Steve Mcqueen, The King Of Cool
Of all of the actors of the 60’s through the 70’s only one is remembered as the “King of Cool,” that actor was Steve McQueen. If you indeed watch any movies that he is in, one can clearly see why. However, short of his movies, there is not a lot of information on Steve McQueen. I propose that Steve McQueen was an actor that developed a cult following, perhaps maybe by the counter culture of the day and in the culture of today. Either way, no actor has come close to filling the gap that was left when McQueen died. His movies affected Pop culture in a way that left a mark that is still there today.
Steve McQueen was born on March 24, 1930 as Terence Steven McQueen. He was born in Beech Grove Indiana. McQueen had a rough start from childhood; his parents abandoned him at an early age. He ended up working for uncle on his farm in Slater, Missouri. At the age of twelve his he went out to Los Angeles to live with his mother. He ended up hanging out with gangs and was sent to the California Junior Republic for Boys. It was there that his life was tuned around put back on track. McQueen enlisted in the Marines in 1947 and was honorably discharged in 1950. Eventually he found his way out to New York and went to the Neighborhood Playhouse where he studied for two years. It was during this time that he started racing motorcycles and playing poker to get cash to pay for school. From there he got a scholarship to the Herbert-Bergoff Drama School, and then attended the famous Actors Studio in New York.
McQueen’s big break came in 1958 in the form of a Western TV show called, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’ McQueen first starred in this role in a time where the western dominated TV line-ups. Two of his signature movies ‘Bullitt’ and ‘The Getaway’ were cited as being essentially westerns. “Yet, even McQueen's more signature crime movies, "Bullitt" (1968) and "The Getaway" (1972), essentially were Westerns in modern dress. In fact, the actor actually...
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