Steve McQueen in "Bullitt"

“I don’t believe in that phony hero stuff.”

Steve McQueen is one of the few performers who makes one beleive, that he IS that guy and not just acting like the role is set up in the script.  He was definitely a real character coined by life and he was able to transport his presence and attitude on screen. Not only he played cool characters, no, he was one by himself.

Born in Beech Crove, Indiana on the 24 march, 1930, Terrence Steven McQueen and his mother were left by his father six months later. In 1933 his mother handed him in the care of her own parents. During the great depression his grand parents moved to the farm of his great mother’s brother in Slater, Missouri, there he spent his early years. By the age of 14 he left the farm without a goodbye , moved along with a circus for a short time, but then came back to his mother, now living in L.A. .

[click to continue…]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="359" caption="Steve McQueen in "Bullitt""][/caption] "I don't believe in that phony hero stuff." Steve McQueen is one of the few performers who makes one beleive, that he IS that guy and not just acting like the role is set up in the script.  He was definitely a real character coined by life and he was able to transport his presence and attitude on screen. Not only he played cool characters, no, he was one by himself. Born in Beech Crove, Indiana on the 24 march, 1930, Terrence Steven McQueen and his mother were left by his father six months later. In 1933 his mother handed him in the care of her own parents. During the great depression his grand parents moved to the farm of his great mother's brother in Slater, Missouri, there he spent his early years. By the age of 14 he left the farm without a goodbye , moved along with a circus for a short time, but then came back to his mother, now living in L.A. . There he joined a gang and after getting caught while stealing hubcaps, he was sent to the California Junior Boys Republic, a community for troubled teenagers . This institution seemed to have had an important influence on McQueen, while filming he requested large amounts of jeans and electronic shavers, years later, it  came out he donated them to the Boys Republic.  McQueen also returned regularly talking to the boys there and answered their letters personally. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="374" caption="Steve McQueen mugshot"][/caption] After leaving the Boys Republic around the age of sixteen he hired as a sailor, later he earned his living as a janitor in a brothel, an oil rigger, motorcyle mechanic, lumberjack and some other jobs! In 1947 he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. There he had to be sent to military prison for 42 days as he preferred to be with his girl friend rather than returning to the Corps. But after that rebelious episode Steve McQueen decided to be a proper leatherneck, saved the live of other Marines during a maneuver and finally got honorly discharged in 1950. 1952 starts taking acting lessons and earns money during weekend at the Long Island City Raceway by winning motorcycle races. With prizemoney he bought his first own motorcyle, a Harley Davidson, he became an avid collector of motorcycles later on and at time of his death this collection counted over one hundred classics . Racing seemed to be in his blood and he competed in professional racing events by motorcycle and car, this talent came to use as he made much of the stunt scences himself, just like in"The Great Escape", "Bullit"  and "Le Mans". Amazon.com Widgets In 1957 McQueen married Neile Adams, a Filipino-American Actress, they have two children, Chad and Terry Leslie and they divorce in 1972. His acting career starts with some TV series, his first app earance as a leading actor is the 1958 Sci-fi movie "The Blob". Two years later he is starring aside of Yul Brynner in "The magnificent Seven". On the set Brynner suspected McQueen of trying to upstage him, the relationship during filming between each other became desastrous. Brynner was upset for a good reason as McQueen had real cowboy skills as he could draw way faster that Brynner. In the "The great Escape" (1963) McQueen played Capt. Hilts, "The great Ecsape" should become one of his most important films. As he had been a highly skilled motorcylist he performed much part of the chasing scenes himself, he even gets put in a German uniform and has to chase his own character, it is said that he would have done the jump over the barb-wire fence, too, but was stopped due to insurance issues. His career evolves with "The Cincinnati Kid" (1965), "Nevada Smith" (1966),  "The Sand Pebbles" (1966), which was nominated for 8 Oscars and Mcqueen got nomineed for the Academy Awards, followed by  "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968) with Faye Dunnaway. McQueens next movie definitely established him as an icon: "Bullitt" (1968). He is Frank Bullitt, the prototype of a rough'n though cop, this role influences later characters just as Dirty Harry and many more. The car chase between Frank Bullitt in a 1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback and the badguy "Phil" in a Dodge Charger is legendary and  still condsidered one of the best ever. Here, too McQueen has a lot of screentime by doing his own stunts. There were actually two cars of each type involded, three had to be wrecked after the shooting, the forth car, one of the Mustangs, could be saved and the owners still holds it and doesn't want to sell it at any price. McQueens next movie "Le Mans" did not so well at the box office, as the 24h endurance race in France was not that popular in the U.S.. During the sooting of "The Getaway" (1972) he learned to know of Ali McGraw, whom he married in 1973.  The movie was a great success and afterwards McQueen advanced to the highest paid actor in the world. After "Junior Bonner", a film about a rodeo cowboy, which could not keep up with "The Getaway" by far, Steve McQueen took the role of Henry "Papillon" Charriere, sentenced to life in a French penal colony in French Guiana, South America. The film is based on Charriere's self biography "Papillion", which was accused of not sticking to the facts very strictly, but was a great story - and a great film, anyway. The deaster movie "The towering Inferno" (1974) was the  most famous of a whole bunch of similar movies and a triumph at the box office. Now McQueen decides to take break from the Hollywood industry and cruises from one motorcycle race to the next in his motorhome. 1978 he reports back with "An Enemy of the People", which was shown just for a short period in theaters. In 1980 his last two film were released: "Tom Horn" and "The Hunter". Steve McQueen spent the last years of his life at the side of the model Barbara Minty, whom he met first at the 04. July 1977. When he first took her to his suite in a hotel, there already were waiting two girls, McQueen defused the awkward situation by stating: "Come in, the ladies just wanted to leave."  Nevertheless he knew she wanted to marry this man and several months later she moves to his house in Malibu. Their neighbor there is "The Who" drummer Keith Moon, he angries McQueen by not turning down the lights in his bathroom, which also enlightens McQueens bedroom. One night McQueen grabs one of his rifles, aims and turns off the disturbing light with a single shot. After that he indulges himself with a cold beer and enjoys a night without further annoyances. McQueen at this time had no interest in the Hollywood life anymore. He wanted to learn how to fly, and as he is stressed by hopping from airport to his house and back, he gets a bed and a kitchen installed in his hangar. He convinces Barbara to move in there. In a later interview she claimed that she has never seen him luckier than during these days.  Flying became a big ambition of McQueen, at the time of his death he owned several planes. On the set of "The Hunter" (December 1979) McQueen more and more ofthen feels weak, on first he refuses to involve a doctor, but as it gets worse, he inclines. The diagnosis sweeps the young couple from their feets: McQueen suffers a kind of cancer called mesothelioma. Even worse, he doesn't respond to the chemical treatment methods and large tumors are found in his abdomen. On their ranch in Santa Paula in presence of few friends, Barbara Minty and Steve McQueen marry on the 16th of January 1980. As the doctors he consults, refuse to operate him, because to their estimation his heart would not be strong enough, . But McQueen doesn't give up, on the 3. November he flies to Mexiko to find a doctor to operate him. The operation goes well and the tumor can be removed. On the night from the 6th to 7th November 1980 Steve McQueen dies of cardiac arrest at 03:45 in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. More detailed information on Steve McQueen: Wikipedia International Movie Database stevemcqueen.com AMA Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame

{ 2 comments }