Roy Callender (born October 31, 1944) is a

Barbadian Canadian Barbadian Canadian or Bajan Canadian, refers to Canadian citizens of Barbadian descent or Barbados-born people who resides in Canada. According to the 2016 Census 37,780 Canadians claimed full or partial Barbadian ancestry. Barbadian Canadians ha ...

IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011. Induction years 1999 *Carla Dunlap *Cory Everson *John Grimek *Lee Haney *Rachel McLi ...

r retired professional

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses o ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Early life and career

Callender was born in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

to an academician couple. His interest in bodybuilding started by the age of 8 and after moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for studying law and from 1967, he began to compete, winning the title ''Mr Southeast Britain'' the same year. He became ''Mr. United Kingdom'' in 1968.Roy Callender: featuring 2008 Joe Weider's bodybuilding hall of fame inductee (Factoids)

Flex Flex or FLEX may refer to: Computing * Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay * FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800 * FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research * FLEX (protocol), a comm ...

, June 1, 2008 After finishing second in the medium-height class in the NABBA Amateur Universe in 1967, 1969 and 1971, Callender moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where he won Mr. Canada contest.Interview with Bodybuilding Hall of Famer Roy Callender (Part One)
May 27, 2011] He retired from competitive bodybuilding afterwards and had a brief role in

Dušan Makavejev Dušan Makavejev ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Макавејев, ; 13 October 1932 – 25 January 2019) was a Serbian film director and screenwriter, famous for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s—many of wh ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

Sweet Movie ''Sweet Movie'' is a 1974 avant-garde surrealist comedy-drama film written and directed by Yugoslavian director Dušan Makavejev. An international co-production of companies from France, Canada, and West Germany, the film follows two women: a Can ...

''.

Professional wrestling

Callender started his professional wrestling career in 1974, making his ring debut against

Killer Tim Brooks Timothy Paul Brooks (December 4, 1947 – June 30, 2020), better known by his ring name Killer Tim Brooks, was an American professional wrestler. He competed in North American regional promotions, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. He was promoted with the gimmick "Mr. Universe" in his career and contracted to the promotion

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

, Callender retired by the end of the year 1976 at a match against Keith Hart in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

.Keith Hart vs. Roy Callender
/ref>

Return to bodybuilding

Callender contacted gym owner and photographer Jimmy Caruso to prepare him for a comeback to competitive bodybuilding and on 10 September 1977, Callender, competing for the first time since 1971, won the Canadian Championships in Calgary.IFBB Hall of Fame - Roy Callender
/ref> He was the winner of the 1979 IFBB Pro Universe, edging out his compatriot

Albert Beckles Albert "Al" Beckles (born July 14, 1930, as stated by Albert himself on John Hansen’s Bodybuilding Legends podcast) is a former IFBB pro bodybuilder and Mr. Universe. He is a three-time New York City ‘Night of Champions’ winner. He is ce ...

. After competing in

Mr. Olympia Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend—an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation ...

events for four times and with varying success, he returned to Barbados in 1982. After his fifth Olympia in 1984, he had a hiatus of three years in his native country and after placing seventh at the IFBB Grand Prix in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, he retired in 1987.

Later career

Callender returned to Montreal by 1991. He now works as a

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training equipm ...

master trainer.

Competition history

1967 *Mr Southeast Britain, Winner *Mr Universe - NABBA, Medium, 2nd 1968 *Mr Southeast Britain, 2nd *Mr United Kingdom, Winner *Universe - IFBB, 6th *Mr World - IFBB, Medium, 2nd 1969 *Mr Universe - NABBA, Medium, 2nd 1970 *Mr World - IFBB, Medium, 2nd 1971 *Mr Universe - NABBA, Medium, 2nd 1977 *Canadian Championships - CBBF, Medium, 1st *Canadian Championships - CBBF, Overall Winner *Mr International - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st *Universe - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 1st 1978 *Night of Champions - IFBB, 2nd *Olympia - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 2nd *Olympia - IFBB, 3rd *Professional World Cup - IFBB, 3rd *Universe - Pro - IFBB, Overall Winner 1979 *Best in the World - IFBB, Professional, 2nd *Canada Diamond Pro Cup - IFBB, Winner *Canada Pro Cup - IFBB, Did not place *Florida Pro Invitational - IFBB, 6th *Grand Prix Pennsylvania - IFBB, 2nd *Grand Prix Vancouver - IFBB, Winner *Olympia - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 4th *Pittsburgh Pro Invitational - IFBB, 4th *Universe - Pro - IFBB, Winner *World Pro Championships - IFBB, Winner 1980 *Grand Prix Pennsylvania - IFBB, 3rd *Night of Champions - IFBB, 3rd *Olympia - IFBB, 7th *Pittsburgh Pro Invitational - IFBB, 3rd 1981 *Grand Prix California - IFBB, 2nd *Grand Prix Louisiana - IFBB, 3rd *Grand Prix Washington - IFBB, 2nd *Olympia - IFBB, 4th 1982 *World Pro Championships - IFBB, 5th 1984 *Olympia - IFBB, 5th 1987 *Grand Prix Germany (2) - IFBB, 7th *Night of Champions - IFBB, Did not place *World Pro Championships - IFBB, 12th

Filmography

Roy Callender's Filmography on IMDB, January 14, 2020
/ref>

References

External links

Roy Callender competition history (incomplete)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Callender, Roy 1944 births Living people Canadian bodybuilders Barbadian professional wrestlers Canadian male professional wrestlers Black Canadian sportspeople Barbadian emigrants to Canada Barbadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Professional bodybuilders Anglophone Quebec people Stampede Wrestling alumni Professional wrestlers from Montreal