Steve McQueen, who committed to Christ late in life, TV show 'Wanted: Dead or Alive' is now featured

Renew America ^ | 11-30-13 | James Lambert

[gura]

I have a framed poster of Le Mans above my desk. :-)

[left that other site]

My Favorite Motorcycle Scene of all time!

I also like (for sheer scariness) the intro the Lawrence of Arabia. Although I have escaped death a number of times, losing control of the bike looks JUST LIKE THAT.

[rktman]

Roger that. Nice. Say, your not Rick from Pawn Stars are you? I know he’s a McQueen fan.

[Cyman]

I love McQueen. I love cars. I love car racing. I love movies that have McQueen, cars and racing. But LeMans is on my list of all time snoozers. Almost unwatchable.

[Carriage Hill]

“Le Mans” 1971 (full version, free)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEyYDxdMMnE

[boop]

McQueen worked with asbestos on ships when he was in the military.

He always blamed that for the cause of his cancer.

I don't know if he smoked, but that would have been a double whammy for getting mesothelioma.

[ansel12]

"Steve McQueen was an ex-Marine, a political conservative, pro Vietnam, carried a pistol (he learned he was on Charlie Manson's list), became (at this airfield) a born again Christian, and he mysteriously used to demand big lots of things like electric razors and bluejeans from movie studios when he was filming. It was revealed that he sent the lots of stuff to a boys home that he had lived in, he made visits to the home all of his life and answered every letter that the boys ever sent him. WM 'The Great Escape' superstar spent his last year there, where he was treated as an average Joe.

Friends recall his kindness and love of cheap beer. By Steve Chawkins Los Angeles Times November 30, 2008 One day in 1979, the King of Cool decided to fly. Before anyone knew it, Steve McQueen was living with his girlfriend in a hangar at the Santa Paula Airport. During the day, he learned to pilot a World War II-era biplane. In the evening, the tough-guy superstar would crack open cold beers with grease monkeys, fledgling pilots and aging flyboys who still had a few loop-de-loops left in them. McQueen and his girlfriend, a stunning model who would become his third wife, slept on a four-poster brass bed amid his vintage motorcycles and airplane parts. His bright- yellow Stearman biplane loomed over their cramped quarters, its wings close enough to create a head-whacking hazard for someone groping through the dark. But life was good: On Saturday nights, the couple kicked back in their hangar -- really a big storage shed -- to watch "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" on a black-and-white TV. Dinner was often a feed at the local Chinese restaurant. "It was a sweet time in a sweet place," said Barbara McQueen, the last woman in his life. "We just loved it." snip But Dewey's warmest memories were of the after-hours get-togethers and McQueen's fondness for Old Milwaukee beer, an inexpensive brew known as an acquired taste. "He was in character drinking that awful stuff," Dewey said. "It just brings a smile to my face."

A reform school alumnus with a well-deserved bad-boy reputation, McQueen is said to have mellowed by the time he touched down in Santa Paula. When a medical emergency required two friends in town to leave for a week, McQueen volunteered to care for their seven children. When a young man who worked at the airport died suddenly, McQueen paid off his family's mortgage."

MCQUEEN's LAST HOME

[ReformationFan]

Trivia: McQueen was originally offered the role the architect but when he read the script, he liked the smaller part of the fire chief better. So they expanded the role of the fire chief and saw to it that he got exactly the same amount of lines as the architect that Newman eventually played in the film.

[ReformationFan]

Cool story.

[ReformationFan]

Refreshingly different for Hollywood.

[arthurus]

I read the book when I was a teenager and the movie was the only one I ever saw that was not disappointing because of having read the book first.

[ToastedHead]

Fun, thanks! One of the earliest memories I have is watching this with my Dad. He always said he wanted to be an architect but couldn’t draw.

I can remember being terrified of the Breechers Boy, or whatever they called the zip line from the other building.

[amazed]

Great article at The Selvedge Yard: “BULLITT” | THE GRANDDADDY OF CAR CHASE SCENES. Other great McQueen posts as well.

http://selvedgeyard.com/2009/09/26/required-viewing-bullitt-the-granddaddy-of-car-chase-scenes/

[boop]

Yes and because Newman and McQueen were the biggest stars in Hollywood at the time, they had to make a compromise on where the names went in the opening credits. One had the name listed first, but in the lower left corner, the other got the second, but right upper corner.

I think both actors were cool, but McQueen was a bit cooler IMHO.

In real life, both men were known as down to earth "good guys" who did a lot of charity work.

Both loved to drink beer. Both loved to race cars. Both served in the military.

But I can't account for how Newman ended up such a damn liberal.

[ReformationFan]

Too bad about Newman’s liberalism. I’m still fond of his anti-communist, Hitchcockian-style thriller, “The Prize” with 2 terrific leading ladies: gorgeous brunette Diane Baker and stunning blond Elke Sommer. If that ever turns on youtube, I’ll post it as a mfasa(Movie for a Sunday afternoon).

Sidenote: McQueen made his movie debut with a small part in Newman’s starring vehicle “Somebody Up There Likes Me” where he got no screen credit. It’s funny that 18 years later, he would be big enough of a star that he and Newman had to share top billing in “Towering Inferno” like they did.

[Conservative4Ever]

Steve McQueen...(sigh)...my high school heart throb. Glad to know he found God.