CBC Archives

You must sign in to leave a comment on this clip.

Arnold, from muscles to movies

Broadcast Date: March 27, 1978

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the model of total confidence as he promotes his new book and discusses his progression from bodybuilding to acting in this 1978 clip. "Now I'm going to be an actor," he boldly declares. When 90 Minutes Live host Peter Gzowski asks him about the notion that people find bodybuilders grotesque, the big man in the guest's seat becomes thoughtful. "I think that the person with the big stomach looks grotesque," he reasons. "I think that there's nothing grotesque about the well-developed physique. If you look at Michelangelo for instance ... all the sculptures have enormous muscularity ... and millions of people go there every year to Rome and look at the statues and say ‘Isn't that beautiful, isn't that wonderful looking what this man did.' And no one says that it's grotesque."

Arnold, from muscles to movies

• As a child, Arnold Schwarzenegger told his friends that he had three goals in life: to move to America, become an actor and marry a Kennedy.

• In 1986, he married Maria Shriver, niece of the late U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Senators Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. They have four children.

• In 1979, Schwarzenegger graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Superior with a major in international marketing of fitness and business administration. In 1996 the school awarded him with an honorary doctorate in recognition of his charitable works.

• In April 1997, he underwent heart surgery to correct a congenital heart valve condition. Schwarzenegger has also undergone a genioplasty: a procedure that moves the jaw back so that it no longer juts out.

• His dedication to bodybuilding in his teenage years was so obsessive that he often broke into the local gym on weekends, when it was closed, so that he could train.

• Schwarzenegger has won the Mr. Olympia title seven times (1970-1975, 1980). He also holds the record for the most major bodybuilding championships with 13 (one Mr. Junior Western Europe, seven Mr. Olympias and five Mr. Universes). The Guinness Book of World Records has called him "the most perfectly developed man in the history of the world." At his bodybuilding peak, his measurements were impressive: chest 57 inches, waist 34 inches, biceps 22 inches, thighs 28½ inches, calves 20 inches; competition weight 235 pounds (107 kilograms). He was 260 pounds (118 kilograms) in the off-season.

• Schwarzenegger was considered for the title role of the 1970s seriesThe Incredible Hulk but ultimately the role went to his former bodybuilding rival Lou Ferrigno, reportedly because Ferrigno was taller.

• He turned down the role of John McClane in the original Die Hard movie. The part made Bruce Willis a superstar.

• Schwarzenegger was originally tapped by director James Cameron to play the role of Kyle Reese in 1984's The Terminator. After reading the script, Arnold asked Cameron to let him play the part of the machine. Cameron resisted at first, claiming that Reese is the star and big hero, and the Terminator has barely any lines. But Arnold asked him to "trust me".

• In August of 2003, Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for the Governorship of California on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In October he was elected to the position as a Republican. He keeps the sword he used in Conan The Barbarian in the governor's office.

• Arnold was the first private citizen in the U.S. to own a Humvee (High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle).

• He grew up in a strict household in a small village in Austria. His house had no phone, no fridge and no toilet.

• Arnold saved a man's life while on vacation in Hawaii in 2004 by swimming into the sea to rescue him from drowning.

Arnold, from muscles to movies

Medium: Television

Program: 90 Minutes Live

Broadcast Date: March 27, 1978

Guest(s): Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Steinberg

Host: Peter Gzowski

Duration: 15:53

This clip has been edited for copyright reasons.

Pumping Iron, produced by Rollie Robinson and White Mountain Films.

Last updated:
July 24, 2009