Bill Pearl

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Bill Pearl (b. Prineville, Oregon, October 31, 1930) was a leading competitive American body-builder during the 1950's and 60's. His first major victory was in the 1953 Mr. Universe contest (in which he beat out a then 23 year old Sean Connery). He actively competed until his retirement in 1971 after winning the Mr. Universe one last time, over Reg Park and Sergio Oliva.

He is the author of the popular exercise book, Getting Stronger. His book "Keys To The Inner Universe," is still to this day considered to be a bodybuilding "must have." It's an absolute giant of a book with 1,500 weight-training exercises. (The book itself weighs five pounds). Bill got his own monthly column called: "Pearl of the universe" in the bodybuilding magazine: MuscleMag International. It's a question and answer column. In 2003 with coauthor Kim Shott, Bill published his autobiography,"Beyond the Universe: The Bill Pearl Story".

Pearl became a vegetarian at age 39 and is the best known vegetarian bodybuilder. Bill's diet is lacto-ovo vegetarian, which means he eats eggs and dairy products.

During the 1980s, Pearl served as a mentor, trainer, and training partner to many of the top professionals that were still competing. One such individual was Mr. Olympia, Chris Dickerson.