Kermit the frog was right: It's not easy bein' green.
Lou Ferrigno knows. Whenever the champion bodybuilder was needed on set to play the not-so-jolly green giant known as The Incredible Hulk, he first had to spend three hours being coated in green body paint and fitted with green makeup appliances, contact lenses and a fright wig. No wonder his most characteristic line of dialog throughout the four-year run of the CBS-TV series was: "Aaaaaaarrrrghhh!!!!"
Ferrigno's successor in Universal's new $100 million feature film version of The Hulk, which opens today, didn't have to put up with the painstaking tedium of the makeup chair. The new Green Goliath was created not just by the gamma radiation of the script but by an army of computer animators. This Hulk is a digital cartoon, a Shrek with bigger muscles and a badder disposition.
In a recent telephone interview from his home in Santa Monica, Calif., Ferrigno seemed philosophical about being replaced by a special-effects illusion. "I think it's great because he can't sign autographs," joked the two-time Mr. Universe, with the nonchalant confidence that perhaps comes from having a 59-inch chest, a 19-inch neck and 23-inch biceps.
Ferrigno, 50, has been signing a lot of autographs lately. Thanks to the current fit of Hulkmania raging across the pop-culture landscape, the strongman-actor has been much in demand for interviews and public appearances, where he meets fans who were in awe of him when he portrayed the rampaging alter ego of TV's Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby).
"Lou Ferrigno was an authentically monstrous human being," said Ron Crum, owner of Comics & Collectibles at 4730 Poplar, where anticipation of today's movie release has caused an invasion of Hulk books, toys and comics. "You didn't have to paint muscles on him."
"You don't really realize the size those people actually carry until you see them in person," said former competitive bodybuilder Kevin Swannigan, 48, who saw Ferrigno at a 1990s "Olympia" contest in Atlanta, where the former Hulk was attempting a bodybuilding comeback. "It's almost impossible to believe."
Swannigan, owner of Powerhouse Gym at 2820 Coleman Road, said Ferrigno's condition "would be unattainable for most people, especially when you consider our society today, where obesity is an epidemic. The hard work and dedication are enormous. A lot of people believe that if he had not opted to go into acting, he would be one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time."
Ferrigno's small-screen incarnation of the Hulk was introduced to viewers in two 1977 made-for-TV movies, The Incredible Hulk and The Incredible Hulk: Death in the Family. The films were popular enough to launch the Marvel Comics-inspired Jade Giant into a series in 1978. Four seasons later the Hulk TV series was still earning respectable ratings, but CBS pulled the plug because of the program's high production costs.
Bixby and Ferrigno reprised their Jekyll-and-Hyde roles in three TV-movie sequels broadcast on NBC, The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) and The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990).
The 6-5, 275-pound Ferrigno said he's not surprised by the continuing popularity of the character. "Everyone of us has a little Hulk inside of us," he said.
The Brooklyn-born Ferrigno knows something about frustration and rage. When he was a baby, an ear infection took 85 percent of his hearing. Kids at school and in the neighborhood picked on him, he said, and called him "deaf mute."
But like a figure in a Charles Atlas advertisement, Ferrigno - a devotee of muscle magazines and Italian Hercules movies - decided to channel his frustration into bodybuilding. He began working out at age 16. "When I went to the gym, I released a lot of my aggression and anger," he said.
In 1970, Ferrigno won the competitive bodybuilding title of Mr. Teenage America. In 1973, he became the youngest Mr. Universe ever; his repeat victory the next year makes him the only man to win consecutive titles.
Ferrigno first received mainstream recognition in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, which also helped popularize his then-rival Arnold Schwarzenegger. The "Austrian Oak," as Schwarzenegger was known to muscle enthusiasts, went on to become Conan the Barbarian, the Terminator and one of the world's top box-office attractions. Ferrigno became the Hulk. "He really looks like he's been chiseled out of a solid piece of jade," the late Bill Bixby once said of his Hulked-out co-star.
Ferrigno, who had never acted before, said he received a lot of guidance from Bixby, who became his mentor as well as his friend. The bodybuilder found he was well-suited to pantomime the emotions of the nonverbal Hulk, thanks to his hearing loss, which caused him to develop a speech impediment. "It's natural for me to show emotions without speaking," he said.
After the Hulk was canceled, Ferrigno capitalized on his worldwide popularity with starring roles in several Italian muscleman epics of his own, including Hercules (1983), The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983), The Adventures of Hercules (1985) and Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989).
He hasn't slowed down much since. He said he continues to train five or six days a week, "to keep in shape." He also runs his own private training business, conducts motivational seminars, sells his motivational books and tapes through his Web site (http://www.louferrigno.com), and acts with some regularity. He was the Slave Master on the Roger Corman-produced adventure series Black Scorpion; and he has a recurring role as himself on the long-running CBS sitcom The King of Queens. He also tries to spend a lot of time with his family at home, where wife Carla Ferrigno is a fitness enthusiast with her own line of workout and motivational tapes.
Ferrigno also finally is appearing in a Hulk film on the big screen, although not in the title role. He has a cameo appearance as a security guard in director Ang Lee's new movie of The Hulk.
Whether or not the new movie is a success, Ferrigno believes the Hulk will smash puny humans for many decades to come. "The character appeals to every country and culture in the world," he said. "He's a wonderful character."
