacy. Some accuse the former governor of being domineering, while others see a confident, intelligent individual and a businessman who refuses to settle for second best.

Arnold, certainly, is a man of unwavering ambition and self-belief. Thousands every week move to Tinseltown to seek the American Dream and fame and fortune. Most fail. Arnold Schwarzenegger succeeded in not just this arena, but then in the world of politics – and then, when he left that behind, shifted his beliefs as the world continued to change. Whatever you think of the opinions he’s held throughout his life, he’s undoubtedly a man we can all learn from.

ONE

BODYBUILDING FRATERNITY

FRANCO COLUMBU

Franco Columbu, a two-time Mr. Olympia winner and a legend in the bodybuilding world, was Arnold’s best friend from the 1960s until his death in 2019. When he first arrived in America, he was one of the strongest men in the world, and indeed competed in the inaugural editions of the World’s Strongest Man contest. Arnold and Columbu were regular training partners throughout their bodybuilding careers, and stayed in regular contact for the rest of their lives.

Q: When did you first meet Arnold, was it in Germany in the 1960s?

Franco Columbu: In 1965, October 30, we met in Stuttgart in a competition. I competed in a powerlifting competition and I won. I won first place. And Arnold competed in the Junior Mr. Europe. He was only eighteen at that time, and he won first place, too. So, we met on the stage and we received the winners’ trophies.

Q: Did you then pursue to converse with him?

Franco Columbu: The conversation was very simple. I knew all the bodybuilders in Germany, and I said to him, “I know all the people here. I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?” He said, “Oh, I’m not from Germany; I’m from Austria. I’m from Graz.” And he said, “I’ve never heard of you, either.” I said, “I’m from Italy. I just moved to Munich.” And then we went to a restaurant and talked. We had dinner and beer. I was training in Munich at the time. Then he told me, “I want to come to Munich and train with you.” I really didn’t believe him because many people, even in Italy, had said to me, “I’m going to come to Germany. I’m going to come to Munich. I’m going to train with you.” I forgot about it when he left. Then a couple of months later, he shows up at the gym. And the owner of the gym in Munich made him an instructor. He became a gym instructor. And then we started to train together.

In 1966, Arnold moved to Munich, Germany and started to train and manage the Putzingger Gym, then owned by his lifelong friend Albert Busek, which he bought a year later. Determined to enjoy all the nightlife that Munich had to offer, he started to hang out with rather interesting people – entertainers, hookers and bar owners. He told OUI magazine in a 1977 interview that one of his former girlfriends was a stripper. Arnold had grown up in a small farm town, but was learning new lessons in an overwhelming city. In the beginning, he lived in a small room, which was in the vicinity of the gym. Eventually, he was able to get his own apartment, and the young man from a small village settled in rapidly. In those days, weight training was not in vogue – bodybuilders, powerlifters, boxers and wrestlers trained with weights. It wasn’t long before Arnold befriended a wrestler and Olympic weightlifter named Harold Sakata, who had played the iconic villain Oddjob in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

Often struggling to make ends meet, Arnold refrained from divulging to his parents about his financial troubles. Their understanding was that their young, ambitious son was earning decent money working away from home. They felt he was living his dream. Had Arnold revealed to his parents about the harsh reality of survival in a city, they might have forced him to come home. Arnold was happy where he was, even if not financially stable. Nevertheless, he was making progress in other ways. In 1967, Arnold competed in a stone-lifting contest in Munich, in which a stone weighing 508 German pounds (254 kg/560 pounds) would be lifted between the legs while standing on two foot rests. The young Austrian native won the competition, breaking the existing record in the process. Suddenly Arnold was on his way to becoming a minor star in his own community, often being interviewed and photographed by members of the media. It would be one of his first tastes of fame – but only left him wanting more.

Q: Would I be right in saying that you introduced Arnold to powerlifting?

Franco Columbu: Powerlifting at that time was pretty big in Europe, you know, in Prague, in France, in Germany. I told him, “Look, you know, you’re the strongest.” But he said, “I want to be Mr. Olympia, Mr. Universe.” I said, “Let’s do both.” Then we started training. For bodybuilding parts we always did three main exercises, which included squats and bench press to get stronger. And that really was the principle then. We discovered that by lifting heavy weights it developed bodybuilding, too. It was really, really a good thing that powerlifting helped bodybuilding.

