Icon: Steve McQueen
When discussing with friends who we thought was the greatest action film star, the usual names were bandied around with careless abandon. Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Stallone were the popular choices. I chose one Terence Steven McQueen as my pick of the bunch.
For me, Steve McQueen is an icon in the true sense of the word, in that he acts as a representative symbol of “cool”, sartorially, dramatically, physically. He lacked the elegant height of Clint Eastwood or the brawn of Bronson, but still managed to walk the walk and carve out an onscreen persona that was distinctly his.
McQueen had an uproarious and unsettled upbringing, constantly getting into trouble with both his stepfather and the police. Eventually, in 1947, he enlisted in the US Marines and initially continued with his insubordinate behaviour, culminating in a 2 week stay with his girlfriend after a weekend pass had expired. This proved to be the nadir of his time in the military, and from thereon in he concentrated on self improvement until he was honourably discharged in 1950.
A string of stage and small film roles followed, including a Broadway production of A Hatful of Rain, but his big breaks early on came in television, not film. Introduced as a spin off to another western series, Trackdown, McQueen was cast as a Winchester rifle-wielding bounty hunter named Josh Randall in the CBS series Wanted: Dead or Alive.
Wanted… turned him into a household name in America, but his portrayal of Vin in The Magnificent Seven (1960) threw him into the wider international public eye. Hit films followed thick and fast, The Great Escape in 1963, an Oscar nomination (his first and last) for his part as a sailor in The Sand Pebbles. 1968’s Bullitt cemented his position as a bona fide star and proved that he could carry a fast moving and complex storyline on his own. It’s here that I’ll mention McQueen’s sartorial legacy to the world of menswear. In Bullitt he dons a range of clothes which have now become style classics. Aside from looking fantastic, he managed to carry all of this off with such a shrug of nonchalance, it never seemed he was trying too hard. Hence the endless centrefolds in GQ, Esquire et al lauding his style and trying to recreate the look.
After the success of Bullitt, more starring roles continued in the form of The Thomas Crown Affair and Le Mans (a drama documenting the famous 24 hour race). The money gained from successful roles allowed him to indulge in his favourite past time, racing cars and motorbikes. Although the famous jump in The Great Escape was not performed by McQueen for insurance purposes, he had a large amount of screen time riding his own 650cc Triumph. At one point he even considered packing in acting altogether in favour of becoming a professional race car driver.
His death in late 1980 came after he was diagnosed with cancer a year previous. What is unusual about McQueen is that he remains an icon without being subject to the commercial saturation that other dead celebrities have experienced. His legacy to acting, fashion and the romance of motorbikes and cars is indisputable.
Steve McQueen, born March 24 1930, died November 7 1980, a true icon.
Joseph Stashko-Adamaszek
