Arnold Schwarzenegger has said it is “unbelievable” after receiving an honorary doctorate from Ulster University – and recalled how Belfast gave him a “breakthrough”.
The 78-year-old actor was in Belfast to be recognised for his contributions to public service, environmental advocacy, and the arts.
Students cheered and held signs reading “Ulster he’s back” and “Hasta La Vista Ulster”, while some showed off copies of his film Terminator 2.
The actor first visited the city for a bodybuilding competition in 1966, when the sport was in its infancy, and years before his acting debut in the 1970 film Hercules in New York.
He told the students on arrival his trip is “kind of a 60-year anniversary”.
The ceremony took place in a packed hall which also paraded a large banner, proclaiming: “He’s back … as Dr Schwarzenegger”.
Schwarzenegger said it was a “special” visit – and explained how important the city was to him.
He said: “So I came here, I was invited by Ivan Dunbar, this Irish man, I think his family is here … he passed away I’m sad to say, but that’s where my beginning was, in Ireland, in Belfast.
“And it’s wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland and to kind of get to see, this is not something that I dreamt of when I was 19 years old, when I was here 60 years ago, that one day I will be coming here to get an honorary doctorate degree, it’s unbelievable.”
He revealed how in the 1966 competition in Northern Ireland, his bodybuilding idol Roy “Reg” Park encouraged him to speak on stage to the crowd.
“He said, ‘how do you like it here?’ and I’m now almost fainting, because I’ve never, ever spoken in public before, and we don’t have to tell you the fear that we all have of public speaking, so to me, I had this always, I had almost a heart attack.”
He added: “So then [Reg] said to me, says, Okay, tell them, ‘I like Belfast’. So I said, ‘I like Belfast’ again, standing ovation, everyone jumping up, you gave me great applause.
“Then he says, tell him that you’re going to be back and then I said, ‘I come back’ – at that time, I didn’t say I’ll be back, that was before Terminator – so I said, ‘I come back’.
“So anyway, standing ovation, he said ‘thank you very much, that was fantastic, the first time you spoke in public, you did such a great job and your English is great’ and all this stuff.”
Schwarzenegger told how that day in 1966 was “so important to me” and was a “breakthrough”.
He said: “And I said a few words, and each time I said, more and more and more, they eventually couldn’t shut me up.
“I love talking so much in public, so this is what I’m talking about, this was a breakthrough.
“I always tell people about that breakthrough that happened here in Belfast.
“This is why I have such fond memories of Belfast, and this is why it is so great to be back now.”
The Austrian-born star, who later answered questions about his career, was given the red carpet treatment on his arrival.
He said: “Ulster University is a very important university, and it’s always a great honour to be honoured like that.”
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Following the ceremony, he also met with Sandra Weir, one of two women featured in a picture of the young bodybuilder on his first visit to Belfast 60 years ago.
Reminiscing on her first meeting with a 19-year-old Schwarzenegger, Ms Weir said: “He was very, very easy to talk to, you know, and he was gabbling away and everything, we didn’t know what he was saying.”
She said the pair “had a good laugh” during their brief reunion on Monday, saying “he was in good form, good form then and even good form now”.
