Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980)[4] was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the 1960s and 1970s. He was nicknamed the "King of Cool" and used the alias Harvey Mushman in motor races.
In 1974, McQueen became the highest-paid movie star in the world, although he did not act in film for another four years. He was combative with directors and producers, but his popularity placed him in high demand and enabled him to command the largest salaries.[5]
Early life
Terrence Stephen McQueen was born to a single mother on March 24, 1930, at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis.[6][7][8] McQueen, of Scottish descent, was raised a Roman Catholic.[9][10] McQueen's father, William McQueen, a stunt pilot for a barnstorming flying circus, left his mother, Julia Ann (or Julianne) Crawford,[6][11]: 9 six months after meeting her.[7][12] Several biographers have stated that Julia Ann was an alcoholic.[11]: 72 [13][14]: 7–8 [15] Unable to cope with caring for a small child, she left the boy with her parents (Victor and Lillian) in Slater, Missouri, in 1933. As the Great Depression worsened, McQueen and his grandparents moved in with Lillian's brother Claude and his family at their farm in Slater.[7] McQueen later said that he had good memories of living on the farm, noting that his great-uncle Claude "was a very good man, very strong, very fair; I learned a lot from him".[7]
Claude gave McQueen a red tricycle on his fourth birthday, a gift that McQueen subsequently credited with sparking his early interest in car racing.[7] McQueen's mother married, and when the boy was eight, she brought him from the farm to live with her and her new husband in Indianapolis. His great-uncle Claude gave McQueen a special gift at his departure. "The day I left the farm," he recalled, "Uncle Claude gave me a personal going-away present—a gold pocket watch, with an inscription inside the case." The inscription read: "To Steve – who has been a son to me."[14]
Dyslexic and partially deaf due to a childhood ear infection,[7] McQueen did not adjust well to school or his new life. His stepfather beat him to such an extent that at the age of nine, he left home to live on the streets.[13] He later recalled, "When a kid doesn't have any love when he's small, he begins to wonder if he's good enough. My mother didn't love me, and I didn't have a father. I thought, 'Well, I must not be very good.'"[16] Soon, he was running with a street gang and committing acts of petty crime.[7] Unable to control his behavior, his mother sent him back to his grandparents and great-uncle in Slater.[citation needed]
When McQueen was 12, Julia wrote to her uncle Claude, asking that her son be returned to her again to live in Los Angeles, where she lived with her second husband. By McQueen's own account, he and his new stepfather "locked horns immediately".[7] McQueen recalls him being "a prime son of a bitch" who was not averse to using his fists on McQueen and his mother.[7] As McQueen began to rebel again, he was sent back to live with Claude for a final time.[7] At age 14, he left Claude's farm without saying goodbye and joined a circus for a short time.[7] He drifted back to his mother and stepfather in Los Angeles—resuming his life as a gang member and petty criminal.[17] McQueen was caught stealing hubcaps by the police and handed over to his stepfather, who beat him severely. He threw the youth down a flight of stairs. McQueen looked up at his stepfather and said, "You lay your stinking hands on me again and I swear, I'll kill you."[7]
After this incident, McQueen's stepfather persuaded his mother to sign a court order stating that McQueen was incorrigible, remanding him to the California Junior Boys Republic in Chino.[7] There, McQueen began to change and mature. He was not popular with the other boys at first:
Say the boys had a chance once a month to load into a bus and go into town to see a movie. And they lost out because one guy in the bungalow didn't get his work done right. Well, you can pretty well guess they're gonna have something to say about that. I paid my dues with the other fellows quite a few times. I got my lumps, no doubt about it. The other guys in the bungalow had ways of paying you back for interfering with their well-being.[18]
McQueen gradually became a role model and was elected to the Boys Council, a group who set the rules and regulations governing the boys' lives.[7] He left the Boys Republic at age 16. When he later became famous as an actor, he regularly returned to talk to resident boys, and retained a lifelong association with the center.[19]
