Wag Bennett; Bodybuilder who helped Arnold Schwarzenegger prepare for the Mr Universe title, the foundation for his subsequent fame
Hyfler/Rosner
October 2, 2008
Wag Bennett: bodybuilder who helped Arnold Schwarzenegger
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4862637.ece
The indisputable claim to fame of "Wag" Bennett - and, it
must immediately be said, of his wife Dianne, also - was the
role they played in the rise to fame of Arnold
Schwarzenegger, from an unknown Austrian would-be
bodybuilder, desperate for a break into fame and fortune, to
the Mr Universe title and thence to the US, movie stardom
and the governorship of California. It was a debt that
Schwarzenegger never forgot, and he always maintained
contact with the mentors whom he liked to call his "British
parents".
Schwarzenegger, born in Graz not long after the Second World
War, was only 19 when he came to Britain in 1966, with his
eyes on that year's Mr Universe title. Bennett, who was one
of the judges of the competition, and Dianne were impressed
by the determination of the virtually penniless youth, as
well as by the bizarre impression he made, almost visibly
growing out of his clothes in front of them. "His trousers
were flying at half mast, halfway up his calves," Bennett
recalled, so Dianne took him off to buy some boots to close
the gap."
It was to be the beginning of a nurturing relationship that
was to last two years. Two of the mainstays of British
bodybuilding in that era, Wag and Dianne ran two gyms in the
East End, one beneath their home in Forest Gate and another
farther down the Romford Road.
The Bennetts invited Schwarzenegger to share their home - no
mean sacrifice, since they had six children to bring up.
Bennett told the young man that he would have to sleep on
the sofa, since all available beds were taken by the family,
and with this arrangement working satisfactorily, they
supervised his development. Bennett devised a training
programme for Schwarzenegger, taught him how to pose, and
chose the theme music from the film Exodus as his posing
music. It was a tune Schwarzenegger was to use for years to
come.
All the while Dianne cooked him his favourite meal, turkey
breasts - several of which he ate every hour on the hour.
And since he could not get into regulation shirts bought off
the shelf, she made them for him in his favourite colours,
fluorescent lime green and yellow. She also took charge of
his English, which had been somewhat rudimentary on his
arrival in London.
In the event, the 1966 title was to elude Schwarzenegger. He
was beaten that year by the American bodybuilder Chet
Yorton, whose musculature and legs were adjudged superior.
Bennett immediately went to work on these areas, improving
muscle definition and the power of his legs, and
Schwarzenegger won his first Mr Universe title, the first of
five, the following year. As Schwarzenegger was to say in
paying tribute to Bennett: "The Mr Universe title was my
ticket to America the land of opportunity where I could
become a star and get rich."
Charles "Wag" Bennett was born in 1930 in Canning Town, East
London, where his family ran a business selling bicyles and
motorbikes, and were involved in speedway. He started
bodybuilding at 15 at a gym in Hackney, and by 1950 had
become the first man in Britain to bench press 500lbs. He
first met his future wife Dianne, herself from a
bodybuilding family, when he went down to Portsmouth that
year to do a show for her father, Bob Woolger.
They were married four years later and set up their first
gym in Wanstead; the famous Forest Gate gym followed in
1961. Dianne posed at bodybuilding shows with her own group,
Dianne Bennett's Glamour Girls, who lifted weights to Roy
Orbison's hit song Oh, Pretty Woman. She also published a
magazine, Bodypower. The pair also ran an equipment company,
Everest, a supplements business called Pinnacle and edited a
fitness and bodyculture magazine entitled Peak.
The Bennetts always derived a quiet satisfaction from the
achievements of their prot�g�. For his part, he always kept
in touch with the family and invited them to his wedding to
John F. Kennedy's niece, the television journalist Maria
Shriver, at Hyannis, Massachusetts, in 1986.
Wag Bennett is survived by his wife and by five of their six
children.
Charles "Wag" Bennett, bodybuilder and trainer, was born on
March 29, 1930. He died of cancer on September 17, 2008,
aged 78