SFTH: The Kings & McQueens of Cool...

On TV this weekend I caught a re-run of The Great Escape, one of those iconic movies that always has me glued to my chair. I just have to watch it again even though I know every line.

That in turn led to me re-reading a book which reminded me just how little the average individual really knows about their favourite movie stars.

The book was a chronicle of the life and times of Steve McQueen, the macho star who, in the 33 years since his early demise, has been elevated to the status of King of Cool.

I’m something of a McQueen nut, though I prefer the term ‘aficionado’. I’ve watched the movies, read the biographies, soaked up the various documentaries. A few years back I even enjoyed a beer with his best friend, martial arts instructor turned stuntman Pat Johnson.

For four hours I quizzed him on McQueen, his movies and the characters he played on the movie screen. After that little inquisition I figured I knew more than a little about him.

Then along comes a book that gets to the very heart of the man behind the myth that McQueen has become. I’m not easily impressed by movie stars and their rags-to-riches stories, but this one had me hooked.

McQueen was a blue-collar kid from a one-horse Missouri town who, after reform school and a spell in the Marines, became an unlikely actor: first on stage, then on TV and finally in movies.

His was a career cut tragically short by cancer. McQueen was just 50 when he died in 1980. He left behind less than thirty movies over a quarter of a century. At the end of his life he had all-but retired to a ranch in California. He was seemingly content to fly vintage aeroplanes, grow his hair long and watch the sun go down each night from an easy chair by his porch.

The Last Mile, by McQueen’s widow, Barbara, lifts the lid on the real man: a movie star tired of being a pawn in the Hollywood game...

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