WHATS KOOL WHATS KING STEVE McQUEEN

WHERE IT STARTED                                                                                                                            Born in Beech Grove IN. on March 24, 1930, Terrence Stephen McQueen. Better known too many as Steve McQueen ( The KING of KOOL. His father William McQueen bounced on his mother Julia Ann after only 6 months of meeting her. He was a stunt pilot for a Barnstroming Flying Circus. ( No it was not Monty Pythons Flying Circus ) The reasons for bolting was her drinking, it was noted she was an Alcoholic. For the next ten years Steve would bounce back and forth with living with his mother and grandparents in Slater Mo. he loved his time on the farm with his grandparents Victor and Lillian, its on the farm where Steve was to meet the only man to take special interest in raising him. Claude was his great-uncle who upon Steve’s final departure from the farm, gave him a Gold pocket watch with the inscription ” To Steve-who has been a son to me “. Steve described his Great Uncle Claude as ” a very good man, very strong, very fair. I learned a lot from him.”                                                                                             WHEN IT STARTED                                                                                            It would never slow him down, as a kid Steve had an inner ear infection that left him partially deaf. Now 14 living in L.A. Calif. with his mother and now her 3rd husband and the 2nd to lock horns with Steve. He hit the streets and was into gangs and petty theft. It was after a big blow out with his abusive step dad, and his statement to him ” You lay your stinking hands on me again and I swear, I’ll kill you.” That led him to California Junior Boys Republic in Chino. At 16, he got out and headed to Greenwich Village N.Y. There he went from job to job even a merchent Marine. In 1947 at only 17 he got his mother’s ok to join the USMC. His time spent included a 41-day stay in the brig, too saving the lives of 5 fellow Marines, during an Arctic exercise before a tank fell into the ice. It was here he earned his G.I. bill that he cashed in on at New York Sanford Meisner’s Neighorhood Playhouse at HB Studio. It was a Yiddish theater which stared Molly Picon, McQueens character had only one line: ” Alts iz farloyrn ” (” All is lost ” ) . He was also earning money racing motorcycles at the Long Island City Raceway. Other work in this time frame a musical judge on ABC’s Jukebox Jury and some minor roles in such productions as Peg o’my heart,The Member of the Wedding and 2 Fingers of Pride.The debut on Broadway in 1955 with Ben Gazzara in Hatful of Rain.                                 THE WORK                                                                                                                                                      Where do you begin to notice him as being different than all the others of his class of actors. Where was the moment he became the ” KING of KOOL “. In late 1955 Steve heads to California, Vestal Ave Echo Park to be exact. Westinghouse Studio 1 The DEFENDERS Steve does a few shows. It was then his soon to be first wife Neile’s agent Hilly Elkins took notice. He thought the best movies for him at this time was B-Movies. So he gets a role in SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME by the way Directed by Robert Wise and co-star some guy named Paul Newman. He was then hired for Never Love a Stranger oh yeah The BLOB. He was kool before The BLOB but he became The ” KING of KOOL ” after its release. Soon Steve hit TV on the hit show Tales of Wells Fargo that led to hooking up on racing buddy and close friend Robert Culp on the show TRACKDOWN, which led to his own TV Western WANTED DEAD or ALIVE Josh Randle a Bounty Hunter. To be honest Dog the Bounty Hunter looks like a cartoon compared to Josh Randle. His next big break came at the hands of Sinatra and an ugly comment about Frank by Sammy Davis jr who Frank cut from the movie and replaced Sammy with McQueen for a role in ” NEVER SO FEW “. What followed was an actor who just blew you away no matter his part, including him doing his own Driving Stunts as well as using his own cars.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      IN THE END                                                                                                               What can you say other than the very short career cut down by cancer, he was so limited to his works with us yet so KOOL to still be the ” KING of KOOL ” If your just learning about Steve McQueen he left plenty of KOOL memories of screen magic. The Magnificent 7- The Great Escape- Papillon – – The Cincinnati Kid – Nevada Smith – The Sand Pebbles – Hell is for Heros – The BLOB – Tom Horn – Junior Bonner – The Getaway – Bullitt – Le Mans – The Towering Inferno – The War Lover, The Thomas Crown Affair – The Reivers – Baby the Rain Must Fall – Soldier In the Rain – The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery and so much more. It all ended on Nov. 7th in 1980 in Cludad Juarez Mx. When Steve could no longer fight the battle against his cancer, kool to the end as only the ” KING of KOOL ‘ could be… This is only a fraction of his story. To learn more about The KING of KOOL if you are already a listener of The 3rd Floor Podcast stay up to date on our Second Season by listening to our AD’s. If your new to The 3rd Floor Podcast follow us on @anchor @spotify we are on ALL PODCAST FORMATS, you can find the show on TWITTER @victor8201963 So please check us out, all show INFO is found right here so you’ll never miss a beat. See ya on The 3rd Floor.