Joel Brandwein: When you first met Ed, was it when you were getting ready for the “Pumping Iron” movie?

Danny Padilla: Yeah, that’s when I first got to meet Eddie and most of the guys. That was the first time I was ever out there.

JB: When you were out in California?

DP: Yeah, that was the first time that I ever went to L.A. in a bodybuilding sense . . . because Joe Weider had actually paid for my flight and stuff to go out.

JB: Did you get to know Ed better in South Africa at the Olympia?

DP: We became pretty good friends because we had to do the South African tour. We spent an extra week at Kruger National Park . . . and then as we got back to L.A. I said, “Hey, you know we’ve got to get together” . . . and after that we became pretty good friends.

JB: Ed says that he learned a lot from you, especially when you were living and training together in the eighties. When you first met him you were only about 24 years old and he was 42 . . . the fact that he was almost 20 years older than you . . . did that shape the kind of relationship that you had with him?

DP: Not at all because, see, Eddie was 40 going on 25 . . . so he was really a
“young guy” and he never looked his age . . . and the reality is that I think he’s being kind saying that he learned stuff from me. I mean, I learned a lot from Eddie. He’s a very strong-minded individual . . . to him NOTHING was impossible. Even today, he went through all that stuff and the guy is still going strong.

JB: So you felt really like a “peer” not a “younger brother” type . . . a mutual respect?

DP: I just felt like here’s a guy who’s . . . you gotta’ remember at that time, he was the best poser in the world. Every time Eddie did a routine he got a standing ovation. All of us get a standing ovation maybe once in our career . . . but boy, Eddie got a standing ovation every time he posed. Eddie was “the man” when it came to that.

JB: Tell me about when you were living and training together in the 1980’s.

DP: Yeah, I had a place in California and I said “Eddie why don’t you just stay with me”? And he said “Sure, why not”? We ended up living together and training together every day.

JB: At that point were you prepping for a show or were you just training?

DP: We were mostly just training. We became such good friends. We used to just go to the gym every day and train and that was just it. I think at one point he was trying to get ready for the Night of The Champions in New York and I thought he was in great shape for that show, super cut up.

JB: Ed has said that you guys were doing a six-day double split workout at that time.

DP: Right, we were doing basically the same stuff that Arnold and he had done. All of us were doing a double split. We would do Chest and Back on one day, Legs at night and Shoulders and Arms on another day, etc., then I was the first . . . well, I don’t know if I “taught” him this, or he did it on his own . . . but I basically, at that point, tried to emphasize a little aerobics. He had never done cardio and I was telling him “Well, as we age It’s very good to do cardio.” It was always important in my training because of the fact that in my family there was a history of heart problems . . . so, I kind of emphasized that to him and he ended up liking it.

JB: I tried to get Ed to reveal some tales of “bad” behavior from the time when the two of you were living together. The most “naughty” thing he could recall was that the you guys would occasionally break your diet and go to Kentucky Fried Chicken.

DP: Oh yeah, that was a real treat. We were never out smoking, drinking, partying or that sort of thing . . . but to us, being “bad boys” was going to Kentucky Fried and getting crispy chicken. He would pick up the last crumbs with his fingers . . . I would say “Hey, you still got your nails on your fingers . . . are you all right”? (laughs)

JB: So he’s always been sort of a “straight arrow” with the drinking and smoking, etc.

DP: Oh yeah, he wasn’t a party guy. . . I guess that’s why we got along so good because we both really weren’t the “party” type . . . we were homebodies.

JB: If you look at some of Ed’s older photos he’s got a pretty hard look in his eyes . . . you might say he had a sort of Charles Bronson thing going on with his image . . . but he’s an incredibly sweet guy in person now. Did he always have the gentle disposition?

DP: He’s always been that way. Believe it or not, Eddie was the kind of guy who’d give you the shirt off his back . . . but he could also be the kind of guy who’d kick your ass in five seconds if you were a jerk. He was a no nonsense guy. He was old fashioned. If he had something to say, he said it . . . and if you needed to be slapped, you’d get a quick slap . . . but he’d give you a nice warning . . . grab you by the larynx, pin you up against the wall and in a nice way say “I don’t want to hurt you . . . but if I have to I’ll snap your neck”

JB: He told me he was the bouncer at his own nightclub.

DP: Oh yeah, that’s a fact. He’d train during the day and then kick ass at night. (laughs)

JB: Thanks so much for your time Danny.

DP: Any time . . . because there’s a lot more stories about Ed to tell . . . Sometime I’ll tell you a hell of a story about when we were in South Africa that I’m sure he “forgot” to tell you. (laughs)