Anyone who saw Pumping Iron will remember Ken Waller, from the 70s era of bodybuilding, winner of Mr. Universe, and "thief" of Mike Katz's t-shirt. He had excellent proportion and definition, though he was not as massive as Arnold, Franco, or Lou. He had some very memorable quotes from that movie.
What ever happened to this guy? Most of the guys in Pumping Iron maintain some kind of presence in the bodybuilding world to this day. But Waller is completely off the radar. There's virtually no information online about his life after the Pumping Iron time.
Does anyone know?
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11-26-2008, 09:36 PM #1
Ken Waller...whatever happened to him?
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11-26-2008, 09:50 PM #2
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11-26-2008, 09:53 PM #3
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11-26-2008, 10:05 PM #4
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11-26-2008, 10:06 PM #5
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11-26-2008, 10:06 PM #6
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11-26-2008, 10:09 PM #7
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11-26-2008, 10:15 PM #8
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"Success comes from good judgment, good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."
"Bodybuilding is part of my life, but it is not my life nor does it define me. Within a small sect of like-minded persons, I am probably perceived as a bodybuilder; in another sect, as a boyfriend, or brother, or friend or co-worker, etc." - DJINN
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11-26-2008, 10:44 PM #9
He may be the whitest bodybuilder since Sandow but he's not THAT white.
Seriously though, on that subject, unlike all the other guys Waller didn't even TRY to darken his skin at all - at least that's how it looks in the movie. I guess with his complexion, it just would have looked odd. I think he looked fine without it.
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11-26-2008, 11:19 PM #10
I uploaded some pictures of Waller which I captured from Pumping Iron:
Here is one of him with the video camera. He was filming the other guys at random moments throughout the Olympia contest. I am not sure why. But I was not aware that they made such small video cameras at the time that this film came out (1977.) I thought the only video cameras available to people at that time were huge ones that recorded directly onto video cassettes? What is the deal here?
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11-26-2008, 11:30 PM #11
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11-26-2008, 11:32 PM #12
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11-26-2008, 11:33 PM #13
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11-26-2008, 11:34 PM #14
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11-26-2008, 11:48 PM #15
Wow...thanks for all the pics!!!
Waller, Ed Corney and Serge Nubret are actually my favorite guys from Pumping Iron. They were the underrated, underdog guys who didn't have the sheer mass of Schwarzenegger and Ferrigno but still had amazing proportions and definition!
In terms of proportion, Waller DESTROYED Mike Katz! He was right about his chest being too big for his arms, and his thighs too big for his calves. Katz had a great chest, and excellent deltoids and triceps, but his waist was somewhat wide and he lacked proportion compared to Waller. I still think Katz was impressive in terms of sheer mass. But man he had a weird haircut.
He seemed like such a nice guy though, and very down to earth.
Ed Corney also had a tremendous physique and his posing style was really dramatic. He was definitely the best at posing out of any of the guys. He was very theatrical and stylish with his poses.
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11-27-2008, 12:09 AM #16
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11-27-2008, 03:54 AM #17
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Kenny had one of the original tremendously balanced physiques........talk about great lines, and he knew how to pose to show them off....
he was like a Zane with more size.....
those were good old days, I have to say....the magazines were a hoot back then....I still have a bunch of them....how Ken Waller TERRORIZED his thighs, or BLASTED his bi's......lol......it was a masterpiece of early hype that got bodybuilding on the map.
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11-27-2008, 04:45 AM #18
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11-27-2008, 07:37 AM #19
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11-27-2008, 07:41 AM #20
That was actually filmed a few months after they filmed the rest of the film. After editing the movie, they decided to add some drama and make Ken and his buddies out to be the villains. So, they went back out to California and filmed that whole scene where they tossed around the football talking about stealing Katz's shirt. Then they put it in the movie before the South Africa trip to make it look like the t-shirt thing was all planned, when in reality they didnt hide his shirt at all, they had just moved it from one area of the dressing room to another so it wouldnt get oil on it.
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11-27-2008, 10:14 AM #21
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11-27-2008, 01:48 PM #22
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11-27-2008, 02:07 PM #23
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11-27-2008, 02:21 PM #24
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11-27-2008, 03:09 PM #25
Yeah we all know Pumping Iron was a mixture of acting and documentary... Ken Waller as a villian is an example of fiction; the t-shirt prank was staged. Apparently after Pumping Iron was released he got booed at shows when he went on stage because everyone had sympathised with Mike Katz and didn't realise half the movie was scripted.
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11-27-2008, 08:00 PM #26
- Join Date: May 2005
- Location: Dumfries, Virginia, United States
- Posts: 1,701
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"Success comes from good judgment, good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."
"Bodybuilding is part of my life, but it is not my life nor does it define me. Within a small sect of like-minded persons, I am probably perceived as a bodybuilder; in another sect, as a boyfriend, or brother, or friend or co-worker, etc." - DJINN
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11-27-2008, 10:11 PM #27
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11-28-2008, 12:13 AM #28
In my opinion, Waller sort of had a build that was "classic" even for the era that he was part of, which is itself considered "classic" now. In some ways, his physique was reminiscent of Steve Reeves, and some even earlier bodybuilders like Eugene Sandow. He embodied the "Greek" ideal that was based on ancient statues and art.
Waller's competition physique was very "natural" looking, to the point where no one of his muscle groups overshadowed the other. He did not have the sheer SIZE of Arnold - his build was more like a scaled up version of the body of a very good athlete, or a Greek statue. His posing style was also very smooth and dramatic. (Not quite on the Ed Corney level, though. THAT guy could out-pose anyone.)
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11-28-2008, 12:19 AM #29
I absolutely agree with you there. I was very impressed with his physique in "Pumping Iron".
I have mentioned the football scene earlier.. His calves looked incredible even when he was wearing pants.
Whenever he held a pose on stage... he looked liked a greek statue.
Hell.. He would have looked great in 300. Can anyone photochop him to look like a spartan?CAUTION: This user may use sarcasm and cynicism in a way you are not accustomed to.
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11-28-2008, 12:22 AM #30
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