At age 16, McQueen returned to live with his mother, who had moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. There he met two sailors from the Merchant Marine and decided to sign on to a ship bound for the Dominican Republic.[7] Once there, he abandoned his new post, eventually being employed in a brothel.[13] Later, McQueen made his way to Texas and drifted from job to job, including selling pens at a traveling carnival and working as a lumberjack in Canada. He was arrested for vagrancy in the Deep South, and served a 30-day assignment on a chain gang.[20]
Military service
In 1947, after receiving permission from his mother (since he was not yet 18 years old), McQueen enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was sent to Parris Island for boot camp.[2]: 106 [21][22] He was promoted to private first class and assigned to an armored unit.[7] He initially struggled with conforming to the discipline of the service and was demoted to private seven times. He took an unauthorized absence, failing to return after a weekend pass expired. He was caught by the shore patrol while staying with a girlfriend (Barbara Ross) for two weeks. After resisting arrest, he was sentenced to 41 days in the brig.[7]
After this, McQueen resolved to focus his energies on self-improvement and embraced the Marines' discipline. He saved the lives of five other Marines during an Arctic exercise, pulling them from a tank before it broke through ice into the sea.[7][23] He was assigned to the honor guard responsible for guarding the presidential yacht of U.S. President Harry S. Truman.[7]
McQueen served until 1950, when he was honorably discharged.[2]: 106 [21][22] He later said he had enjoyed his time in the Marines.[24] He remembered his period with the Marines as a formative time in his life, saying, "The Marines made a man out of me. I learned how to get along with others, and I had a platform to jump off of."[25]
Long enamored of cars and motorcycles, McQueen began to earn money by competing in weekend motorcycle races at Long Island City Raceway.[where?] He purchased the first two of many motorcycles, a Harley-Davidson and a Triumph.[12] He soon became an excellent racer, winning about $100 each weekend (equivalent to $1,100 in 2023).[7][29] He appeared as a musical judge in an episode of ABC's Jukebox Jury, which aired in the 1953–1954 season.[30]
In late 1955, McQueen left New York and headed for Los Angeles. He moved into a house on Vestal Avenue in the Echo Park area, and sought acting jobs in Hollywood.[31]
McQueen's first breakout role came on television. He appeared on Dale Robertson's NBCWestern series Tales of Wells Fargo as Bill Longley. Elkins, then McQueen's manager, successfully lobbied Vincent M. Fennelly, producer of the Western series Trackdown, to have McQueen read for the part of bounty hunter Josh Randall. He first appeared in Season 1, Episode 21, of Trackdown in 1958. He appeared as Randall in that episode, cast opposite series lead Robert Culp, a former New York motorcycle racing buddy. McQueen appeared again on Trackdown in Episode 31 of the first season, in which he played twin brothers, one of whom was an outlaw sought by Culp's character, Hoby Gilman.
McQueen next filmed a pilot episode for what became the series, Wanted Dead or Alive, which aired on CBS in September 1958. It became his breakout role.
In interviews associated with the DVD release of Wanted: Dead or Alive, Robert Culp of Trackdown claimed credit for bringing McQueen to Hollywood and landing him the part of Randall. He said he taught McQueen the "art of the fast-draw". Culp said that by the second day of filming, McQueen beat him at it.
McQueen became a household name as a result of the series.[7] Randall's special holster held a sawed-off.44–40Winchester rifle (nicknamed the "Mare's Leg") instead of the six-gun carried by the typical Western character, although the cartridges in the gunbelt were dummy .45-70, chosen because they "looked tougher".
As noted in the three-part DVD special feature on the background of the series, the generally negative image of the bounty hunter added to the antihero image infused with mystery and detachment that made this show stand out from the typical TV Western. The 94 episodes that ran from 1958 until early 1961 kept McQueen steadily employed, and he became a fixture at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, where much of the outdoor action for Wanted: Dead or Alive was shot.
At age 29, McQueen got a significant break when Frank Sinatra removed Sammy Davis Jr. from the film Never So Few after Davis supposedly made some mildly negative remarks about Sinatra in a radio interview, and Davis's role went to McQueen. Sinatra saw something special in McQueen and ensured that the young actor got plenty of closeups in a role that earned McQueen favorable reviews. McQueen's character, Bill Ringa, was never more comfortable than when driving at high speed—in this case in a Jeep—or handling a switchblade or a tommy gun.
