1001 Steve McQueen Facts. Tyler Greenblatt

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PERSONAL LIFE

      144. Steve McQueen first met Neile Adams in May 1956 at Jim Downey’s Steakhouse in New York City. After a second meeting at the restaruant, he stopped by her show on Broadway and then asked her out. Rather than the typical date she was expecting, Steve showed up on his motorcycle to take her to Greenwich Village. Because she was wearing a dress, Neile rode sidesaddle as Steve sped along.

      145. He later pawned the watch that his uncle had given him to buy an airline ticket to Los Angeles to ask Neile to marry him. The pawnbroker told him, “They don’t make watches like this anymore,” to which Steve responded, “They don’t make men like the man who gave it to me.”

      146. Steve proposed to Neile Adams in October 1956, putting a $25 down payment on the ring and having Neile pay off the balance over the next two years. Neile was as surprised as she was confused, since she had left for California and Steve had refused to come along just a few weeks earlier.

      147. Steve and Neile were married on November 2, 1956, at a Lutheran church in San Clemente, California. The original plan was to drive to Mission San Juan Capistrano in a rented Ford Thunderbird. When Steve stopped to call the mission on the way, the nun informed him that they only marry members of their parish.

      148. After that, they were pulled over for speeding at 11:30 p.m. in San Clemente. Steve told the state troopers that he and Neile had to get married that weekend, so the troopers called the local pastor who married them that night. The state troopers acted as witnesses for the ceremony.

      149. Steve’s uncle Claude, who helped raise him as a boy, died on November 28, 1957. Although Steve didn’t attend the funeral, he was lucky enough to spend some time with his uncle earlier that year when he took Neile to Slater, Missouri. Neile gained some important insight into Steve’s upbringing, and had her one opportunity to meet Uncle Claude. After that trip in January 1957, Steve never returned to Slater again.

      150. After a particularly bad fight between Steve and Neile, and the subsequent makeup, Neile gave Steve a St. Christopher medal. She had it inscribed “To part is to die a little.” He rarely took it off over the years and it even made appearances in several films. He later commented about the gift, “She knew I felt like a gigolo, and she thought this might help. He only stopped wearing it after they divorced. Le Mans was one of the final movies in which the medal made an appearance.

      151. Steve always dreamed of someday finding his father, William, who had abandoned him so early on. He finally tracked him down in February 1959. With Neile by his side, they went to his apartment in Long Beach, California, just a short drive away from where they lived. They were greeted by the landlady, who informed them that William had passed away three months earlier on November 11. She told Steve that for the last few months of his life, he spent every Saturday night in front of the television watching Wanted Dead or Alive, and wondering out loud if that was his son on the screen.

      152. The only things Steve’s father left him was a picture of himself and a Zippo lighter engraved “T.McQ.” Steve told his friend Bud Ekins that he had tossed the lighter into some weeds after receiving it, but in truth, he kept it. No one knew that he had retained the only link he had to his father until he died, and his daughter, Terry, discovered it in his jewelry box. Of course, the T on the lighter stood for Terrence, so it’s fitting that William’s granddaughter, Terry, was the one to find it after so much time had passed.

      153. Steve and Neile had their first child, a girl, on June 5, 1959. Terry Leslie McQueen was named after her father, whose real name was Terrence Steven McQueen, and by default her grandfather, William Terrence McQueen. Although Steve quickly fell in love with his newborn daughter, he didn’t hold back in admitting that he had really wanted a boy. “I was a little hacked when the old lady bore me a daughter, but this kid is really gonna be a gas,” he said. “I wanted a boy, but now I want another girl.”

      154. After he decided that he wanted another girl, the universe blessed Steve and Neile with a son on December 28, 1960, whom they named Chadwick Steven McQueen. According to Neile, “When the children were little, when they were first born, he really couldn’t relate to them yet. He just sort of dissed them until they were able to become little persons. As soon as their personalities started evolving, then Steve could relate to them as children. He was wonderful with the children and he was wonderful with children in general because he saw the world through the eyes of a child. Consequently, it was always playtime when they were together.”

      155. In 1960, with his payday from The Magnificent Seven, Steve and Neile purchased a home at 2419 Solar Drive for $60,000. The Hollywood Hills estate overlooks downtown Los Angeles, and is situated near popular Runyon Canyon Park. With the move also came a name-change of McQueen’s production company to Solar Productions from Scuderia Condor Enterprises. His company remained with this name from then on.

      156. Before the filming of Wanted Dead or Alive, Steve spent many hours over the course of a few weeks practicing with firearms to develop his draw. However, because the gun used in the show was an actual, working firearm, he had to get a special permit to remove it from the studio.

      157. It was extremely important to Steve that he was able to draw and handle the gun properly, just as his character, Josh Randall, would have. At the time, he claimed to be the fourth fastest gunman in California. He said, “I can put a book of matches on the back of my hand, drop it from waist level, draw, and fire two shots into it before it hits the ground.”

      158. Steve and Neile were invited to participate in Bob Hope’s annual Christmas show entertaining soldiers stationed in Alaska. Although filmed primarily in Colorado, Steve still had to request leave from the filming of Wanted to be on the show. CBS encouraged him to do the show, even though it would be stuck paying even more overtime for the crew of Wanted. Steve’s appearance not only brought even more public attention to his television show, but promoted Never So Few, which opened just a few weeks later. His successful appearance led to numerous other guest spots to promote his projects.

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