Some people are not content to sit on their laurels. Michael Jordan was light years ahead of anyone else in basketball and pushed himself to be a two-sport professional athlete by playing baseball. Former athletes Like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson have parlayed their athletic prowess into substantial careers in film. Nobody has equaled the success of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rose from the pinnacle of weightlifting as Mr. Universe, became one of the highest-grossing movie stars of all time, and became governor of California.
The American Dream: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger epitomizes the American dream. What could be more American than celebrating his numerous achievements with a fine cigar? Arnold is a well-known cigar enthusiast going back decades.
During his run as Mr. Universe in the 1970s, his father-in-law offered the health-conscious Arnold a cigar. He joked, “There’s no better way to get your wife to approve of your smoking when you can say her father wouldn’t have introduced me to something that’s bad!” That fifty-year love affair with cigars is still going strong!
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Action Hero
Cigars have been much more than just a prop for Arnold. Finding a movie where he isn’t smoking a cigar is almost impossible. The opening credits of “Predator” set the tone for the movie, as a steely-eyed Arnold makes a dramatic entrance in a helicopter, and the cigar and his billowing plumes of smoke are featured prominently.
The character of Mr. Freeze in “Batman and Robin” wouldn’t be complete if he wasn’t smoking a frozen (yet still functional) cigar. In “The Expendables” franchise, his cigars could have garnered a cameo mention when they rolled credits. Every movie role shows the versatility of his smoking, from menacing and authoritative to contemplative and relaxed.
Smoke Like Mr. Universe
It’s not just his onscreen persona that enjoys those cigars. Off-screen, Arnold is legendary for sharing smokes with his fellow actors and crew. Ever the comedian, he has been known to plant a fake exploding cigar among the ones he gives out to ensure that people don’t take advantage of his generosity. Former “Predator,” co-star Carl Weathers hated Arnold’s constant smoking between scenes. Arnold explained that it helped keep him calm and focused.
Over the next few weeks of filming, Weathers asked Arnold for a cigar to roll around in his mouth to calm down. Then he eventually lit one. By the movie’s end, he had boxes of Ashtons flown in! He has also converted “Twins” co-star Danny DeVito. It’s hard to turn down the Governator!
Arnold Schwarzenegger Packs a Punch
Arnold is not shy about smoking and claims to smoke 1-2 cigars daily. Unlike most actors, he is known to be able to distinguish between different Cuban tobaccos and expresses his love of all cigars. He is known to favor Punch Punch for after-dinner smoking. Cohiba Cubans are his favorites by far, often having had them flown in a while filming. He took Jimmy Fallon to school for embarrassing him at the Havana Club when Fallon destroyed a Cohiba Behike by licking it like a lollipop and then coughing all night. If he says that cigars keep him calm and focused, nobody should get between the Terminator and his cigars!
Photo credit: “Arnold Schwarzenegger 2005,” by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Stefanie Broughton (RELEASED), Wikimedia Commons license under Public Domain CC0 1.0