After Never So Few, the film's director John Sturges cast McQueen in his next movie, promising to "give him the camera". The Magnificent Seven (1960), in which he played Vin Tanner and starred with Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Horst Buchholz and James Coburn, became McQueen's first major hit and led to his withdrawal from Wanted: Dead or Alive. McQueen's focused portrayal of the taciturn second lead catapulted his career. His added touches in many of the shots (such as twirling a shotgun around before loading it, repeatedly checking his gun while in the background of a shot, and wiping his hat rim) annoyed top-billed Brynner, who protested that McQueen was stealing scenes.[7] (In his autobiography,[33] Eli Wallach reports struggling to conceal his amusement while watching the filming of the funeral procession scene in which Brynner's and McQueen's characters first meet. Brynner was furious at McQueen's shotgun round-twirl, which effectively diverted the viewer's attention to McQueen. Brynner refused to draw his gun in the same scene with McQueen, knowing that his character would probably be outdrawn.[7])
McQueen played the top-billed lead role in the next big Sturges film, 1963's The Great Escape, Hollywood's fictional depiction of the true story of a historic mass escape from a World War IIPOW camp, Stalag Luft III. Insurance concerns prevented McQueen from performing the film's notable motorcycle leap, which was done by his friend and fellow cycle enthusiast Bud Ekins, who resembled McQueen from a distance.[34] When Johnny Carson later tried to congratulate McQueen for the jump during a broadcast of The Tonight Show, McQueen said, "It wasn't me. That was Bud Ekins." This film established McQueen's box-office clout and secured his status as a superstar.[35]
He followed his Oscar nomination with 1968's Bullitt – one of his best-known films, and his personal favorite – which co-starred Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn and Don Gordon. It featured an unprecedented (and endlessly imitated) car chase through San Francisco. Although McQueen did the driving that appeared in closeups, his was about 10% of what is seen in the film's car chase. The rest of the driving by McQueen's character was done by stunt drivers Bud Ekins and Loren Janes.[36] McQueen's character drove a 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390, while the antagonist's black Dodge Charger was driven by veteran stunt driver Bill Hickman. McQueen, his stunt drivers and Hickman spent several days before the scene was shot practicing high-speed, close-quarters driving.[37]Bullitt went so far over budget that Warner Bros. canceled the contract on the rest of his films, seven in all.
When Bullitt became a huge box-office success, Warner Bros. tried to woo him back, but he refused, and his next film was made with an independent studio and released by United Artists. For the film, McQueen went for a change of image, playing a debonair role as a wealthy executive in The Thomas Crown Affair with Faye Dunaway in 1968. The following year, he made the Southern period piece, The Reivers.
1970s
In 1971, McQueen starred in the auto-racing drama Le Mans, which received mixed reviews, followed by Junior Bonner in 1972, a story about an aging rodeo rider. He collaborated once again with director Sam Peckinpah in The Getaway, where he met his future wife Ali MacGraw. McQueen then took on a physically demanding role as a prisoner on Devil's Island in the 1973 film Papillon, alongside Dustin Hoffman as his character's tragic companion.
By the time of The Getaway, McQueen was the world's highest-paid actor.[38]
In 1974, with Paul Newman, McQueen co-led John Guillermin's disaster film, The Towering Inferno. McQueen played a fire chief assigned to stop a fire in a skyscraper. He was originally asked to play the architect who is the other hero of the story, but he requested to play the fire chief, thinking the part was "showier". The role of the architect went to Newman, a part that had more lines, hence McQueen requested more dialogue to even it out. McQueen was paid $1,000,000 plus a percentage of the gross, and he insisted on doing his own stunts. The film was a success, and its North American gross was $55,000,000.[39]
After this, McQueen disappeared from the public eye to focus on motorcycle racing, traveling around the country in a motor home and on his vintage Indian motorcycles. He did not return to acting until 1978 with An Enemy of the People, playing against type as a bearded, bespectacled 19th-century doctor in this adaptation of the Henrik Ibsen play. The film was never properly released theatrically, but it has appeared occasionally on PBS.
McQueen's final two films, both released in 1980, were loosely based on true stories: Tom Horn, a Western adventure about a former Army scout turned professional gunman who works for big cattle ranchers hunting down rustlers, and later hanged for murder in the shooting death of a sheepherder; and The Hunter, an urban action movie about a modern-day bounty hunter.
According to director John Frankenheimer and actor James Garner in bonus interviews for the DVD of the film Grand Prix, McQueen was Frankenheimer's first choice for the lead role of American Formula One race car driver Pete Aron. Frankenheimer was unable to meet with McQueen to offer him the role, so he sent Edward Lewis, his business partner and the producer of Grand Prix. McQueen and Lewis instantly clashed, the meeting was a disaster, and the role went to Garner.