Q: Can we talk about when you both came to America and stayed together in California in the early days?

Franco Columbu: When Arnold competed in 1968 in London in the NABBA Mr. Universe, he won and then he was invited to America to compete. He wanted to come to America. Then Joe Weider invited him to come to the United States. And he came to America, around November 1968. Then we kept in contact. And then in June 1969, which was six months later, I sold my car and bought a plane ticket and I went to California. Then we started training, again, here together and lived together for two, three years in a small apartment. At the time, we would wake up at seven o’ clock, have a protein drink and go to the gym for three hours. We trained really heavy. Then at ten o’ clock we would go have breakfast, and then we would work part-time in construction.

I got a bricklaying license, and we did that and we made some money. Because at that time we didn’t receive much money (from bodybuilding), we only got paid $80 from Joe Weider for taking pictures and writing articles. It was not enough money – $80 each. So we went to work and we made a few hundred bucks working. Then we were able to buy more food and everything, and that really made us become good friends. And the success really started right there. Because then we really started working in construction, and we trained a lot and we started winning like crazy every competition.

Columbu suggested to his Austrian friend they should get into the bricklaying and patio business. Arnold’s friend, who had mastered the craft back in Italy and Germany, primarily would lay the bricks and Arnold would mix the cement. Their day job brought in a few dollars, which would help them to make ends meet while they continued to focus on their passion for bodybuilding. The process was simple enough: Arnold’s friend went downtown to apply for a license, and the duo placed adverts in a newspaper advertising themselves as the European Brickworks. Business went well, owing to the pair’s marketing savvy and an onset of high demand following the 1971 Los Angeles earthquake. It wasn’t long before they had a force of sixteen people working for their company. The profits Arnold generated from this business venture would later be pumped into financing a mail-order business pertaining to his bodybuilding products – training booklets and other products. Arnold also had a contingency plan: the profits accumulated from the mail-order business, along with his competition earnings, would allow him to invest in more profitable ventures such as real estate.

Q: What are your recollections of training with Arnold at Venice Beach?

Franco Columbu: We trained at Gold’s Gym, in the original Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica. Then also sometimes we went to Venice to do a second workout in the afternoon, training in the sun and all that stuff. The sessions were, like, things like, we liked to train in public. I remember one time I was doing squats with 500–600 pounds. I could only do three or four reps. And Arnold says, “There are people in the gym from Italy behind you and they’re watching you. You cannot do just four reps; you should do eight.” When I heard that I did another six, then went up to ten reps. And that shows you how the mind controls the body in doing what you want. That was in Venice. When we trained at Venice, with thousands of people watching, we really, really trained hard, heavy and screamed like hell. So motivation was there and the body responded well. We got in shape and it was incredible.

Q: What was Arnold’s inclination as far as bodybuilding and training principles are concerned?

Franco Columbu: We trained heavy: do your bench press, get strong in the bench press, deadlift for powerlifting, but let’s do the rest and train the entire body, let’s train four hours. And the key was to getting strong in every part of the body, the arms . . . everything. It was strength in brutal training.

Arnold developed a philosophical approach to bodybuilding. “You can actually create a vision of what your body will look like. Then you mold your body closer and closer to that vision, and actually you would turn that vision to reality,” explains Arnold. “The experience of being much stronger than everybody else, I think that’s an unbelievable experience. You feel richer. You feel that sooner or later you can do anything.” Also a firm believer in the art of visualization, Arnold often took his mind-power to an elevated level in his training sessions, going on to regularly cite the benefits of the practice to followers. He wrote in Joe Weider’s magazine Muscle Builder/Power, “Whenever I go into the gym for a workout, it is like a boxer at the height of his fury to deliver a knockout blow. My mind is focused on bombing that workout with ferocious power and with all the mental and physical energy I am capable of generating.”

RICKY WAYNE

Born in St Lucia and raised in the UK, Ricky Wayne won numerous professional bodybuilding titles, including Mr. Universe. He went on to become a prominent bodybuilding journalist and wrote for Joe Weider’s Muscle Builder and FLEX, as well as authoring several books. Wayne and Arnold became good friends and often trained together. In 2007, Wayne was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Q: When did you meet Arnold and under what circumstances, was it in the 1960s?

