Celebrity Death: Franco Columbu (bodybuilder, actor), 78

[Osprey]

This may be more sports news than entertainment news, but he did have a small acting career and a significant connection to a major film star, so I hope that it's relevant enough for this sub-forum.

ROME — Italian bodybuilder, boxer and actor Franco Columbu, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s closest friends, has died in his native Sardinia. He was 78.

Columbu died at John Paul II hospital in the city of Olbia after he became ill while swimming in the sea, the hospital said. He lived in Los Angeles for years but was vacationing in Sardinia.

Schwarzenegger, a bodybuilder before he turned to acting, posted a warm farewell on Twitter about the man he called “my best friend.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...028abe-cc1b-11e9-9615-8f1a32962e04_story.html

Columbu won the Mr. Olympia title in '76 and '81, co-starred in Pumping Iron, had bit roles in several of Arnie's films (Conan the Barbarain, The Terminator, The Running Man), starred in a few B movies and was Arnie's best friend for 54 years.

I might not have recognized his name except that I just happen to be reading Arnie's autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story, in which Columbu features heavily. Arnie met and became best friends with him in Germany in the 60s, brought him over to America with him, trained with him, went into business with him, got him roles in his early films and made him Best Man at his wedding to Maria Shriver.

Click to read more...

 

[Neutrinos]

Columbu was a 2x Mr. Olympia, so the pic in the OP doesn't really show how great a bodybuilder he was in his prime

Here are some better ones:

 

[Ozz]

RIP Franco :muscle smiley here:

 

[Stealth JD]

I remember watching one of the World's Strongest Man competitions as a kid and he had a gruesome leg break while running with a refrigerator strapped to his back. Always had a soft spot for him. He was always the shortest competitor in those things, but more than held his own. RIP.