Later, in an interview, Garner said:
Oh, McQueen. Crazy McQueen. McQueen and I got along pretty good. McQueen looked at me kind of like an older brother, and he didn't want to have much to do with me, till he got in trouble, then he'd call. He knew he could trust me to tell him just what I thought. A lot of people wouldn't do that. And then we had... it wasn't a falling out... as I did Grand Prix, Steve was originally slated to do that movie, but he couldn't get along with Frankenheimer. So that lasted about thirty minutes, and Steve was out, and I was in. And Steve went over to do Sand Pebbles, which went about a year longer than they wanted to go. Big production, spent a lot of money and stayed over in [Taiwan] too long. So, when I got the part in Grand Prix, I called him, in Taiwan. and I said, "Steve, I want to tell you, before you hear it from somebody else, that I'm going to do Grand Prix." Well, there was about a twenty dollar silence there, on the telephone. He didn't know what to say, and finally said "Oh, that's great, great, I'm glad to hear it." Because, he planned to do Le Mans, which was another title at the time, but we were going to be out, and Grand Prix released before he ever even got to that film. But he said, "Great, great, well, I'm glad to hear it; that's good. You know, if anybody's gonna do it, I'm glad, you're doin' it."
He didn't talk to me for about a year and half, and we were next-door neighbors, so it did get to him a little bit. Finally, his son, Chad, made him take him to go see Grand Prix. And from that time on, we were talking again. But Steve was a wild kid. He didn't know where he wanted to be or what he wanted to do.[45]
Director Steven Spielberg said McQueen was his first choice for the character of Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. According to Spielberg in a documentary on the film's DVD release, Spielberg met him at a bar, where McQueen drank beer after beer. Before leaving, McQueen told Spielberg that he could not accept the role because he was unable to cry on cue.[46][47] Spielberg offered to take the crying scene out of the story, but McQueen demurred, saying that it was the best scene in the script. The role eventually went to Richard Dreyfuss.
William Friedkin wanted to cast McQueen as the lead in the action thriller film Sorcerer (1977). Sorcerer was to be filmed primarily on location in the Dominican Republic, but McQueen did not want to be separated from Ali MacGraw for the duration of the shoot. McQueen then asked Friedkin to let MacGraw act as a producer, so she could be present during principal photography. Friedkin would not agree to this condition, and cast Roy Scheider instead of McQueen. Friedkin later remarked that not casting McQueen hurt the film's performance at the box-office.
Spy novelist Jeremy Duns revealed that McQueen was considered for the lead role in a film adaptation of The Diamond Smugglers, written by James Bond creator Ian Fleming. McQueen would play John Blaize, a secret agent gone undercover to infiltrate a diamond-smuggling ring in South Africa. There were complications with the project, which was eventually shelved, although a 1964 screenplay does exist.[48]
McQueen and Barbra Streisand were tentatively cast in The Gauntlet (1977), but the pair could not get along and both withdrew from the project[13]—though according to one biographer, they had briefly dated in 1971.[49] The lead roles were filled by Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
McQueen expressed interest in the Rambo character in First Blood when David Morrell's novel appeared in 1972, but the producers rejected him because of his age.[50][51]
He was offered the title role in The Bodyguard (to star Diana Ross) when it was proposed in 1976, but the film did not reach production until years after McQueen's death; the film eventually starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in 1992.[52]
Quigley Down Under was in development as early as 1974, with McQueen in consideration for the lead, but by the time production began in 1980, McQueen was ill. The project was scrapped until a decade later, when Tom Selleck starred.[53]
McQueen was offered the lead in Raise the Titanic, but felt the script was flat. He was under contract to Irwin Allen after appearing in The Towering Inferno and offered a part in a sequel in 1980, which he turned down. The film was scrapped and Newman was brought in by Allen to make When Time Ran Out, which was a box-office bomb. McQueen died shortly after passing on The Towering Inferno 2.[citation needed]
Stunts, motor racing and flying
McQueen with two forms of transportation – his horse, Doc, and his Jaguar XKSS (1960)
McQueen was an avid motorcycle and race car enthusiast. When he had the opportunity to drive in a movie, he performed many of his own stunts, including some of the car chases in Bullitt and the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape.[54] Although the jump over the fence in The Great Escape was done by Bud Ekins for insurance purposes, McQueen did have considerable screen time riding his 650 cc Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle. It was difficult to find riders as skilled as McQueen.[55] At one point, using editing, McQueen is seen in a German uniform chasing himself on another bike. Around half of the driving in Bullitt was performed by Loren Janes.[36]
McQueen and John Sturges planned to make Day of the Champion,[56] a movie about Formula One racing, but McQueen was busy with the delayed The Sand Pebbles. They had a contract with the German Nürburgring, and after John Frankenheimer shot scenes there for Grand Prix, the reels were turned over to Sturges. Frankenheimer was ahead in schedule, and the McQueen-Sturges project was called off.[citation needed]
McQueen competed in off-road motorcycle racing, frequently running a BSA Hornet and using alias Harvey Mushman.[14] He was also set to co-drive in a Triumph 2500 PI for the British Leyland team in the 1970 London-Mexico rally, but had to turn it down due to movie commitments.[14] His first off-road motorcycle was a Triumph 500 cc, purchased from Ekins. McQueen raced in many top off-road races on the West Coast, including the Baja 1000, the Mint 400, and the Elsinore Grand Prix.
