November 20th, 2007 - Happy Birthday Arnold Schwarzenegger!

As a young man, Schwarzenegger gained widespread attention as a highly successful Bodybuilder. He later gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon.

Schwarzenegger was nicknamed “The Austrian Oak” and “The Styrian Oak” in his body-building days, “Arnold Strong” and “Arnie” during his acting career, and more recently “The Governator” (a portmanteau of Governor and Terminator, referring to his internationally popular film role).

Schwarzenegger is married to Maria Shriver. He is a Republican, and was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis’ term. Schwarzenegger was then reelected on November 7, 2006, in California’s 2006 gubernatorial election to serve a full term as governor by defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on January 5, 2007. In May 2007, he was named as one of the Time 100 people who help shape the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, a small village bordering the Styrian capital Graz, and was christened Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. His parents were the local police chief Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907–1972), and his wife, the former Aurelia Jadrny (1922–1998). They were married on October 20, 1945—Gustav was 38, and Aurelia was a 23-year-old widow with a son named Meinhard. According to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were “very strict”.

“Back then in Austria it was a very different world— if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not spared.”

Schwarzenegger, making his third and most significant journey of his life, moved to the United States in September 1968 at the age of 21, speaking little English. He confirms his poor grasp of English: “Naturally when I came to this country, my English was very bad, and my accent was also very strong which was an obstacle as I began to pursue acting.” There he trained at Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica, California, under the patronage of Joe Weider. In 1970, age 23, he captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title a total of seven times.

In 1970, Arnold Schwarzenegger was known as the World’s Strongest Man. He had long planned to move from bodybuilding into acting, as many of his idols had done, such as Reg Park. Initially he had trouble breaking into films due to his long surname, “overly” large muscles, and foreign accent, but he was nevertheless chosen to play the role of Hercules (as both Reg Park and Steve Reeves had done) in Hercules in New York (1970).

Schwarzenegger has stated in many interviews he never regrets doing a role and he feels really bad when he turns down a role. There are however conflicting reports that Schwarzenegger will be starring in the next Terminator installment—Terminator 4. However, it is currently widely reported that Schwarzenegger will have a brief role in Terminator 4.

Actor and comedian Robin Williams famously said: “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acted in plenty of movies but spoken less dialogue than any actor, except maybe Lassie.”

Richard Dawson-TV Personality -75
Samuel E. Wright-Actor/Little Mermaid-Sebastian -61
Richard Masur-Actor -59
Bo Derek-Actress -51
Sean Young-Actress -48
Ming-Na-Actress -44
Marisa Ryan-Actress -33
Nadine Velazquez-Actress -29

DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from The Insider editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their story and its contents is in compliance with our Terms of Use.