The King of Cool
His mother sent him to live with an uncle in Slater, Mo., where Steve lived until he was twelve.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ After this, he was in and out of trouble, hanging out with gangs and the like.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½”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.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½(The First Steve McQueen Site)
After leaving Slater, where he got along with his uncle, he attempted to live again with his mother in Los Angeles, but she would not tolerate his unrulyÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½behavior, sending him to the California Junior Boys Republic in Chino, which is a home for wayward boys.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ He tried to run away, but was unsuccessful and forced to return.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Later in life, after his film career success, he would credit this boys home for “straightening him out.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ He donated money to the school more than once, and visited on occasion, establishing a scholarship in his own name, and even left $200,000 to the Boys Republic in his will.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ In 1983, the Steve McQueen Recreation Center was dedicated in his honor.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Inside the center, a bronze palque reads:
“Steve McQueen came here as a troubled boy but left here a man. He went on to achieve stardom in motion pictures but returned to this campus often to share of himself and his fortune. His legacy is hope and inspiration to those students here now, and those yet to come.” (The First Steve McQueen Site)
He never established a truly close relationship with his mother, but was upset by her death to the point of tears.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ According to first wife, Neile, he was truly pained by her death, despite the fact they didn’t communicate often, and that he never really forgave her for some of the things she done to him.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
At age 16, Steve would wind up working in a ship called the SS Alpha, which he�¯�¿�½did not like.�¯�¿�½ When the ship, docked in Cuba, Steve left.�¯�¿�½ After travelling the Dominican Republic, he made his way back to the U.S. and worked various odd jobs to survive, and lived his life in a very nomadic fashion.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½
He wound up in Myrtle Beach, engaged in girl-watching for a few months before deciding to enlist in the Marines in April 1947, a month before his 17th birthday.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ He was stubborn, and didn’t conform right away, spending a great amount of time in the brig, but would later redeem himself by saving the lives of 5 men inÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½an accident which occured during a training excercise in the Arctic.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Giving no thought whatsoever to his own life, he jumped in theÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½painfully cold waterÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½after a a transport ship struck a sandbank and flung several tanks and their crews into the freezing water.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ He was thrilled to be chosen as part of the Honor Guard for Harry S. Truman for this act of bravery.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ In 1950, he was honorably discharged.
“When I got out of the Marines,” Steve said, “I went to Texas and worked in the oil fields as a ‘grunt’-a laborer. I went up to Canada, worked as a lumberjack. I went to New York and found a cold-water flat for nineteen dollars a month and I did things like delivering sets for a television store, working in a sandal shop. When you are poor, you’ve got to work for the basics. You can’t do the things you want to do.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ (The First Steve McQueen Site)
He began dating an actress, who suggested acting to him.�¯�¿�½ He was accepted into a famous New York acting school called the Neighborhood Playhouse where he studied for two years.�¯�¿�½ Determined to make it in acting, he pushed himself hard.�¯�¿�½ He later quit after getting a part in Jewish repertory stage production on Second Avenue. It was around this time that he began racing motorcycles, and made extra�¯�¿�½cash from winning races and playing poker.�¯�¿�½ Steve also landed a scholarship to the prestigious Herbert- Bergoff Drama School. And later, he was one of two chosen (out of 2000 applicants) to attend the famous Actors Studio in New York.�¯�¿�½
Broadway was just around the corner when he was called to replace Ben Gazarra in “A Hatful of Rain.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Enter Neile Adams, his soon-to-be-first wife, a successful Broadway actress and dancer.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Their eyesÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½met in a coffee shop the first time, and Neile recalls in her book, My husband My Friend, that after an instant spark, she was warned by her peers to beware of Steve because he “f***ed anything that walked.”Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ They married in San Clemente, CA in 1956.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
The McQueens�¯�¿�½moved to Los Angeles, where Steve took a variety of bit parts and low budget features like The Blob�¯�¿�½before landing a role as Josh Randall on the hit television show Wanted Dead or Alive, which made him a household name, and served as a stepping stone to major success.�¯�¿�½ By the time he landed a part in the major motion picture The Magnificent Seven, he was a star.�¯�¿�½ This led to being the highest paid actor in the sixities and seventies, and he is also known as one of the best actors in film history and his films are considered classics.
He and first wife Neile had two chldren, a daughter Terry, and a son Chad.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ The marriage began to unravel in the late sixties, as Steve’s drug use and womanzingÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½became more pronounced.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ After more than fifteen years, Neile had enough and surprised Steve by filing for divorce.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ They remained close friends until his deathÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½as well as on again/off again lovers even into his second marriage to actress Ali MacGraw, who he met during the filming of their movie The Getaway in 1973.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½
Their marriage was sometimes�¯�¿�½volatile, where son Chad had said he had witnessed�¯�¿�½the couple fighting on several occasions, and Ali even hurling a plate at Steve.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½After only five years, Steve and Ali divorced in 1978.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½He married model Barbara Minty in January 1980, and was married to her until his death in November of the same year.�¯�¿�½�¯�¿�½
Twenty-six years after his untimely death, Steve McQueen continues to draw fans, and remains a pop culture icon.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ You still see his likeness used in modern advertising such as last year’s Mustang Commercial, influenced from his movie Bullitt in1968, which contains one of the most famous car chase scenes in history, where Steve drives a dark green Mustang.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ His face has appeared in ads for Tag Heuer watches, and Absolute vodka.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ He truly was one of the most beloved stars of his generation and still today.
