Muscle man turned tree hugger Schwarzenegger turns 60

By Barbara Munker Jul 30, 2007, 6:06 GMT

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) shakes hands with California\'s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on his arrival at Blair\'s London residence 10 Downing Street, for a meeting with Business Leaders 26 June 2007. EPA/Richard Lewis

San Francisco - The former Mr Universe, muscles no longer bulging, appeared on crutches in January when he was inaugurated to his second term as governor of California.

At the time, the former body-building champion had a broken thigh bone suffered in a skiing accident. It was just the latest sign of deterioration in a physique that once reigned supreme in the world of body builders.

Five years earlier Schwarzenegger received an artificial hip and five years before that he had a heart valve replaced.

But the physical matters much less these days to a man who still wears the wide, winning smile he displayed as Mr Olympia and the heroic profile he portrayed as star of numerous action films.

The self-made man, who turns 60 on Monday, has every reason to beam.

In April, US magazine Newsweek dedicated a cover story to the 'governator,' a title that plays off his most famous role in The Terminator films. Shortly after the Newsweek article, Time magazine praised the liberal Republican as a new type of action hero who doesn't take orders from Washington.

While many other Republicans were forced to accept defeat in November 2006 elections, the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger was easily re-elected after promoting a moderate, environmentally friendly agenda. Having won another four-year term, he began a global push to champion drastic measures to reduce climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.

He showed his face on the international stage in June, appearing with Tony Blair at his last news conference as British prime minister. On a recent trip to Canada, Schwarzenegger, whose adopted state is the most populous and has the largest economy of any US state, boasted that California has as much power and influence as an entire country or even an entire continent.

A New York Times columnist referred to Schwarzenegger as 'EuroArnold' and said that he should have been present in June at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Schwarzenegger's success story provides plenty of material for a Hollywood movie. Born the son of a police officer on July 30, 1947, in Graz, Austria, Schwarzenegger grew up in a relatively poor family.

In 1968, one year after winning his first Mr Universe title, Schwarzenegger immigrated to the US, where he continued building a path to stardom on the basis of his body-building fame, ultimately flexing his muscles in Hollywood.

As Conan the Barbarian in the 1982 film and The Terminator in the 1984 action classic, reprising both roles in subsequent sequels, Schwarzenegger catapulted into the upper echelons of Hollywood despite his thick German accent.

He has his wife, Maria Shriver, a niece of slain president John F Kennedy, to thank for his entry into politics. The coupled married in 1986 and have four children.

Though his wife belongs to the country's premier Democratic family, Schwarzenegger is a staunch Republican. Political scientist Bruce Cain and others have said that Shriver is responsible for Schwarzenegger's successful balancing act as a free-market conservative on budget and economic issues who also has a penchant for traditionally left-liberal social and environmental issues. He campaigned in the last election with the slogan, 'Protecting the California Dream.'

What lies ahead after his remaining three and a half years as governor is a a question that Schwarzenegger generally avoids. But he has cautiously spoken in favour of a change to the US Constitution, which currently bars naturalized US citizens from seeking the presidency.