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Monday, March 24, 2014

Happy Steve McQueen Day

Steve McQueen, "The King of Cool," would have been 84 years old today. He died at only 50 years old, a victim of mesothelioma. Though he left us too soon, his influence survives in our appreciation for counter-culture anti-heroes.

“If I hadn’t made it as an actor, I might have wound up a hood.” --Steve McQueen 






  • Wikipedia says: 

  • Terence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American actor. Called "The King of Cool", his "anti-hero" persona, developed at the height of the Vietnam War-era counterculture, made him a top box-office draw of the 1960s and 1970s. 
    BornMarch 24, 1930, Beech Grove, IN 
    DiedNovember 7, 1980, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico


  • Personal remembrances

    • Watching The Great Escape (1963). I first encountered Steve McQueen on TV about 10 years after The Great Escape came out in theaters. I was about 13 at the time, and seriously into bicycling and escapes, and adventure-filled escapes on bicycles.

    • Reading Papillon (Published 1969, English 1970, movie version starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman 1973). I read the novel in the early '70s because I was too young to get in to an R-rated movie at the time. But I was aware of the movie version starring the guy from the Escape movie. 

  • Add the Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and now we all have a great reason to re-watch three classic movies!

      Unfortunately, I first heard of the Thomas Crown Affair when it was remade (1999) with Pierce Brosnan in the leading role. The original and best (1968) starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway



  • Web references
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