He first came to Belfast 60 years ago as a bodybuilding champion.
On Monday, actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger (78) returned to the city to receive an honorary degree from Ulster University.
Crowds were six deep at the entrance of the glass-fronted building in the city centre in advance of his noon arrival.
“There’s more security here than there was for Prince William,” one staff member was overheard saying.
Hasta La Vista Ulster signs were waved by some students, who went wild when the Austrian-born movie star greeted them.
On the lift up to the fourth floor, a security guard had Terminator posters tucked under his arm.
“I’ve been a fan since 1984. These posters were on my livingroom wall, I took them out of the frame so hopefully he’ll sign them for me,” said Simon Aldworth.
Before the conferment ceremony, a mash-up of Johann Strauss’s The Blue Danube Waltz and The Terminator theme tune was performed by Irish traditional musicians.
Students watch the honorary graduation of Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ulster University Belfast. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Dancers wearing dark sunglasses and dressed in black Terminator costumes did Riverdance-style performances on wooden boards.
Students thronged the floors above the event to watch Schwarzenegger being awarded the doctorate in recognition of his contribution to public service, environmental advocacy and the arts.
Addressing the packed audience, the 38th governor of California described the occasion as “very meaningful”.
“It’s 60 years ago since I came to Belfast for the first time. I know the majority of you [students] weren’t alive then but I have to tell you, this is an anniversary for me,” he said.
To cheers, he added: “I said then, ‘I’ll be back.’”
He told the crowd about a “breakthrough” moment in Belfast when he was asked to speak publicly for the first time at the age of 19. He almost had a heart attack, he recalled.
“I was here as a bodybuilding champion driving around at posing exhibitions and flexing my muscles and all this stuff,” he said.
“But after my posing was over, my idol, Reg Park – a Mr Universe three times who was in the Hercules film – called me to the microphone.
“I had never spoken in public and I had no English … he told me to say, ‘I like Belfast’ and there was a standing ovation.
“What happened that day in Belfast was so important to me because every single time afterwards when I won a competition I went to the microphone.
“Each time I said more and more and more, and eventually they couldn’t shut me up, I love talking so much in public.”
Schwarzenegger said his seven-year stint as governor of California was “absolute heaven”.
His involvement in the Special Olympics during the 1970s (his former mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the movement) was a “joy” because he “gave something back”.
“There was no financial gain, no career gain,” he added.
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Among the invited audience was Sandra Weir (81) from Mallusk, Co Antrim, who recalled the day Schwarzenegger lifted her and a colleague off the ground when they posed for a photograph during his first visit to Belfast.
“I was one of the Tele (Belfast Telegraph) girls working in advertising. We came outside and thought he was trying to chat us up,” she said, giggling.
“We didn’t know he was a weightlifter and he just scooped us up.”
Weir’s son, Harry, said the family had heard “quite a lot about that photo over the years”.
Ciarán Connolly, a dancer from New Zealand who took part in the ceremony performance, said it was a “bit strange” to see someone like Schwarzenegger recognised by a university in Belfast.
“It was cool to be involved in it. Now that I know the story of his connection to here, it makes sense,” he said.
Before the actor left the event – he went out afterwards to meet Weir for the first time since their photograph – he joked about his age and ailments.
“I’m almost 79 years old. Forty years ago I said ‘I’ll be back’. Now I say ‘aww, my back’.”