Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND SOURCES

MEMOIRS ARE ABOUT LOOKING back, but I’ve lived my life by the opposite principle. So when people over the past two decades asked me to write a memoir, I always answered, “At home I have a hundred photo albums starting with my childhood in Austria, and I never look at them. I’d rather do another project or make another movie and learn from looking forward!”

Digging up and piecing together memories proved to be as difficult as I imagined, and yet what made the work unexpectedly enjoyable was the help I got from others. I found myself swapping stories with old friends from the worlds of bodybuilding, business, sports, Hollywood, and politics—a large cast of characters, too many people to name here. I’m grateful to all of them for helping me re-create the past and for making it immediate and friendly.

I want to thank first my coauthor, Peter Petre. Books like this require a collaborative partner with not just writing skill but also endurance, tact, judgment, and a great sense of humor, and Peter has them all.

My friend and close colleague of many decades Paul Wachter was generous in sharing recollections and editorial suggestions and providing practical acumen. Danny DeVito, Ivan Reitman, and Sylvester Stallone added funny Hollywood stories (Sly added Planet Hollywood stories also). Susan Kennedy, from 2005 to 2010 my gubernatorial chief of staff, gave us the benefit of her encyclopedic knowledge of my time in office. Her master’s thesis, an inside analysis of turning around my governorship in late 2005 and 2006, was of great use. Albert Busek in Munich, one of my oldest friends and the first journalist ever to single me out, provided advice and photos. Bonnie Reiss contributed her recollections and notes to the accounts of my governorship and of the environmental and after-school movements. Steve Schmidt, Terry Tamminen, Matt Bettenhausen, and Daniel Zingale also helped reconstruct aspects of my governorship. Fredi and Heidi Gerstl, Franco Columbu, and Jim Lorimer reminded me of shared experiences from our lifelong friendships.

Because my life has been extraordinarily well covered by the media, we had the benefit of almost fifty years of books, magazine and newspaper stories, interviews, videos, photos, illustrations, and cartoons about me documenting my careers in the muscle world, the movie world, the business world, and the world of politics and public service. Three people were key in organizing these troves of material: my executive assistants Lynn Marks and Shelley Klipp and my archivist Barbara Shane. Lynn and Barbara, with help from my former assistant Beth Eckstein, also tackled the massive challenge of transcribing hundreds of hours of recorded conversations between Peter and me as well as other interviews conducted for this book. Rebecca Lombino and Chris Fillo supervised logistical and legal support.

Peter’s wife, Ann Banks, speeded our writing by selecting and refining the research. His literary agent, Kathy Robbins, did excellent work getting this project launched.

Joe Mathews, who covered Sacramento for the Los Angeles Times and whose book The People’s Machine details my first term in the statehouse, gave generously of his time and wisdom to help shape the political chapters of Total Recall.

I’m grateful to the other journalists, too numerous to mention, who have chronicled the accomplishments and adventures and dramas of my life—the writers from muscle magazines, entertainment publications, and political writers who interviewed me over the years and captured on the page jokes and conversations and observations and outrageous remarks that I’d forgotten all about and loved being reminded of. Among the books and publications we consulted, I will list some that proved particularly helpful: Arnold hautnah by Werner Kopacka and Christian Jauschowetz; Arnold Schwarzenegger: Die Biographie by Marc Hujer; The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy by Joe Mathews; Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Lawrence Leamer; and Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak by Barbara Outland Baker.

To help bring back the bodybuilding days, we drew on the extensive coverage in Muscle Builder/Power, Muscle, Muscle & Fitness, and Health and Strength, as well as in Sports Illustrated—and of course the book Pumping Iron by George Butler and Charles Gaines and the film Pumping Iron by Robert Fiore and George Butler. We also consulted my own book/training manual about becoming a champion, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder, cowritten with Douglas Kent Hall. Brooke Robards’s filmography Arnold Schwarzenegger was especially useful in reminding me of details from my movie career, as was the coverage of my work in Variety, Cinefantastique, and other movie journals. Seven Years, a commemorative volume that my office published privately in 2010, was an invaluable resource in revisiting the governorship; Gary Delsohn, who worked on that book, contributed notes and recollections from his time as one of my speechwriters.

I’m grateful to Audrey Landreth for helping make sense of scores of photo albums and tens of thousands of photos and guiding me through the selection of images to illustrate my story. Kathleen Brady handled the fact-checking challenges with outstanding skill, speed, and judgment.

Adam Mendelsohn and Daniel Ketchell provided communications support and managed our presence on the internet; Greg Dunn contributed valuable practical backup; Dieter Rauter not only opened up his trove of videos and photos but also was there to challenge me at chess when I needed a breather.

Simon & Schuster provided the expertise and enthusiasm that a book like this needs. From the beginning, editor in chief and publisher Jonathan Karp shared my vision for Total Recall. He did me the favor of recommending Peter as my coauthor. He edited the manuscript and orchestrated the entire publication. As an editor, Jon is lively and imaginative and engaged and never loses sight of the big picture. His questions and suggestions were astute and always on target.

The political chapters of Total Recall also reflect the fast, deft work of Simon & Schuster executive editor Priscilla Painton, who refined them. My thanks also to Richard Rhorer, associate publisher; Tracey Guest, director of publicity; Emer Flounders, senior publicist; Elina Vaysbeyn, online marketing manager; Rachelle Andujar, marketing specialist; Nicholas Greene, assistant editor; Marcella Berger, Lance Fitzgerald, Mario Florio, rights directors; Jackie Seow, art director; Jason Heuer, jacket designer; Nancy Inglis, production editor; Phil Bashe and Patty Romanowski, copy editors; Joy O’Meara, design director, and Ruth Lee-Mui, senior designer.

For helping make Total Recall an international event, I’m grateful to my publishers abroad: Ian Chapman and Mike Jones of Simon & Schuster UK; Günter Berg, Hoffmann und Campe (Germany); Joop Boezeman and Joost van den Ossenblok, A.W. Bruna (the Netherlands); Abel Gerschenfeld, Presses de la Cité (France); Tomás da Veiga Pereira and Marcos Pereira, Sextante (Brazil); Agneta Gynning and Henrik Karlsson, Forma Books (Sweden); Michael Jepsen, Forlaget Turbulenz (Denmark); Elin Vestues, Schibsted Forlag (Norway); and Minna Castren and Jarkko Vesikansa, Otava (Finland); Javier Ponce Alvarez of Martínez Roca/Planeta (Spain).

Finally I thank my family. They were generous in helping me make sure that this memoir delivers on its name. And thanks especially to Maria, for her patience with the project and for remaining as always the person I could go to whenever I got stuck.