In 1964, McQueen and Ekins were part of a four-rider (plus one reserve) first-ever official U.S. team-entry into the Silver Vase category of the International Six Days Trial (ISDT),[61] an Enduro-type off-road motorcycling event held that year in Erfurt, East Germany.[62] The "A" team arrived in England in late August to collect their mix of 649 cc and 490 cc twins from the Triumph factory before modifying them for off-road use.[61] Initially let down with transport arrangements by a long-established English motorcycle dealer, Triumph dealer H&L Motors stepped-in to provide a suitable vehicle.[63] On arrival in Germany, the team, with their English temporary manager, were surprised to find that a Vase "B" team, comprising expat Americans living in Europe, had entered themselves privately to ride European-sourced machinery.[64]
McQueen's ISDT competition number was 278, which was based on the trials starting order.[65] Both teams crashed repeatedly.[64][66] McQueen retired due to irreparable crash damage,[67] and Ekins withdrew with a broken leg, both on day three. Only one member of the "B" team finished the six-day event.[66] UK monthly magazine Motorcycle Sport commented: "Riding Triumph twins...[the team] rode everywhere with great dash, if not in admirable style, falling off frequently and obviously out for six days' of sport without too many worries about who was going to win (they knew it would not be them)".[67]
McQueen designed a motorsports bucket seat, for which a patent was issued in 1971.[60]: 93 [69]
In a segment filmed for The Ed Sullivan Show, McQueen drove Sullivan around a desert area in a dune buggy at high speed. Afterward, Sullivan said, "That was a 'helluva' ride!"
By testimony of McQueen's son, Chad, Steve owned around 100 classic motorcycles, as well as around 100 exotic and vintage cars, including:
1958 Porsche 356 Speedster 1600 Super (black exterior, interior and top) (McQueen drove the car in numerous SCCA racing events) (now in property of his son Chad)[72][73]
1953 Siata 208s (McQueen replaced the Siata badges with Ferrari badges and called it his "little Ferrari")[75]
1967 Mini Cooper-S (McQueen had the car customized by Lee Brown with changes including a single foglight, a wood dash, a recessed antenna and a custom brown paint job)[76]
1952 Chevrolet 3800 pickup camper conversion (McQueen used the truck for cross-country camping trips. It was the last car he rode in before his death)[78]
1958 GMC Pickup Truck (Reportedly one of McQueen's favorite cars, it is powered by a 336 Ci V8 which has been modified. The tag "MQ3188" is a reference to the ID number assigned to him when he was in reform school)[81]
1969 Chevrolet Baja Hickey race truck (originally debuted at the 1968 Mexican 1000 Rally and was driven by Cliff Coleman, Johnny Diaz, and Mickey Thompson and others during its racing career; said to be the first truck specifically constructed by General Motors for use in the Mexican 1000; McQueen bought it from General Motors in 1970)[84]
In spite of numerous attempts, McQueen was never able to purchase the Ford Mustang GT 390 he drove in Bullitt, which featured a modified drivetrain that suited McQueen's driving style. One of the two Mustangs used in the film was badly damaged, judged beyond repair, and believed to have been scrapped until it surfaced in Mexico in 2017,[85] while the other one, which McQueen attempted to purchase in 1977,[86] is hidden from the public eye. At the 2018 North American International Auto Show the GT 390 was displayed, in its current non-restored condition, with the 2019 Ford Mustang "Bullitt".[87]
On November 2, 1956, he married Filipino actress and dancer Neile Adams,[88] with whom he had a daughter, Terry Leslie (June 5, 1959 – March 19, 1998),[89][90] and a son, Chad (December 28, 1960 – September 11, 2024).[91] McQueen and Adams divorced on March 14, 1972.[89] In her autobiography, My Husband, My Friend, Adams stated that she got an abortion in 1971 when their marriage was on the rocks.[32]
One of McQueen's four grandchildren is actor Steven R. McQueen (via son Chad), best known for playing Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries and Jimmy Borelli in Chicago Fire.[92] Molly McQueen, an actress and producer known for the web series Reasons I Don’t Have a Boyfriend, is his granddaughter via daughter Terry. [93]
In Cheyenne, Wyoming on July 12, 1973, McQueen married actress Ali MacGraw (his co-star in The Getaway), but their marriage ended in a divorce on August 9, 1978.[99] MacGraw suffered a miscarriage during their marriage.[100] McQueen's closest friend in his last years, martial-arts master Pat Johnson, claimed that MacGraw was the one true love of McQueen's life: "He was madly in love with her until the day he died."[101]
After discovering a mutual interest in racing, McQueen and The Great Escape co-star James Garner became good friends and lived near each other. McQueen recalled:
I could see that Jim was neat around his place. Flowers trimmed, no papers in the yard... grass always cut. So to piss him off, I'd start lobbing empty beer cans down the hill into his driveway. He'd have his drive all spick 'n' span when he left the house, then get home to find all these empty cans. Took him a long time to figure out it was me.[14]
