Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls 'falling in love with America'
The 77-year-old actor was born and raised in Austria, but he developed an ambition to move to the US during his younger years.
Schwarzenegger told The Wall Street Journal newspaper: "At age ten, I fell in love with America. That came from watching film rolls in school. The teacher would advance the strips by turning a knob, showing one image at a time. I was blown away.
"They were about things like the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge and cars with huge fins driving on U.S. highways with six lanes on each side. All of it was over the top."
Schwarzenegger always dreamed of becoming "famous and rich" in America. And although he first found fame as a bodybuilder, Schwarzenegger was determined to become a success in Hollywood one day.
He said: "I'd never seen anything like it — the glamour, the lights and the houses. I said to myself, 'What am I doing here?' I wanted to be in America and to become famous and rich."
Schwarzenegger was hugely successful as a bodybuilder, but he always wanted to work in the film business.
He shared: "All of my time was spent in this world of physical fitness, building up muscles to compete in contests and fantasising about movie stardom."
Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger claimed that he was actually "discouraged" from pursuing success in Hollywood.
The actor turned his focus towards the American movie business after he retired from bodybuilding in the 1970s - but Schwarzenegger was warned at the time that his ambitions were unrealistic.
Speaking to his son Patrick Schwarzenegger, for Variety's Actors on Actors series, he explained: "When I came to America, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson were the highest-paid actors, with a million dollars a movie. I said, 'I've got to be part of that.' Eventually I made $30 million a movie, and I caught up with those guys.
"Even though everyone says, 'Arnold, it's never going to happen. Your name — Schnitzel or whatever it is — no one will remember, and you're too big now.'
"In the '70s, it's Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino, Woody Allen — those are the big stars of the day. 'They weigh 140 pounds, and look at you, 250, like a monster.' I was discouraged; everything was impossible."
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