Steve McQueen

Few actors have been as charismatic as Steve McQueen, the true flag of the 60s and 70s in the world of cinema. His rebellious character, a certain attitude of carrying an excessive burden of hardships on his shoulders – “people look at my beaten dog eyes and think I’m good”, he himself confessed – and an extreme air of going it alone, soon earned him a reputation. independent star status beyond the cinema spotlight. And if we add to all this the rebellious winds of the time, then we have as a result a true icon of postmodernity.

And it is true that from a young age Terence Steven McQueen – born on March 24, 1930 in Beech Grove, Indiana – was a wayward and rebellious boy. He was abandoned by his father and went with his mother to California. There he was admitted to a school but ended up escaping. Dropping out in the ninth grade, Steve took up whatever job would help him earn a living, including lumberjack and laborer. At the age of seventeen he decided to join the army and enlisted in the navy, but three years later he realized that those rules did not go well with him, so he returned to the street and, after working as a waiter or stevedore, he decided I finally wanted to be an actor. He began taking acting classes in New York at age 22 and at 25 he made his Broadway debut as a stand-in for Ben Gazzara in the playHatful of Rain . Determined to make a name for herself in the world of acting, she applied to Lee Strasberg ‘s legendary Actors Studio . Of the two thousand applications for that year of 1955, the Actor Studio only accepted two, that of Martin Landau and that of Steve McQueen.

Only a year later he made his big screen debut inMarked by Hate , with the leading role of Paul Newman , an actor with whom McQueen always maintained a certain rivalry. In his next role, he already led the cast, although it is true that it was a by-product of series B entitledThe Blob (1958). He later took a risk with television and the experience worked out for him, since his character Josh Randall from the seriesWanted: Dead or Alive lasted until 1961 and made him very popular. He began his collaboration with John Sturges onWhen the blood boils (1959 and fame came to him thanks to the role of Vin eneThe magnificent seven (1960), famous western where there are. Three years later he would expand his legend in the extraordinaryThe great escape The image of McQueen trying to avoid the wire fence on the motorcycle remains famous. That he chose his roles conscientiously can be verified in the five notable and consecutive films that coincide with the peak of his career:The King of the Game (1965), by Norman Jewison ; the westernNevada Smith (1966), by Henry Hathaway ; the war dramaThe Yang-Tzu in Flames (1966), by Robert Wise ; the thrillerThe case of Thomas Crown (1968), again with Norman Jewison; and the police and emblematicBullitt (1969), by Peter Yates .

In the following years, McQueen was not seen as much on the screen and devoted more time to other great passions: racing and martial arts (he was a student and friend of Bruce Lee ). At that time he also learned that his name figured prominently on the list of possible victims of the murderer Charles Manson. So from then on he got hold of a gun and never parted with it. At that time his most outstanding films are the quasi-documentaryThe 24 hours of Le Mans (1971), the moveThe Getaway (1972), by Sam Peckinpah , and the CatastrophicThe Colossus on Fire (1974), in which he demanded to have the same lines of dialogue as his “opponent” Paul Newman. In The Getaway he fell in love with her co-star Ali MacGraw , and married her after divorcing her first wife, Neile Adams, with whom he had two children. And yet another marriage would come, as his union with Ali MacGraw fell apart at only five years. The last role of him in the cinema,Hunter For Hire , dates from 1980. In the twilight of his life, the indefatigable playboy experienced a strong religious conversion and embraced Christianity with renewed energy. He loved verse 3.16 of John: “God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That eternity came to Steve McQueen on November 7, 1980, the date on which lung cancer ended his life.