Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool

[trof]

Tonight at 7:30 CDT on TCM.


"In my own mind, I'm not sure that acting is something for a grown man to be doing."



Steve McQueen was a quirky but extremely popular major star of the 60's, with the highly attractive image of an uncompromising rebel. After achieving fame in the popular 1950's TV series "Wanted: Dead or Alive", Steve McQueen broke into feature films and never looked back.

Steve McQueen's defining role was as a tough San Francisco cop in "Bullitt", which contained the exciting and influential car chase sequence.

He was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer, mesothelioma, which is related to asbestos exposure. He wore an asbestos-insulated racers' suit in his race cars, and possibly was exposed to the harmful insulating material during his stint in the Marines.

Notable films include: "The Great Escape," "The Towering Inferno," and "The Getaway." Steve McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for "The Sand Pebbles."

Not-so-trivial Trivia:
A week before the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off in Bethel, New York, McQueen had been invited for dinner at the Roman Polanski-Sharon Tate home in the Hollywood hills by mutual friend and hairdresser-to the-stars, Jay Sebring. An unexpected rendezvous with a mystery woman prompted him to cancel his appointment. In the wake of the Manson Family Tate-LaBianca murders at, respectively, 10050 Cielo Drive and 3301 Waverly Drive, McQueen would later learn that he was accorded the kind of priority billing for which he was unprepared: he topped Charles Manson's celebrity death list. Thereafter he carried a concealed weapon.

[xmas74]

1. I know the farm that he was supposed to grow up on.

I know quite a few people who either grew up w/ him or remember him as a child.

[trof]

2. Slater, Missouri

Steve McQueen never knew his father. He abandoned Steve six months after he was born on March 24, 1930, in Beech Grove, Indiana. His mother also left him, when he was very young, with his Uncle, who ran a farm in Slater, Missouri. Steve lived there until he was twelve.

"I had to learn to look out for myself when I was a kid," said Steve. "I had no one to talk to. I was all alone. It taught me to be self-reliant."

[xmas74]

4. I lived about 13 miles from Slater, over in Marshall.

He's a legend in that area. Everyone still talks about him to this day.

[Nailzberg]

3. Reminds me of The Tao of Steve

If you haven't seen this movie, you should. It's about channelling your inner Steve McQueen. Good philosophy.

[Bunny]

5. He was definitely cool. Very sexy.

Whew! Is it hot in here???

[SoCalDem]

6. The reason so many of the "old time" actors were cool

was that they were mostly hardscrabble guys without much education.. They actually DID manual labor when they were coming upo, so the actor's life never really felt "comfortable" to them. Most of the "stars" up until the 70's came out of depression/war era childhoods. They really DID grow up poor (most of them).. They managed to parlay their good loooks into fame and fortune, and were grateful for the life they led.

And most of them were MEN, not boys..So many of the "stars" today are hanging onto the fratboy image forever, because that's as deep as they are.:(

[MrSandman]

8. Interesting...

Hadn't given it thought.

Explain the allure of the actresses...Patricia Neal, Lauren Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Lana Turner...?

[nytemare]

7. A cool song as well!

By Sheryl Crow. Great driving music!