Ricky Wayne: That’s correct. Early-1960s or it was in the mid- 1960s. He had come to compete in the Amateur Mr. Universe. I was already competing and winning in the States. And I received a message from somebody, a mutual friend, a German friend, who asked me to come to the theater because Arnold wanted to meet me. I went and that’s how we met the first time. Shortly after that, the people he was working with in Munich, Arnold called them to bring me over to do a guest posing exhibition in, I think it was either Munich or Dusseldorf. We became very good friends right after that.

Q: You worked as a bodybuilding journalist writing for the prominent magazines. Did you interview Arnold when he competed in the Amateur Mr. Universe, and what was your impression as far as his body development?

Ricky Wayne: He was big, but that was about all. He wasn’t even tanned. He went up against a guy called Chet Yorton, who was a much experienced American from California. But Arnold made a fantastic impression because he was young, nineteen and big. He didn’t win but he made a very good impression. And he, of course, had all the self-confidence that he is known for. He had it back then. In his book The Education of a Bodybuilder, he mentions that he asked me what I thought his chances were in the several coming months. I said I didn’t think they were pretty good, yet. And he refers to that in the book. But within a couple of years, Arnold changed totally. If I recall correctly, he won Mr. Universe the next year.

Q: Arnold stayed with Wag and Dianne Bennett, were you living in England at the time?

Ricky Wayne: Was I living there? Sure. Wag Bennett was the guy who ran a gym in East London, Stratford, and I trained there. I was a very close friend of the family. When Wag met Arnold at the first Mr. Universe, he befriended him and Arnold became kind of like a son. So whenever he was in London, more often than not he stayed at Wag’s house. That’s how we all became good friends.

Albert Busek recounts the difficulties the young bodybuilder faced in getting to the 1968 NABBA Mr. Universe contest in London. “A few days before the contest, the owner of our gym presented Arnold with an endorsement contract, which Arnold would not sign because the guy would have owned all sorts of rights for life. The owner owed Arnold 1,000 Deutsche Marks for a guest appearance he had made at the European Championships I had organized in Munich two weeks earlier.” Busek remembers that Arnold’s refusal to sign the contract forced the owner to hold back and not pay him the 1,000 Deutsche Marks. “Arnold was counting on that money for his flight to London. In front of the owner, my boss, I gave Arnold 500 Deutsche Marks for his plane ticket and risked losing my job.”

Q: In London at the 1970 Mr. Universe competition, several prominent bodybuilders, Reg Park, Frank Zane and Dave Draper, competed. Can you recall this event?

Ricky Wayne: Yeah. Arnold won. I wrote something about that somewhere. Reg Park was, of course, Arnold’s hero. But by then he was getting old. And I don’t know why he chose to compete again, as he had won Mr. Universe many times. Why go up against Arnold, who was just really getting into his prime? So, they were talking in the dressing room, where Reg Park was pumping up. And Reg Park turned around, and said to Arnold, “Look, I gotta go. I can’t keep talking to you; I have a contest to compete and prepare for.” Arnold said to him, “What contest?” Meaning there was no contest. Of course, Reg was very upset about that. But later on, Arnold publicly apologized for that and made the point that he’d always wished him good luck. Besides, he spent a lot of time at Reg Park’s house in South Africa.

Q: What about Frank Zane?

Ricky Wayne: Well, yeah. Arnold went to Miami to compete in a contest – I forget what it was called – shortly after the first Mr. Universe. And because, of course, he’s huge, Frank is more medium built. When Arnold got there and saw what condition Frank was in – Frank beat him! In fact, that’s the one time Arnold said that he would never compete in it again. Because now he was going to start training, and he knows he can beat him this time.

Q: Can you tell me about training with Arnold in London, what was his English like in those early days – was he able to converse quite easily?

Ricky Wayne: We trained at the same gym – Wag Bennett’s gym. I also trained with him at Gold’s Gym in California. He also trained with Dave Draper, Frank Zane – most of the guys – but I think Franco Columbu was his main training partner. The first year, within a year he was making jokes, all kinds of jokes in English. Arnold was a fast learner – very fast learner. He is one of the most fascinating people I have ever known.

