The line that literally “made” Arnold Schwarzenegger as an actor, was originally scripted as “I’ll come back”. But then, Arnold wasn’t the first choice for the lead role in the movie, Terminator.

Among those considered were Jurgen Prochnow, the German leading man, and O.J. Simpson, who was eventually rejected because producers didn’t think he would be taken seriously. In the end, Lance Henriksen was hired for the lead role, and Schwarzenegger came on board as the hero. But after script readings, Arnold was bumped up to the lead.

Schwarzenegger basically provided a big, mean looking body for the Terminator, because he didn’t get a lot of speaking time. In fact, he utters only 17 sentences, in 16 lines. Two other lines that he delivers are overdubbed by other characters, and some spoken in the voice of the heroine’s mother, are delivered as the Terminator, but not said by him.

So the beefy, former Mr. Universe pretty much succeeded in the role on action, and his good looks. His handling of weapons onscreen, actually earned him kudos from Soldier Of Fortune magazine, which normally pans any Hollywood treatment of gun skills. But his face earned him something less agreeable, when he slipped out to a downtown L.A. restaurant for lunch, forgetting that he was still in his Terminator make-up, with skin peeled back, and eyeball exposed.