Franco Columbu is an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
actorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, former bodybuilder and
World's Strongest ManThe World's Strongest Man is a well recognised event in strength athletics and has been described by a number of highly respected authorities in the sport as the premier event in strongman. Organized by TWI, an IMG Media company, it is broadcast around the end of December each year...
competitor.
Bodybuilding
Columbu was born in
OllolaiOllolai is a comune at the center of Barbagia, in the province of Nuoro .It is the main town of the Barbagia di Ollolai.-Notable people:*Michele Columbu, leader of Partito Sardo d'Azione...
,
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
(Italy). Starting out his athletic career as a
boxerBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, Columbu progressed into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting,
powerliftingPowerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...
and later
bodybuildingBodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
, winning the title of
Mr. OlympiaMr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
in 1976 and 1981. At 5 in 5 in (1.65 m) in height (some magazines reported as short as 5 in 3 in (1.6 m)), Columbu is shorter than most of his bodybuilding competitors, but that did not prevent him from achieving widespread success.
Columbu competed in the 1977
World's Strongest ManThe World's Strongest Man is a well recognised event in strength athletics and has been described by a number of highly respected authorities in the sport as the premier event in strongman. Organized by TWI, an IMG Media company, it is broadcast around the end of December each year...
competition and was actually in first place in total points during the competition; a remarkable outing, considering that Franco weighed much less than all his competitors. Then came the refrigerator race, which called for a downhill race in which a heavy, bulky, unwieldy refrigerator is strapped to the racer's back.
While actually ahead, Franco stumbled, and was shown on national television collapsing with a grotesquely dislocated leg. This ended his participation in the World's Strongest Man contest (in the end, he finished in fifth place). After a court settlement, he received a reported $1 million in compensation for his injury.
It took six hours of surgery to remove all the muscle and fix his leg. Doctors told him he would never walk again, but Columbu fully recovered in three years. After Arnold Schwarzenegger's comeback victory in the 1980 Mr. Olympia, Franco followed suit and won the 1981
Mr. OlympiaMr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
.
Columbu is a long time friend of
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, whom he met in
MunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1965 and against whom he competed in several international-level bodybuilding competitions. For the Mr. Olympia competitions however, he competed in the under 200 lb (90.7 kg) category, whereas Schwarzenegger was in the over 200 lb category. The final champion was determined by a pose down between the two class winners. The
IFBBThe International Federation of BodyBuilders is a competitive bodybuilding organization founded in 1946 by brothers Ben and Joe Weider and is the highest level of competitive bodybuilding in the world. Currently, the IFBB consists of seven different sub-divisions for different competitors ,...
has since abandoned weight classes. Arnold and Franco were inseparable during the early to mid-1970s and frequently trained together. Columbu served as the best man at the wedding of Schwarzenegger and
Maria ShriverMaria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
in 1986. Columbu and Schwarzenegger had been encouraged to come to America by bodybuilding guru
Joe WeiderJosef E. "Joe" Weider is co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders along with brother Ben Weider and creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia, and the now-defunct Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests...
in 1969; Weider sponsored them with an $80/week stipend and the two European bodybuilders began a bricklaying and patio business called
European Brick Works in 1969, according to a report in
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
From the time he arrived in America in 1969, Franco Columbu was considered one of the world's strongest men. He held a number of powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting world records. He also performed a strongman act in which he routinely blew up a hot water bottle by inflating it orally, lifted vehicles on stage (while someone else was changing a tire) and deadlifted over 700 lbs for repetitions. He designed a comprehensive workout for men in 1988 to flatten the stomach, narrow the waist, and eliminate love handles. He is both a
chiropractorA Chiropractor, according to the Association of Chiropractic Colleges , "focuses on the relationship between the body's main structures – the skeleton, the muscles and the nerves – and the patient's health. Chiropractors believe that health can be improved and preserved by making adjustments to...
and a weightlifter and his career parallels that of
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
weightlifting champion
Karyn MarshallDr. Karyn Marshall, DC, is an American Olympic weightlifter of Norwegian descent who was notable for being world champion in 1987. She set 60 American and world records in women's weightlifting and is the first woman in history to clean and jerk over . She became a doctor of chiropractic and runs...
, who has used chiropractic therapy to train for competitions and who became a chiropractor herself.
Acting career
In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Columbu has also made intermittent minor forays into acting. Appearing alongside Arnold in
Pumping IronPumping Iron is a 1977 docudrama about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by Charles Gaines and George Butler...
, he has also appeared in cameo roles in
Conan the Barbarian,
The TerminatorThe Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
,
The Running ManThe Running Man is a 1987 American action film loosely based on Stephen King's 1982 novel of the same name. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson....
and starred in his own films such as
Beretta's Island-Premise:A retired Interpol officer tries to bring down the drug lord who killed his friend and threatens an entire village on the island of Sardinia. Franco Columbu is a former Mr. Olympia and Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an old weight-training friend....
. He has also done TV commercials, most notably, Vitalis ("the pump"). Other TV appearances include
The Streets of San FranciscoThe Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
(1977) and
Dead Lift with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the Arnold Schwarzenegger film
Last Action HeroLast Action Hero is a 1993 American action-comedy-fantasy film directed and produced by John McTiernan. It is a satire of the action genre and its clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film....