Q: In America you worked for the Weider publications. When you interviewed him for the magazines, what do you remember most about interviewing him?

Ricky Wayne: We had all kinds of conversations when I was working for the magazines, whether I was writing in Arnold’s name or in my name. We knew each other well. The main thing, and the most important thing, was Arnold had a great self-confidence. And that’s what brought me to him. We had conversations. You’d always be with him on a positive note regardless of what it was. Whether it was the movies, whether it was bodybuilding, whether it was a contest, he always believed he was going to be number one. And that’s what keeps you alive.

Q: Would you say that in those days he was cocky, but in a nice way?

Ricky Wayne: I don’t know how you can be cocky in a nice way. Cocky is one thing and confidence is another.

Q: Joe Weider’s ardent propagation of the sport has endured for decades. He was responsible for bringing Arnold over to America. How would you define their relationship?

Ricky Wayne: It was like a father and son relationship. As a matter of fact, the way he got to the States, right after he had competed in the Mr. Universe contest I wrote to Joe Weider, because I used to write for the Weiders in England. And I wrote to Joe and said try to get this guy on a contract very quickly. And that’s how the whole thing started. And eventually, Joe called him over. Joe likes to hype a lot in his main investments. Arnold was one of them. His big thing with Joe was over Sergio Oliva because a lot of people thought there was a lot of racism involved there. But I wrote articles about that. I said, “If you ask, ‘Who is the greater bodybuilder?’ I might say Sergio. But if you ask, ‘Who is the greatest champion?’ I would say Arnold.” And there’s a lot between those two things.

Arnold was a fantastic promoter of bodybuilding. He spoke well. He was very much a personality. He would go to seminars, and he was able to talk to the press better. And he had all those things. Sergio, on the other hand, was a Cuban, came over from political strings attached from Cuba, and so on. Sergio was not nearly the nice guy Arnold was, or supposed to be. Body for body, Sergio probably had the better body, but Arnold certainly was the better champion. Arnold was far more competitive.

Q: He started a mail-order business where Weider would give him free adverts in the magazines. Then later, Weider started to send him invoices for payment. They had kind of an on-and-off relationship, didn’t they?

Ricky Wayne: Yeah. For Arnold it was good, very lucrative. I think he still does it. It was very lucrative for him.

Now bodybuilding has over 170 national federations spanning every continent – but it was Joe Weider, a Canadian Jew, along with his brother Ben, who transformed this niche, often-mocked pastime bodybuilding into a hugely successful sport embraced globally. Weider’s story of self-belief has parallels to the young Arnold’s: at age seventeen, he began his bodybuilding and publishing empire with a mere $7, going on to publish his first magazine (Your Physique) in 1940. In 2003, his company Weider Publications was sold to American Media for a reported $300 million. In 1974, as Arnold was coming to the end of his competitive career, Arnold told Sports Illustrated, “All of these magazines, Weider’s, Hoffman’s, Lurie’s, I call them comic books, circus books!” He exclaimed they all endeavored to expose each other, and he said, “Why wouldn’t these get together? I’ll tell you why. It is because none of these silly people are really interested in bodybuilding anymore. They are interested only in the money that can be made from it.”

He said he asked why Joe printed such junk – all those silly words. Weider allegedly told him that it sold the magazine. By the early 1980s, thanks to Weider’s marketing skills and diligent effort in promoting the sport of bodybuilding and propagating the benefits of weight training, health and fitness through weight training, the need for exercise was ingrained in the public consciousness, creating a fitness boom. Today, going to the gym has become the norm. Arnold recalled in 1997, “I saw the Joe Weider magazines with all these fantasy articles.” He had read about how the bodybuilding magnate trained champions, and they were given muscle-building supplements and sent to the so-called Weider Research Clinic. “I thought the clinic was a huge research center somewhere in America connected to the movie industry, and full of guys wanting to be Hercules.”

Q: Arnold competed with Sergio Oliva, Arnold lost to him in the 1969 Mr. Olympia. He may have been rather crude at that point. Did he talk to you about this after the defeat, and was he sentimental in any way?

Ricky Wayne: What he said was that it won’t happen again. I covered most of the Olympias up till 1980.

