FERRIGNO FOUND HIS FEET
Strongman on flexing his acting muscles, playing the Hulk and making America healthy
Lou Ferrigno’s first experience in Calgary was trodding the boards as the monstrous murderer Jonathan Brewer in the theatrical farce Arsenic and Old Lace.
It was a Stage West production and Ferrigno isn’t completely sure of the date, but it was at least 25 years ago. The role was originally played by Boris Karloff on Broadway and Raymond Massey in the 1944 film. At some point in the early to mid-1980s, Ferrigno started playing Jonathan onstage, defying expectations in cities across North America.
It was a period of time when the actor, bodybuilder and two-time Mr. Universe was flexing his acting muscles. He also did a national tour of Requiem for a Heavyweight. In an episode of the otherwise forgettable 1980s detective series Matt Houston, Ferrigno even played a serial killer who preyed on women joggers.
“I said ‘Why not stretch as an actor?’ ” Ferrigno says in a phone interview. “I’ve had a lot of training as an actor, so I like to do character roles.”
It’s a familiar story: Actor becomes forever linked to one iconic role and attempts to, if not outright distance himself from it, then at least, show that he has more than one stripe as a performer. For Ferrigno, of course, that stripe was the title character in the 1970s series The Incredible Hulk, which clung to him with superhuman strength after its five-season run. In a 1985 interview in the Chicago Tribune, he vowed to “never be green again.” But three years later, he was back starring in the first of three TV movies based on the series, opposite Bill Bixby, who played the Hulk’s tortured alter ego Dr. Banner.
At the age of 66, Ferrigno now seems at peace with the fact he will never escape the green-skinned monster he played for years.
“It made me famous, it made me who I am,” says Ferrigno. “I could doaGoneWiththeWindfilmtomorrow, but everybody would still love me as The Hulk. That’s going to be part of my history until the day I pass on. People just love it.”
So, the actor has no problem discussing his time as the character, or the 21/2 hours a day he spent having green makeup applied to his entire body, or how he maintained and continues to maintain that impressive physique.
Which is all good, because that tends to be what fans are interested in when he attends conventions such as the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, where he will appear Friday through Sunday.
In fact, The Hulk was not just a character he played, but one that he now sees as being deeply rooted in his own personality and identity growing up as a shy, skinny boy in Brooklyn who lost much of his hearing due to an ear infection and was taunted by other kids because of a speech impairment.
“I would read Hulk and Superman comics, because as a kid I was obsessed with power,” he says. “Because my whole life was overcoming adversity. It was my path to survive. I would fantasize about being the Hulk. I was the Hulk all my life.”
But before he turned to acting, Ferrigno was a bodybuilder and two-time Mr. Universe, training and competing with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1977, Ferrigno heard there were auditions being held to play the Hulk. Part of a pilot had been shot with Richard Kiel — Jaws from the James Bond movies of the 1980s — but it was eventually decided he didn’t have the muscles for the role. Schwarzenegger auditioned but was deemed too short.
“I got excited because I knew nobody could play that part better than I could,” Ferrigno says. “I went to screen test and was hired immediately. The next day I was filming 14 hours a day to complete the pilot. It was incredible.”
Perhaps it’s a throwback to his days on the bodybuilding circuit, but Ferrigno still seems to possess a healthy competitive streak, particularly when the topic of the Hulk’s continued popularity and evolution comes up. Eric Bana, Edward Norton and now Mark Ruffalo have all played Bruce Banner, turning into CGI-generated Hulks when enraged, in big-budget blockbusters.
“I think the Hulk is still the biggest iconic character,” Ferrigno says. “But what bothers me is it’s nothing like the series, it’s CGI. I had to get used to it, I’m not a big fan of CGI. I think it’s getting out of hand now. Everybody ’s jumping in the air, shooting guns, flying in spaceships. That’s why everybody loves the original Hulk. We didn’t have special effects. It was all about the story, the power of the message and the character played by me and Bill Bixby.”
Ferrigno continues to keep busy with film and TV work. He has three movies coming down the pipeline, including a horror film, an action film and a comedy. He still works out an hour a day, five to six days a week. He’s also keen to talk to people his age at conventions about diet and training and is currently developing a reality series for the Discovery Channel that he says is like a Celebrity Apprentice for physical fitness.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says.
“My daughter (Shanna Ferrigno) is a big advocate of diet and nutrition, too, so that’s something I want to pursue. I want to make America healthy.”
Lou Ferrigno will appear at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo which runs from Thursday to Sunday at Stampede Park.
I could do a Gone With the Wind film tomorrow, but everybody would still love me as The Hulk.