"I'll be back." How can you read those words in any other way than by doing your best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression? "The Terminator" is what launched the bodybuilder into superstardom, but the role almost went to another professional athlete of the time.



In the early '80s, there was a period of time that O.J. Simpson was playing the famous cyborg assassin. The then-football star was just breaking into acting at the time, and James Cameron had him read for the role. Ironically, the reason Cameron ultimately passed on him was that Simpson was too likable, and he thought nobody would believe him as a killer. Of course, Simpson famously stood trial 10 years after "The Terminator" came out for the murder of his wife and her friend.