, the words "A Franco Columbu film" appear on the screen at the beginning of
Jack Slater IV (a film within the film) as a tribute to Columbu. In the opening scenes of
Conan the Barbarian, Columbu plays a 'pictish scout', complete with mustache, wig and blue body-paint. In
The TerminatorThe Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
, Columbu plays the infiltrating Terminator in Reese's flashback/dream in which the picture of Sarah Connor is destroyed by fire. The Columbu Terminator also features as a boss character in the
Terminator 3 video gameTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a video game based on the film of the same name. It is a first-person shooter with elements of hand to hand combat in third-person perspective. A version was released for the Game Boy Advance on November 18, 2003 it was an isometric shooter. A puzzle game was...
.
Filmography
- 1976:Stay Hungry
Stay Hungry is the third album by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Released on May 10, 1984, the album features the band's two biggest hits, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" and the power ballad "The Price." According to RIAA certification, Stay Hungry gained Multi-Platinum...
- as Franco Orsini (Uncredited)
- 1977:Pumping Iron
Pumping Iron is a 1977 docudrama about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by Charles Gaines and George Butler...
- Himself
- 1980:The Hustler of Muscle Beach - Himself
- 1980:The Comeback - Himself
- 1982:Conan The Barbarian - as Pictish Scout
- 1984:The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
- as Future Terminator
- 1984:Getting Physical - Himself
- 1986:Don Rickles: Rickles on the Loose - Himself
- 1987:The Running Man
The Running Man is a 1987 American action film loosely based on Stephen King's 1982 novel of the same name. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson....
- as 911 Security Officer #2
- 1987:Last Man Standing - as Batty
- 1988:Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee is the 1988 American family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline...
- as Orin the Strongman
- 1993:Il ritmo del silenzio - as Nerescu
- 1994:Beretta's Island
-Premise:A retired Interpol officer tries to bring down the drug lord who killed his friend and threatens an entire village on the island of Sardinia. Franco Columbu is a former Mr. Olympia and Arnold Schwarzenegger plays an old weight-training friend....
- as Franco Armando Beretta
- 1995:Taken Alive - as Enrico Costa
- 1997:Doublecross on Costa's Island - as Enrico Costa
- 1998:Hollywood Salutes Arnold Schwarzenegger:An Cinematheque Tribute - Himself
- 2002:Raw Iron:The Making of Pumping Iron - Himself
- 2003:Ancient Warriors - as Aldo Paccione
- 2008:Why we Train - Himself
- 2010:Muscle Beach then and Now - Himself
Controversies
Colombu is a qualified
chiropractorChiropractic is a health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on general health. It is generally categorized as complementary and alternative medicine...
and, in spite of being ordered in 2004 by the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners to stop claiming on his letterhead that he has a Ph.D. in
nutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
, he still claims to hold the degree, even though the degree from
Donsbach UniversityKurt Walter Donsbach is an unlicensed chiropractor and a controversial alternative medicine figure who has twice been convicted of practicing medicine without a license...
is considered bogus.
In Feb. 2006 Columbu was appointed to the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in what was later described as a "coup". He currently sits on the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
Bodybuilding titles
- 1966 Mr. Europe, 4th
- 1968 NABBA Mr. Universe (Most Muscular)
- 1969 IFBB Mr. Europe (Medium)
- 1969 NABBA Mr. Universe (Most Muscular)
- 1969 NABBA Mr. Universe (Short)
- 1969 IFBB Mr. Universe (Short)
- 1970 IFBB Mr. Europe (Short & Overall)
- 1970 AAU Mr. World (Pro Short)
- 1970 IFBB Mr. World (Short)
- 1970 IFBB Mr. Universe (Short & Overall)
- 1971 IFBB Mr. Universe (Short & Overall) *Disqualified for selling bodybuilding booklets - considered as a professional*
- 1971 IFBB Mr. World (Short & Overall)
- 1974 Mr. Olympia (Lightweight)
- 1975 Mr. Olympia (Lightweight)
- 1976 Mr. Olympia (Lightweight & Overall)
- 1981 Mr. Olympia
Powerlifting Best Lifts
- Bench press
The bench press is an exercise of the upper body. For bodybuilding purposes, it is used to stimulate the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps. While on his or her back, the person performing the bench press lowers a weight to the level of the chest, then pushes it back up until the arm is straight...
525 Lbs / 238,35 kg
- Squat (exercise)
In strength training, the squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, quads , hamstrings, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body...
665 Lbs / 301,91 kg
- Deadlift
The deadlift is a weight training exercise where a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground from a stabilized, bent over position. It is one of the three canonical powerlifting exercises, along with the squat and bench press.-Overview:...
750 Lbs / 340,5 kg (in some training sessions, he was reported to have lifted over 780 Lbs / 354,12 kg, all at a bodyweight of less than 190 Lbs / 86,26 kg)
External links
| colspan = 3 align = center |
Mr. OlympiaMr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
|-
| width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
| width = 40% align = center | First (1976)
| width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Frank ZaneFrank Zane is an American former professional bodybuilder and teacher.- Education :Zane received a B.Sc in Education from Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1964. For 13 years, he taught mathematics and chemistry while living in Florida and California. Later he earned a B.A...
|-
| width = 30% align = center | Preceded by:
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
| width = 40% align = center | Second (1981)
| width = 30% align = center | Succeeded by:
Chris Dickerson