Saturdays with the Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Each month of 2026 we are looking at an actor or actress who found their fame in action films, fighting bad guys & saving the day.  Last month, we spoke about Harrison Ford, a man who is basically the definition of a modern movie star and would in some ways serve as the template of "action hero with multiple major franchises."  This month, we're going to talk about someone who in many ways was Ford's biggest rival for the title of top action star of the 1980's & 90's (though he was not the rival the press and the actor himself most considered his competition), the only one who would come close to him in terms of tentpole films and action blockbusters.  But this star isn't remembered for that today, primarily because instead of trying new types of movie roles in the 21st Century, he chose instead to go into politics, being elected Governor of California.  This month's star is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger was born in Austria in 1947, just a few years after World War II ended, and as a result, his father Gustav was a Nazi military police officer who fought for the Germans on the Eastern Front.  By all accounts Gustav and young Arnold had a tough relationship, and the younger Schwarzenegger would later characterize what Gustav would do to him as child abuse (it's also worth noting, given his ancestry, that the younger Schwarzenegger would become a prominent ally to the Jewish community, donating huge sums of money to fight anti-semitism, in stark contrast to his father).  Arnold would start weight-training at the age of 13, competing in increasingly high-profile body-building competitions, becoming the youngest ever (a title he still holds) Mr. Olympia, the highest honor in the sport.

Schwarzenegger's movie career started with Hercules in New York (where he was billed by the name Arnold Strong), but despite appearing in a number of films in the 1970's, it wasn't until 1982's Conan the Barbarian that Schwarzenegger became a household name.  He'd follow that up with his most iconic role, as the titular Terminator in James Cameron's 1984 science fiction classic, and for the next few decades, until his time as Governor of California, Schwarzenegger would have a fascinating career, making a series of memorable (if not always quality) action films, most of which would be successful in the United States but even more so internationally and in home video markets, the latter two helping him when his action hero roles began to go out of style in the early 1990's.  This month we'll talk about Schwarzenegger's claims-to-fame, his political career, and what his legacy now feels like when his type of movie star (which inspired many copycats in his day) is all but extinct to modern audiences.