By this time, Arnold knew that the only way he could beat the giant Cuban was to be in better shape than he might have previously imagined possible. Oliva, it was said, was so good he could beat you in the dressing room before even stepping onto the stage. His shirt would come off and there would be that incredible mass, almost daring you to step on the stage with him. “When it came time to go onstage for the pose down, Sergio took the long apron off and started walking in front of me down the hall,” Arnold recalled after the first Olympia. “Then, nonchalantly lifting one of his shoulders, he spread the largest lat muscle I had ever seen. Then he repeated the same movement with the other shoulder.” Sergio’s back muscles were so huge that he seemed to be literally as wide as the hall. Arnold admitted that doubt clouded his mind and knew that beating the Cuban was not plausible. It would be the only time Arnold would be defeated by the giant. The following year, in 1970, when Arnold took the Olympia title for the first time, Oliva says he had great conviction that he would, again, triumph and take the trophy home. However, the judges saw it differently – leading to the first of seven Sandows Arnold would bring home.

Q: Sergio Oliva stayed at the Bennett house when competing in England. What was Arnold’s and Sergio’s relationship like there?

Ricky Wayne: Arnold was always friendly with Sergio. When they were not, it was usually Sergio’s fault. Sergio had this thing in his head that Weider was favoring Arnold because he was white.

Q: Any social moments you can recall with Arnold?

Ricky Wayne: Very fun guy, made a lot of jokes, but sometimes his jokes got him in trouble. But that was a time when political correctness was not around yet. So, you know, a lot of people quote him saying he said this and he said that, but they forget that at the time political correctness was not around. Like, whatever he might have said about women. The things we could’ve said about women back then, if we said them now you would get in trouble.

Q: He settled in America, which was the beginning of pursuing the American Dream. Arnold once said, “The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America, the land of opportunity, where I could become a star and get rich.” This may have been a myopic vision, but he did pursue it.

Ricky Wayne: Oh, he loved California. He loved it. California is great for bodybuilding. The weather is fine. There’s a lot of competition. There’s fun. It’s Hollywood. You have a lot of opportunities with the magazines and you can go on TV, and so on. You don’t have that in England, especially back then.

To Arnold, the blond bodybuilder Dave Draper represented the epitome of California bodybuilders. The latter was also on another path the Austrian had set for himself, entering the entertainment industry with roles in Don’t Make Waves, which starred Tony Curtis, and various TV shows. For Arnold, this only confirmed the possibility of opening doors beyond the confines of the bodybuilding circuit. However, his challenge was to compete against the great bodybuilders and defeat them so decisively that his position as the greatest would be unquestionable. Ben Weider had met Arnold for the first time in 1967 at a competition in which Arnold was victorious. The young champion enthusiastically told Weider that he wanted to come to America to compete. Weider reluctantly responded, “If you come the way you are, you’re going to lose. You’re great as far as the Europeans are concerned, but as far as the Americans are concerned, you won’t win.” This did not dishearten Arnold by any means, and the very next year Arnold would be invited to America by Ben’s brother – the initiation of a long relationship, which would benefit both individuals.

As much as Joe Weider was very passionate about the sport, he was a ruthless businessman. He often took advantage of his new star, which did not go unnoticed by Arnold – but the Austrian knew he was gaining publicity and gaining more knowledge about the marketing and business sides of the sport. Whether it was about making a business deal or promoting, Weider the Master Blaster was the man Arnold would learn much of his business savvy from. There were alternating periods of good and bad fortune and spirits as far as Arnold’s relationship with Weider is concerned. Nevertheless, both men had depended on each other to elevate themselves in the past, and, regardless of the past, the friendship endured.

Q: Monetary rewards were minimal in professional bodybuilding when Arnold was competing. Bodybuilding has changed, would you say this is true?

Ricky Wayne: Erm, not really. When Arnold won the Olympia, the money was $1,000. It was Arnold who, when he started promoting, started making the money bigger and pushed for that. Where bodybuilders made some bucks was in personal appearances and endorsements for Weider. Later on, they started doing their own courses, their own postal business. Weider gave them ads and so on. There wasn’t really big money in bodybuilding – three or four guys at the top made big money, considering the number of people who were champions.

Q: How often did Weider cover Arnold in his magazines?

