While watching the first season of Mission Impossible, I started to wonder about Peter Lupus, the strong man in the series. Did he have any bodybuilding titles? Had he won any weightlifting events?
I went to the world's greatest search engine (my wife) to discover some details. Bodybuilding wasn't quite as big a deal then as it is now. Dave Draper appeared on the Beverly Hillbillies once, and some local California bodybuilders showed up on an episode of the Monkees and some teen beach movies now and then. But other than Charles Atlas ads in the comic books, that was about it.
Most of these guys were muscular but they were rarely very tall. And then you have Peter Lupus the 6 foot 4, 260 pound bodybuilder that showed up as Willie, for the IMF for CBS back in 1966. As a kid we all thought he was so cool.
But what had he accomplished in real life? He won the Mr. Indianapolis BB title in 1956. And then became Mr. Indiana in 1960. He won some International titles that no one's ever heard of over the next few years but didn't become famous until Mission Impossible.
My wife found out, as of yesterday, that he is still alive, and still setting strong man records. He is listed by the Guinness book of World Records as the oldest man to bench press 300 pounds. As recently as 2007, at the age of 75, he lifted over 77,000 pounds in a series of reps in under 25 minutes. That's also a world record. He broke the old record, set by himself, at age 70.
For those who are curious, I'm posting the youtube video of the event. Notice that his friend Martin Landau, co-star from Mission Impossible, was there with him, rooting him on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7nd_5CPho&app=desktop
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