1001 Steve McQueen Facts. Tyler Greenblatt

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СКАЧАТЬ Missouri. The most interesting part about the whole ordeal? The captain who spared Pike Thomson’s life went by the name McQueen.

      35. While growing up on his uncle’s hog farm, Steve noticed that whenever he called, one particular hog came and jumped on him like a dog. Uncle Claude warned him about his relationship with the hog, saying that one day, when the hog grew up, they’d have to eat it. However, Uncle Claude saw how much the animal meant to young Steve, who didn’t have much else in his life, and allowed him to keep it as a pet, sparing his life in the process. Can you guess what Steve named his pet pig? Well, Pig, of course! Every time he called out for Pig, the animal came trotting right up to him.

      36. Marine boot camp on Parris Island was rough for McQueen until he was discovered as a potentially good boxer. In his first fight, he went up against the biggest Marine there, who would later end up in Leavenworth Prison for punching several officers. The wiry McQueen got knocked down and got back up to fight nine times before being physically unable to get back up after the tenth knock-down. That fight proved his toughness to his officers and fellow enlistees, and proved that he belonged in the Marine Corps.

      37. While living in New York, barely able to make ends meet, Steve entered a professional boxing match. Although he was knocked out in the third round, he earned $65 for the fight.

MOVIE FACTS

      38. Steve and Claude’s relationship continued to grow as they developed a mutual respect and appreciation for each other. Although Claude was a tough-as-nails farmer and businessman, he made time on Saturdays to take Steve to their local movie theater, the Kiva Theater on Main Street in Slater. Westerns were his favorite, but in the late 1930s, he would have also been exposed to some of the greatest films ever created in one of Hollywood’s most glamorous and exciting eras.

      39. Steve’s favorite actors growing up were James Cagney, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, and Humphry Bogart. “Bogie” (as Steve called Bogart), was his favorite, and an actor from whom he developed much of his own direction. He was later quoted as saying, “Sometimes kids ask me what a pro is. I just point to the Duke.” Another of his quotes is, “Listen, in Taiwan most people don’t know who Lyndon Johnson is, but they sure as hell know who John Wayne is.”

      40. While at Boys Republic, Steve developed a relationship with his guidance counselor, Lloyd Panter, who was one of the earliest adults to see great potential in young Steve McQueen. “No one seemed to give a damn about my future life as an adult,” Steve said. “But he did, and it meant a lot to me.” Panter first introduced Steve to Shakespeare and other literature, which he said “laid the foundation for my later interest in the theater.”

      41. Carnival life gave McQueen some insight into the entertainment industry because of the variety of performers and the opportunity to study them for days on end. Always the loner, he watched them interact with one another and with show attendees. It’s believed that this is where he learned some of his natural acting ability on how to react to specific emotions and physical cues.

      42. Although he seemed much taller in his films, his height was only 5 feet 9½ inches. He’d likely be much smaller if it weren’t for the training and dietary regimen he received while in the Marine Corps. When he entered the Marines, at 17 years old, he was only 5 feet 6½ inches tall and weighed 135 pounds. In addition to the extra 3 inches, he also gained 30 pounds by the time he left the service!

      43. Steve learned his shooting skills and natural gun-handling ability while in the Marines; it wasn’t just acting! He qualified as a sharpshooter with both the M-1 rifle and the Colt .45 pistol. He worked with firearms in many of his films, and unlike other actors who needed to learn how to use them for the job, it was already a part of his skillset.

      44. When Steve was living in Los Angeles and running the streets, a Coke bottle was thrown at his head and he received a serious cut to his lower lip that never healed properly. The wound, which had become a small mass, was discovered by a doctor during an examination while McQueen was in the Marines.

      45. While serving, he also had the misfortune of falling off a tank and reinjuring the same spot, causing it to swell and scar even more, until a plastic surgeon removed it. What does this have to do with his films and acting? Even with the mass removed, he still had a slight mumble when he spoke and had difficulty pronouncing some words. This is why he speaks in monosyllabic dialogue in his films.

      46. The same Marine buddy, Cliff Anderson, who nicknamed Steve “Tough Shit McQueen,” learned of his former comrade’s fame years later while flipping through a copy of TV Guide magazine. In it, there was a letter in which a fan asked about Steve McQueen. According to Marshall Terrill’s book, Steve McQueen: The Life And Legend Of A Hollywood Icon, Anderson remarked upon discovering the letter, “Holy cow, that’s Tough Shit McQueen! The son of a bitch is famous!”

      47. On March 24, 1944, Steve’s 14th birthday, Allied prisoners of war attempted the largest escape attempt of World War II and inspired the film The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen.

      48. Steve was born the same year as fellow film icon Clint Eastwood, and they even got their big breaks around the same time. McQueen’s came in 1958 with Wanted Dead or Alive and Eastwood’s was a year later with Rawhide.

      49. Having starred in similar roles throughout their careers, although he was always one step behind McQueen, Eastwood’s career provides an important insight into what Steve’s could have looked like had he not died at a young age. Today, most fans remember McQueen from his most popular films in the late 1960s and early 1970s; it’s strange to think that he’d be nearly 90 years old today. Using Clint Eastwood as a reference provides assistance in that thought process.

      50. Thanks to his stern upbringing on a Midwestern hog farm under the tutelage of his tough uncle Claude, Steve always felt that acting was not an appropriate job for a man. Much of his show of masculinity throughout his life and his desire to excel in racing came from the fact that he considered male actors, himself included, as sissies. After he had become an accomplished actor and he and wife Neile (prounced kneel, as in to kneel down) visited Uncle Claude, they never once spoke of Steve’s acting career.

      51. One of Steve’s favorite actors as a young boy was James Cagney, who was well known for gangster movies. Similar to a character McQueen eventually played, Josh Randall, Cagney’s characters were always small but tough and not afraid to stand up to bigger foes.

      52. Steve once used his best Cagney impression while running on the streets when he was approached by a bigger, older street kid. The older kid was so impressed by young Steve’s toughness that he invited him to join his gang.

      53. Making James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart impressions became lucrative for a young Steve McQueen when he stood on a street corner and started acting for money. He put his hat down in front of him and people dropped in a few coins here and there as he ran through skits. Even though he was able to show that he earned money from it, Uncle Claude didn’t approve of acting as a profession for men.

AUTOMOBILE COLLECTION

      54. Growing up in Southern California, McQueen fell heavily into the hot rod scene. His first car was a hot rod with a Model A frame and a Ford 60 engine with Edelbrock manifolds. He remembers that car accelerating “like the J-2 Allards that some of the sports car people owned.” His hot rod didn’t handle all that well, but it did have “stark acceleration; when the engine stayed in it.”

      55. One of young McQueen’s first experiences with motorcycles came when he was a young teenager in California and he hopped on a police bike that was parked outside a restaurant in Hollywood. He tossed the officer’s gloves and helmet on the ground and made “vroom, vroom” СКАЧАТЬ