Arnold Schwarzenegger to publish new memoir

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Former California governor, four-time Mr. Universe and big box-office draw Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to publish a memoir with Simon and Schuster, the publisher announced today. The book is tentatively titled ‘Total Recall’ -- and despite the double-entendre on one of his best films, ‘I’ll Be Back’ might be even more appropriate.

Born in 1947, Schwarzenegger began weight training as a teenager in Austria. He first emigrated to London and then the U.S., where he came to Venice, Calif., and continued bodybuilding. Then, despite a thick accent and admittedly thin acting chops to start, he started on his way to international stardom -- he played a thug in the 1973 Robert Altman film ‘The Long Goodbye.’ His first starring role was in 1982’s ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ and he became an action-movie star with films such as ‘Predator,’ ‘The Running Man,’ ‘Total Recall’ and ‘Terminator 2.’ Then, after Gray Davis was recalled, the ambitious Republican political novice was elected governor of California.

Schwarzenegger has previously written and co-written a handful of memoirs about his life. On ‘Total Recall,’ which is subtitled ‘My Unbelievably True Life Story,’ he’ll be collaborating with Peter Petre, former executive editor of Fortune and the co-author of autobiographies by Alan Greenspan and Norman Schwarzkopf.

Simon and Schuster announced Schwarzenegger’s book breathlessly, writing: ‘Considered one of the most anticipated autobiographies of this generation, Schwarzenegger presents a larger-than-life portrait of his illustrious, controversial and ever-entertaining life in and out of the public eye.’

Schwarzenegger finished his terms as governor and then swiftly leaped into headlines again when news broke that he had fathered a child with a member of the family’s staff 14 years earlier. The son is almost exactly the same age as the youngest child of Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, his wife of more than two decades

Shriver, a journalist and niece of John F. Kennedy, has filed for divorce. So far, she has said nothing about writing a memoir.

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-- Carolyn Kellogg