Ricky Wayne: There was hardly an issue where Arnold wasn’t in it. That goes on even now. The other magazines are doing well because Arnold has always been a seller. He has a lot of bodybuilding fans, movies, and even as a politician, it’s a good reason to put him on the cover.

Q: What was his training philosophy?

Ricky Wayne: Very simple philosophy: train hard and often. That’s it. Everybody tries to complicate bodybuilding. How far you go in bodybuilding depends on your genes. Some people have it; some people don’t have it. And the discipline, how determined you are. And Arnold had all of those work for him. He was very careful of his eating habits as well, extremely.

Q: Can you distinguish between the bodybuilding scene in Europe and America back in the 1960s? There was more exposure in America.

Ricky Wayne: Far more exposure and far more encouragement. That’s why a lot of the champions in Europe had to go to the States to be somebody.

Q: What was Arnold’s hardest competition?

Ricky Wayne: The first one against Sergio, and the last one in Sydney, Australia. He won and after that he did the movies. But everybody booed and there was a lot of trouble over there (Sydney).

Q: What was the most fascinating thing you saw in Arnold pertaining to training?

Ricky Wayne: The intensity of his workouts. When he was training, he trained!

Q: Arnold filtered into the movie business and Pumping Iron was an integral chain to his success. Did he talk to you about pursuing the movies, when he was still competing and achieving his bodybuilding goals?

Ricky Wayne: He went before that. Shortly after he came to the States, he got a break in a movie called Hercules in New York, which was crap! Yes, that was his main thing (breaking into the movies). Reg Park and Steve Reeves were his idols and both of them had made movies. Arnold wanted to be like them. So movies were always on his mind. He always wanted to get into the movies, whenever the movies came, it’s just that they came along at this time.

LARRY SCOTT

After winning the inaugural Mr. Olympia in 1965 and defending his title in 1966, Larry Scott – nicknamed ‘The Legend’ and ‘The Golden Boy’ – retired as one of the legends of the sport. He popularized many training techniques still in use today, including the combination curl-and-press known as the Scott press. He died in 2014.

Q: Larry, you, of course, won the first two Mr. Olympias in 1965 and 1966. Arnold went on to win this prestigious title seven times. First of all, can you tell me how did the Weider brothers start this new contest?

Larry Scott: In 1965, around that time I had just won Mr. America, a year before and Mr. Universe, that was as far as you could go. So Joe Weider, his wife Betty and I were over at a restaurant in California. And Joe says – I can’t remember if it was Joe’s or Betty’s idea – but he said, “We’ve got to have a contest. We’ve got to create a contest that will help the bodybuilders to continue because after they win Mr. Universe, they just drop off. They don’t do anything. We’ve got to have something that they continue to get ready for, a contest year after year.” And I’m listening, and I say, “That’s a good idea.” So, Betty gave her input and I gave my input. I thought it was a good idea. I thought it would be nice to continue to compete because you’re right: how can you get excited for training if you don’t have a contest to compete in? You could always train harder for a contest than you can for everyday fitness.

So, once we agreed that we’re going to create a new contest, then Joe said, “What do we call it?” There were a number of options that came up. I’m not sure how we came up with an idea, but anyway, I can’t remember what my idea was, but Joe says, “Let’s call it Mr. Olympia!” I said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea because there’s Olympia beer. It’s like we’re selling beer.” He says, “No! No! It’s like Mount Olympus, like where all the Greek gods were on Mount Olympus.” Betty argues with him for a while, but we finally agree with Joe’s idea. And we thought, OK, we’ll call it Mr. Olympia. That’s where it came from.

Q: Can you tell me how much of an impact Steve Reeves had in the 1950s and the 1960s era on bodybuilding, and how much of a part he played promoting bodybuilding before Arnold brought it to the public’s consciousness?

Larry Scott: I don’t think Steve ever worked with the muscle magazine owners. And so the impact he had on bodybuilding was the impact of his own physique and his own charisma. He had probably overall the best package anyone has ever had. He had the perfect proportions: his neck, his arms and his calves were all the same size. And he was really good-looking. He was just a wonderful representative of bodybuilding, and we all looked up to him. Just to say that you knew Steve was something. He and George Eiferman were good friends. They would chum together and they would do shows together. I first met Steve and George in Salt Lake City. They came out to do a guest posing for the contest promoter. And Bob Delmonteque, the photographer for Weider at the time, happened to see us. And we saw him at a local health club where we were exercising, getting ready to trying to shape up. You wanted to feel like you had a pump when you went to a physique contest. I mean, you felt much bigger when you went in.