On January 16, 1980, less than 10 months before his death, McQueen married fashion model Barbara Minty.[103] Barbara Minty, in her book Steve McQueen: The Last Mile, wrote of McQueen becoming an Evangelical Christian toward the end of his life.[104] This was due in part to the influences of his flying instructor, Sammy Mason, Mason's son Pete, and Barbara herself.[105] McQueen attended his local church, Ventura Missionary Church, and was visited by evangelist Billy Graham shortly before his death.[105][106]
Lifestyle
McQueen's mug shot booking photographs for DUI in Alaska (1972)
McQueen followed a daily two-hour exercise regimen involving weightlifting and, at one point, running 5 miles (8 km), seven days a week.[107] McQueen learned the martial art Tang Soo Do from ninth-degree black beltPat E. Johnson.[7]
According to photographer William Claxton, McQueen smoked marijuana almost every day. Biographer Marc Eliot stated that McQueen used a large amount of cocaine in the early 1970s. He was also a heavy cigarette smoker. McQueen sometimes drank to excess; he was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1972.[108]
Manson connection
Two months after Charles Manson incited the Tate murders, including McQueen's friends Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring, the media reported police had found a hit list with McQueen's name on it. According to his first wife, McQueen began carrying a handgun at all times in public, including at Sebring's funeral.[109]
Charitable causes
McQueen had an unusual reputation for demanding free items in bulk from studios when agreeing to do a film, such as electric razors, jeans and other items. It was later discovered McQueen donated these things to the Boys Republicreformatory school,[110] where he had spent time during his teen years.
McQueen developed a persistent cough in early 1978. He gave up cigarettes and underwent antibiotic treatments without improvement. His shortness of breath grew more pronounced and on December 22, 1979, after filming The Hunter, a biopsy revealed pleuralmesothelioma,[113] a cancer associated with asbestos exposure for which there is no known cure.
A few months later, McQueen gave a medical interview in which he blamed his condition on asbestos exposure.[114] McQueen believed that asbestos used in movie sound stage insulation and race-drivers' protective suits and helmets could have been involved, but he thought it more likely that his illness was a direct result of massive exposure while removing asbestos lagging (insulation) from pipes aboard a troop ship while he served in the Marines.[115][116]
By February 1980, evidence of widespread metastasis was found. He tried to keep the condition a secret, but on March 11, 1980, the National Enquirer disclosed that he had "terminal cancer".[117][118] In July 1980, McQueen traveled to Rosarito Beach, Mexico, for unconventional treatment after U.S. doctors told him they could do nothing to prolong his life.[119] Controversy arose over the trip because McQueen sought treatment from William Donald Kelley, who was promoting a variation of the Gerson therapy that used coffee enemas, frequent washing with shampoos, daily injections of fluid containing live cells from cattle and sheep, massages, and laetrile, a reputed anti-cancer drug available in Mexico but long known to be both toxic and ineffective in treating cancer.[120][121][122] McQueen paid for Kelley's treatments himself in cash, which were said to have been upwards of $40,000 per month (equivalent to $148,000 in 2023) during his three-month stay in Mexico. Kelley's only medically related license (until being revoked in 1976) had been for orthodontics, a field of dentistry.[123] Kelley's methods caused a sensation in the traditional and tabloid press when it became known that McQueen was a patient.[124][125]
McQueen returned to the U.S. in early October. Despite metastasis of the cancer throughout his body, Kelley publicly announced that McQueen would be completely cured and could return to normal life. However, his condition soon worsened, and huge tumors developed in his abdomen.[123]
In late October 1980, McQueen flew to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, to have an abdominal tumor on his liver (weighing around 5 lbs/2.3 kg) removed, despite warnings from his U.S. doctors that the tumor was inoperable and his heart could not withstand the surgery.[14]: 212–13 [123] Using the name "Samuel Sheppard", McQueen checked into a small Juárez clinic where the doctors and staff were unaware of his actual identity.[126] On November 7, 1980, McQueen died of a heart attack at 3:45 a.m. at a Juárez hospital, 12 hours after surgery to remove or reduce numerous metastatic tumors in his neck and abdomen.[14] He was 50 years old.[127] According to the El Paso Times, McQueen died in his sleep.[128]
Leonard DeWitt of the Ventura Missionary Church presided over McQueen's memorial service.[104][105] McQueen was cremated, and his ashes were spread in the Pacific Ocean.
