Years before Arnold Schwarzenegger realized his accent is “an asset” to his acting career, he tried to get rid of his ties to Austria.
“I had an English coach and an acting coach and a speech coach and an accent-removal coach, who has passed away since then, but I should have otherwise gotten my money back,” Schwarzenegger, 76, revealed on The Graham Norton Show earlier this month, referring to the strong Austrian accent — which he still has todays.
The “bottom line,” Schwarzenegger explained, was that he “worked on” getting rid of it.
“I remember he’d say, ‘You know you always say s-ree. It’s three, with a T-H.’ So, he had me say, ‘Three thousand three hundred and thirty-three and one-third,’ with the T-H and not with the S,” the Terminator alum shared, joking that “after 5,000 years” he finally got it right.
Schwarzenegger recalled “Hollywood producers and the directors” telling him that the accent was “an obstacle” but he still found success — thanks to roles like Conan the Barbarian and Terminator.
Accent or no accent, the actor recalled Conan the Barbarian director John Milius publicly praising his portrayal of the role because “I was the only one that had the muscles to play that character.”
James Cameron also credited Schwarzenegger’s accent with the success of the first Terminator, which was released in 1984, and birthed the film franchise.
While Schwarzenegger eventually made his way to the United States, the actor grew up in Austria — hence the accent. When he married Maria Shriver in 1986 and they started having kids, he adapted a “strict” parenting style — similar, yet different, to what he experienced as a kid.
“For the way I grew up, I was lenient,” Schwarzenegger shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month. “But I think for American standards, probably strict.”
Schwarzenegger and ex-wife Shriver, 67 share four kids: Katherine, 33, Christina, 32, Patrick, 30, and Christopher, 26. (The former couple split in May 2011 after news of his affair with former housekeeper Mildred Baena — with whom he shares son Joseph, 26 — came to light. Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s divorce was finalized in December 2021.)
While chatting with host Jimmy Kimmel, Schwarzenegger recalled some stories that his kids “bring up most often” about their childhood.
“My son, for instance, did not make his bed. He had the nanny make the bed, which was not allowed,” Schwarzenegger said. When he figured it out, the father of four “opened up the doors, grabbed the mattress and threw it off the balcony down into the swimming pool.”
He added, “He had to kind of drag it up, the mattress and the pillows — I threw everything out there.”
Other lessons from Schwarzenegger included shoes thrown into the fireplace and lightbulbs being removed.
“It’s a good lesson,” Kimmel added at the time.