So I trained hard before I went into that physique contest, in which Steve Reeves was going to guest pose, as well as George Ivan Eiferman. Bob Delmonteque offered to take us up to the motel room where Steve and George were staying. He took us and introduced us. That was the first time we had to really chat to Steve Reeves. It was really an honor and inspiring. I could hardly even think of the questions I wanted to ask. Something came out of my mouth, “How do you get big?” He smiled a little bit, but he gave us a few tips for training. They were just resting, waiting for the presentation for the show that night. Anyway, Steve lived in California so he spent a lot of time in Muscle Beach. It had quite an impact on the muscle-building world down in the California area.

Q: Can you tell me when you first met Arnold? Back then you were a major bodybuilding star, and Arnold was a novice just getting into the sport?

Larry Scott: Yes. When I went to Europe to do a guest posing show over at Albert Busek’s . . . what did he call it? Mr. Austria, I think. It was about the year I won the Olympia the second time. So it was in ’65 or ’66. I was backstage getting ready to go out to do a posing exhibition when Arnold came backstage and asked for an autograph. And I said to him, “Could you wait till I get done posing because I want to focus on this first?” He told me later that he was put off by me asking him to wait for an autograph. He said, “Now that I’ve been in the same position, I can understand.” Anyway, we got to know each other a little bit there. We didn’t know each other; it was first becoming acquaintances. Then a short time after that Arnold came out to California, and he came out to Vince’s gym where I was training.

Vince Gironda had a great gym out in the San Fernando Valley, a gym where a lot of the former Mr. Americas were training. We had six training at one time. Arnold came down there to that gym, and he said, “Can you give me some advice on what I should do? Who should I contact?” I said, “Let me tell you something. This is what I would do if I were you. You’ve got to have three things to be successful. One, you’ve got to get in the magazines. You’ve got to have somebody who can help you with your photos, and somebody who could help you with nutrition. If you’ve got those three things lined up, then you’ve got a good chance. You’ve got a good body already, but you need these three things in order to make progress.” And then I told him, “These are the three that I’m working with. And I recommend them highly because they’re very good.” I said, “When you meet Joe Weider, start getting in his magazines because people don’t know who you are unless they see you in the magazines.” So he went over and he met Joe Weider and became friends with him.

I said, “You also have to meet this other guy, because he’s the best nutritionist there is for bodybuilders. He’s very good. Thirdly, you’ve got to find a photographer who will take the photos that will go in the magazines.” I recommended a couple of them – one of the ones in the area was Artie Zeller. He was very good, too. He did great photography. There were quite a few others I endorsed, but he was the best photographer. So he lined up with those people I mentioned to him. About that time, I had just got married and I had decided that I knew happiness did not consist of being on the stage, but it required a family life. So I told myself when I won the second Olympia, If I win this contest tonight I’m retiring. So, I was fortunate enough to win it the second time, and I announced to the audience this was my last contest.

Q: Going back to your European visit, what was your impression of the young Arnold when you first met? Was he in the audience or guest posing or competing that day?

Larry Scott: He was there to compete. I didn’t see him in the audience. I saw him when he came backstage. Arnold has always been very forward, and he puts himself forward wherever he needs to. He came backstage to introduce himself. And he was just getting that feeling of what it was like being backstage, and trying to get the ‘feel of the ropes’, as you might say. He knew he would be soon going into that, so he would ask a few questions and so forth. He was very good at asking questions. I shouldn’t say ‘good’ as much as ‘very wise’ – going to the people in the know and humbling himself to ask questions. A lot of times people coming up feel a little shy, or don’t want to humble themselves to ask questions, but he was smart! He would ask what he needed to do, and where to get the information and evolve from there.

Q: In America when he came to your gym, did he train occasionally there?

Larry Scott: He wanted to live near down by the beach in the Santa Monica area, which is right on the beach. He wanted to train down there. There was Gold’s Gym down there. Gold’s Gym was a good gym. Joe Gold created a few gyms. So, Arnold wanted to train down with the beach crowd. I didn’t care for the beach crowd. They