Thursday 24 March 2022

TERRENCE STEVE MCQUEEN, ANTIHERO & KING OF COOL

Today, The Grandma has been watching some films. She has chosen some interpreted by Steve McQueen, the American actor who was born on a day like today in 1930).

Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930-November 7, 1980) 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 late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was nicknamed the King of Cool and used the alias Harvey Mushman in motor races.

McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles (1966). His other popular films include Love With the Proper Stranger (1963), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Nevada Smith (1966), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Bullitt (1968), Le Mans (1971), The Getaway (1972), and Papillon (1973). In addition, he starred in the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and The Towering Inferno (1974).

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.

More information: Medium

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.

McQueen, of Scottish descent, was raised a Roman Catholic. His parents never married. McQueen's father, William McQueen, a stunt pilot for a barnstorming flying circus, left his mother, Julia Ann Crawford,  six months after meeting her.

Several biographers have stated that his mother Julia Ann was an alcoholic.  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 set in shortly thereafter, McQueen and his grandparents moved in with Lillian's brother Claude and his family at their farm in Slater.

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.

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.

In 1952, with financial assistance under the G.I. Bill, McQueen began studying acting in New York at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse and at HB Studio under Uta Hagen.

McQueen developed a persistent cough in 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 pleural mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure for which there is no known cure.

On November 7, 1980, McQueen died at a Juárez hospital. He was 50 years old.

More information: Hagerty


 I'm not a great actor -let's face it.
I don't have a great deal of scope.
There are certain things I can do, but when I'm bad, I stink.
There's something about my shaggy dog eyes
that makes people think I'm good. I'm not all that good.

Steve McQueen

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