Legacy
The photo on McQueen's international driver's license
In 2007, 27 years after his death, Forbes said McQueen remained a popular star, was still the "King of Cool", and was one of the highest-earning dead celebrities. A rights-management agency head credited Branded Entertainment Network (called Corbis at the time) with maximizing the profitability of his estate by limiting the licensing of McQueen's image, thereby avoiding the commercial saturation of other dead celebrities' estates. As of 2007, McQueen's estate entered the top 10 of highest-earning dead celebrities.[129]
In November 1999, McQueen was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. He was credited with contributions including financing the film On Any Sunday, supporting a team of off-road riders, and enhancing the public image of motorcycling overall.[131]
The Beech Grove, Indiana, Public Library formally dedicated the Steve McQueen Birthplace Collection on March 16, 2010, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of McQueen's birth on March 24, 1930.[132]
On September 28, 2017, there was a selected showing in some theaters of his life story and spiritual quest, Steve McQueen – American Icon.[135] There was an encore presentation on October 10, 2017.[136] The film received mostly positive reviews.[137] Kenneth R. Morefield of Christianity Today said it "offers a timeless reminder that even those among us living the most celebrated lives often long for the peace and sense of purpose that only God can provide".[138] Michael Foust of Wordslingers called it "one of the most powerful and inspiring documentaries I've ever seen".[139]
The Academy Film Archive houses the Steve McQueen-Neile Adams Collection, which consists of personal prints and home movies.[140] The archive has preserved several of McQueen's home movies.[141]
Ford commercials
In 1998, director Paul Street created a commercial for the Ford Puma. Footage was shot in modern-day San Francisco, set to the theme music from Bullitt. Archive footage of McQueen was used to digitally superimpose him driving and exiting the car in settings reminiscent of the film. The Puma shares the same number plate of the classic fastback Mustang used in Bullitt, and as he parks in the garage (next to the Mustang), he pauses and looks meaningfully at a motorcycle tucked in the corner, similar to that used in The Great Escape.[142]
In 2005, Ford used his likeness again, in a commercial for the 2005 Mustang. In the commercial, a farmer builds a winding racetrack, which he circles in the 2005 Mustang. Out of the cornfield comes McQueen. The farmer tosses his keys to McQueen, who drives off in the new Mustang. McQueen's likeness was created using a body double (Dan Holsten) and digital editing. Ford secured the rights to McQueen's likeness from the actor's estate licensing agent for an undisclosed sum.[citation needed]
At the Detroit Auto Show in January 2018, Ford unveiled the new 2019 Mustang Bullitt. The company called on McQueen's granddaughter, actress Molly McQueen, to make the announcement. After a brief rundown of the tribute car's particulars, a short film was shown in which Molly was introduced to the actual Bullitt Mustang, a 1968 Mustang Fastback with a 390 cubic-inch engine and a four-speed manual gearbox. That car has been in possession of the same family since 1974 and hidden away from the public until then, when it was driven out from under the press stand and up the center aisle of Ford's booth to much fanfare.[143]
Memorabilia
Motorcycles and cars
McQueen drove a Porsche 917 Chassis 022 extensively in Le Mans. After being sold and raced in the 1970s, Jerry Seinfeld acquired 022 in 2002, who asked Joe Cavaglieri to fully restore it to the 1971 film era in Gulf Porsche team livery. 022 will be auctioned on 18 January 2025 by Mecum Auctions. 022 now has a dedicated webpage and video which features interviews with Seinfeld, Porsche Team members and grandson Chase McQueen. The 1970 Porsche 911S purchased while making the film Le Mans and appearing in the opening sequence was sold at auction in August 2011 for $1.375 million.
