Trivia of Steve McQueen

Trivia of Steve McQueen

*McQueen joined the Marine Corps at age 17 and worked as a tank driver and mechanic. He earned a commendation for rescuing five Marines during a training accident.He was confined to base for 41 days and fined $90 for being absent without leave (AWOL) from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (Some sources indicate he was AWOL for as long as 21 days [3 weeks] but the exact amount of time he was AWOL is unconfirmed.) He avoided a dishonorable discharge and later took advantage of the GI Bill's education benefits to study at the Actors Studio in New York.

*His first lead role was in the low-budget sci-fi film The Blob (1958).He was playing a teenage high-school student, but he was actually 28 years old.Steve McQueen was offered $2,500 or 10% of the profits. He took the $2,500 because the film wasn't expected to make much. The film ultimately grossed $4 million.

*The King of Cool" loved motorcycles. Early in his career, McQueen found a love for Harley-Davidson and Triumph motorcycles. Flash forward to a few years later and McQueen began to travel and compete in motorcycle races.While shooting for the 1963 film, The Great Escape, McQueen insisted that there would be no stunt double and he would do his own stunts. The biggest stunt of the entire film was a 60 foot jump on a motorcyle. Sadly, in this attempt McQueen crashed and a stunt double was finally allowed. McQueen owned over 200 motorcycles.

*Was offered the co-starring role in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). However, he was still under contract for his television series Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958), which prevented him from appearing. The role eventually went to George Peppard.

*He followed a daily two-hour exercise regimen, involving weightlifting and, at one point, running 5 miles (8 km), seven days a week.

*Was originally slated to star with Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); however, due to a disagreement over the billing, he left the project. Ironically, the billing method was used several years later when he and Newman would star in The Towering Inferno (1974), the original script of which called for McQueen's character to have more lines of dialogue than Paul Newman's. McQueen insisted the script be changed so he and Newman would have the same number of lines. He reportedly believed his talent was superior to that of the other actor and wanted the critical criteria to be as equal as possible.

*McQueen and Bruce Lee were friends at a time Lee was gaining popularity as the co-star of The Green Hornet, the mid-1960s action series that aspired to emulate the success of Batman. According to Lee biographer Matthew Polly, Lee was intent on acquiring a Porsche 911S Targa like the one owned by McQueen. But while McQueen was an avid racing fan and skilled driver, Lee was not. To make sure Lee understood the risk involved with the fast car, McQueen took him out in the Santa Monica Mountains, which featured steep cliff drops, and proceeded to slide the car and do 180-degree turns. Lee eventually wound up huddled on the floor, screaming at McQueen to stop.