VARIOUS: RESIDENTS IN HOME VILLAGE OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SUPPORT HIS BID TO BECOME CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
Record ID:
207978
VARIOUS: RESIDENTS IN HOME VILLAGE OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SUPPORT HIS BID TO BECOME CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
- Title: VARIOUS: RESIDENTS IN HOME VILLAGE OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SUPPORT HIS BID TO BECOME CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
- Date: 14th August 2003
- Summary: NORWALK, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT - AUGUST 7, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV ACTOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AT NEWS CONFERENCE AFTER SIGNING HIS CANDIDACY FOR GOVERNORSHIP OF CALIFORNIA 0.03 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER SAYING "There were times people said it couldn't be done, that an Austrian farm boy can come over to America, get into the movie business and be successful in the movie business. They said we cannot pronounce your name. You cannot speak English well and your body is over-developed. And you know what happened? I became the highest-paid entertainer in the world." 0.27 (W5)THAL, AUSTRIA (AUGUST 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 3. SLV THAL LAKE, WHERE ACTOR AND CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FIRST SAW BODY BUILDERS AND JOINED A GYM, ALSO WHERE HE PROPOSED TO HIS WIFE; SLV PEOPLE SITTING IN OUTDOOR RESTAURANT BY LAKE; SLV THAL, WHERE ARNOLD WAS BORN (4 SHOTS) 0.45 4. MV KURT MARNUL KURT, 74, SCHWARZNEGGER'S FIRST TRAINER, GETTING OUT OF CAR 0.51 FOR DETAILED SHOTLIST 5- 17 SEE PROD 11692/03: 5. (SOUNDBITE) (German)SCHWARZNEGGER'S TRAINER KURT MARNUL SAYING "What first got my attention in Arnold, he was very ambitious, he was very determined in his training. I passed all my knowledge to him, about training methods, nutrition, about diligence and discipline in training, and in a very short time he started winning titles, first the Styrian title, then Mister Austria, and then in 1967 he was the first and youngest-ever Mister Universe." 6. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ARNOLD 1N 1967 AFTER HE WON THE MR. UNIVERSE TITLE/ STILL PHOTOGRAPH, ARNOLD IN THE MIDDLE 7. (SOUNDBITE)(German) KURT MARNUL SAYING "It's a hard question, but the way I know Arnold as a person, as someone who loves work and is a tough bussinessman, he would make a very good governor. He will certainly do a lot, and also clear up many grievances, so I would say he can do the job well." 8. KURT MARNUL AND ARNOLD IN 1962. 9. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF SCHWARZNEGGER WITH HIS WIFE AND KURT MARMUL (W5) GRAZ, AUSTRIA (AUGUST 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 10. THE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER STADIUM IN THE CITY OF GRAZ 11. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER GYM IN THE STADIUM 12. ARNOLD SCHWARZNEGGER'S TRAINING EQUIPMENT 13. SCHWARZNEGGER BARBELL 14. (SOUNDBITE)(German and English) HANS NEUMAYER, FITNESS TRAINER SAYING "This is Arnold's first barbell, and really, it's not easy." 15. STILL PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCHWARZNEGGER IN TRAINING 16. (SOUNDBITE)(German) HANS NEUMAYER SAYING "I think Arnold has what it takes, everything that he set his mind to, he always achieved." 17. POSTER OF SCHWARZNEGGER OUTSIDE THE GYMNASIUM 3.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: THAL AND GRAZ, AUSTRIA/ NORWALK, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: Austria USA United States
- Reuters ID: LVA228KMX5TRA5BG8NRUJCAZ4BM
- Story Text: Residents in Arnold Schwarzenegger's home village in
Austria support his bid to become California governor.
Multimillionaire actor said it all after he signed
his candidacy papers for the California governorship last
week (August 7).
"There were times people said it couldn't be done,
that an Austrian farm boy can come over to America, get
into the movie business and be successful in the movie
business. They said we cannot pronounce your name. You
cannot speak English well and your body is over-developed.
And you know what happened? I became the highest-paid
entertainer in the world,"
And this is where it all started, the sleepy Austrian
village of Thal, where he was born in 1947, and its quiet
lake where he first decided to change his life and become a
bodybuilder.
Lake Thal is also the place where he proposed to his
wife.
Thal was a poor and depressed community in the 1950s,
only a few years after the end of the Second World War and
the time of Schwarzenegger's childhood.
He would need a driving ambition to extract himself
from the tiny backwater to become a world renowned actor
and eventually run as governor of California.
Biographical notes from Leonard Maltin's Movie
Encyclopedia said of Schwarzenegger that he was "the
product of a difficult childhood, [who] turned to weight
training as both an escape and a self-esteem booster".
His trainer, Kurt Marnul, said he recognised these
traits in Arnie immediately.
"What first got my attention in Arnold, he was very a
mbitious, he was very determined in his training. I passed
all my knowledge to him, about training methods, nutrition,
about diligence and discipline in training, and in a very
short time he started winning titles, first the Styrian
title, then Mister Austria, and then in 1967 he was the
first and youngest-ever Mister Universe," he said.
Schwarzenegger became a world champion body builder
once described in the Guinness Book of World Records as
"the most perfectly developed man in the history of the
world."
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. Today, Arnie is
running for governor of California.
This comes as no surprise to Marnul.
"Its a hard question, but the way I know Arnold as a
person, as someone who loves work and is a tough
bussinessman, he would make a very good governor. He will
certainly do a lot, and also clear up many grievances, so I
would say he can do the job well," Marnul said.
People here are proud of him. So much so they named the
Graz stadium after him.
The Fitness Paradise gym is where Schwarzenegger
trained and it contains a small museum showcasing
Schwarzenegger's life and competitions with photographs and
training equipment.
Coming to America to make his fortune, Schwarzenegger
landed the title role in the low-budget, barely released
Hercules in New York (aka Hercules goes Bananas in 1970),
billed as Arnold Strong.
The movie revealed two things: his impressively
sculptured body, and the fact that he couldn't act let
alone speak English. Although it was hard to determine
since most people found it hard to fathom what he was
saying through his thick Austrian accent.
Schwarzenegger's less than-spectacular film debut sent
him back to the weight room, and he concentrated on
bodybuilding for some time thereafter, winning seven Mr.
Olympia titles-a record only recently beaten-and earning
the nickname "the Austrian Oak."
He once said: "I was always interested in proportion
and perfection. When I was fifteen, 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
twenty-inch arms to match the rest of me."
The barbell he used to train with is still at the
Fitness Paradise gym.
"This is Arnolds first barbell, and really, its not
easy," says fitness trainer Hans Neumayer.
But they served him well: Arnie won the Mr. Olympia
title six times between 1970 and 1975 and in 1980.
Yet, hampered by his impossible name and thick accent,
success in the movies eluded him for many years.
It wasn't until he found the tailor- made role of Conan
that he truly came into his own as a performer. A
succession of over-the-top action films made him an
international box office star.
By alternating violent action films with lighter,
comedic fare, he has solidified his position as one of the
most popular--if not the most popular--movie stars in the
world.
And now Conan the Barbarian - aka the Terminator, is
running for governor of California.
He made his announcement on the Tonight Show with Jay
Leno on August 6.
As of August, 2003, he holds the record for most Razzie
nominations without ever having won. The Razzies give
awards to the worst that Hollywood has to offer every year.
He has seven Worst Achievement nominations, for titles
ranging from Conan the Barbarian to The 6th Day.
But regardless of what anyone might think of him, it
cannot be denied that the long road from ambitious and
determined bodybuilder of Thal to multimillionaire actor
standing for the governorship of California is quite an
achievement.
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