One of his motorcycles, a 1937 Crocker, sold for a world-record price of $276,500 at the same auction. McQueen's 1963 metallic-brown Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Berlinetta sold for US$2.31 million at auction on August 16, 2007.[70] Except for three motorcycles sold with other memorabilia in 2006,[144] most of McQueen's collection of 130 motorcycles was sold four years after his death.[145][146]
From 1995 to 2011, McQueen's red 1957 fuel-injected Chevrolet convertible was displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in a special Cars of Steve McQueen exhibit. It is now in the collection of actress Ruth Buzzi and her husband Kent Perkins. McQueen's British racing green 1956 Jaguar XKSS is located in the Petersen Automotive Museum and is in drivable condition, having been driven by Jay Leno in an episode of Jay Leno's Garage. In August 2019, Mecum Auctions announced it would auction the Bullitt Mustang Hero Car at its Kissimmee auction, held January 2–12, 2020.[147] The car sold without reserve for $3.4 million ($3.74 million after commissions and fees).
Watches
McQueen was a sponsored ambassador for Heuer watches. In the 1971 film Le Mans, he famously wore a blue-faced Monaco Ref. 1133, which led to its cult status among watch collectors, purchasing six watches of the same model for the shoot of the film. On December 12, 2020, one of the last six models and one of two held in private hands was sold for a record US$2.208 million at a Phillips auction in New York City, becoming the most expensive Heuer watch sold at auction.[148] Tag Heuer continues to promote its Monaco range with McQueen's image.[149]
The Rolex Explorer II, Reference 1655, known as Rolex Steve McQueen in the horology collectors' world, the Rolex Submariner, Reference 5512, which McQueen was often photographed wearing in private moments, sold for $234,000 at auction on June 11, 2009, a world-record price for the type.[150][151][152]
In June 2018, Phillips announced McQueen's Rolex Submariner[153][154] to hit the auction block in September that year. However, there was controversy whether the watch was his personal watch worn by McQueen himself or if the watch was bought, engraved, then gifted.[155] Phillips later removed the watch from the auction block.
Among McQueen's other watches was a Hanhart 417 chronograph.[156]
^Leith, William (November 26, 2001). "Easy rider". New Statesman. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2010. Steve knew what it was like to be dyslexic, deaf, illegitimate, backward, beaten, abused, deserted and raised Catholic in a Protestant heartland.
^Karlen, Neal, The Story of Yiddish: How a Mish-Mosh of Languages Saved the Jews, William Morrow, 2008, ISBN0-06-083711-X
^ abSaint James, Sterling (December 10, 2014). Gia Scala: The First Gia. Parhelion House. ISBN978-0-9893695-1-0.
^"CPI Inflation Calculator". U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. August 17, 2011. Archived from the original on February 20, 2013. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
^Jukebox Jury: Research Video: Music Footing Licensing Agency and Vintage Television Footage Archive
^ abMotor Cycle, August 27, 1964. p.451. On the Rough by Peter Fraser. "All of them have been riding regularly in US Enduros and scrambles, but Bud is the only one with previous ISDT experience. He won golds last year and in 1962". Accessed December 7, 2015
^ abMotor Cycle, September 24, 1964. pp.578-580. ISDT Round up by Peter Fraser. Accessed December 7, 2015
^ abMotorcycle Sport, November 1964, pp.411–418 "Steve McQueen, last man on the course after a long stop to repair a broken chain, was speeding along to catch up when he collided with a motorcyclist; the Triumph was sadly mangled, the front fork doubled under the frame". Accessed December 7, 2015.
^Sports Illustrated 35:8 (23 August 1971), cover photograph by Heinz Kluetmeier. The article within was “Harvey on the Lam,” beginning on page 54.
^Weller, Sheila (March 2010). "Once in love with Ali". Vanityfair. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^All Movie Guide (2009). "title". American Movie Classics Company LLC. Archived from the original on 25 November 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
^ abMcQueen, Barbara (2007). – Steve McQueen: The Last Mile. – Deerfield, Illinois: Dalton Watson Fine Books. – ISBN978-1-85443-227-8.
^ abcJohnson, Brett. – "Big legend in a small town – Action film hero lived quiet life in Santa Paula before 1980 death." – Ventura County Star. – January 13, 2008.
^Lerner, Barron H. (November 15, 2005). "McQueen's Legacy of Laetrile". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
^ abcWorthington, Roger. "A Candid Interview with Barbara McQueen 26 Years After Mesothelioma Claimed the Life of Husband and Hollywood Icon, Steve McQueen". The Law Office of Roger G. Worthington P.C. October 27, 2006.
^European Stars and Stripes, November 9, 1980, p. 2.
^Elyria (November 8, 1980), Ohio Chronicle Telegram, p. C-5.
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