Overview (5)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (3)

Trade Mark (8)

Usually played tough, sexy and determined



Deep gravelly voice



Roles in action films and war films



Often played police officers or military officers



Cigarette dangling off the right side of his mouth



Light brown hair and bright blue eyes



Laid back charismatic personality



His roles often incorporated his impressive driving skills



Trivia (151)

In October 1997, he was ranked #30 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.





On August 8, 1969, a week before the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off in Bethel, New York, McQueen had been invited for dinner at the Roman Polanski Sharon Tate home in the Hollywood Hills by mutual friend and hairdresser-to the-stars Jay Sebring . An unexpected rendezvous with a mystery woman prompted him to cancel his appointment. In the wake of the Manson Family Tate-LaBianca murders at, respectively, 10050 Cielo Drive and 3301 Waverly Drive, McQueen would later learn that he was accorded the kind of priority billing for which he was unprepared--he topped Charles Manson 's celebrity death list. Thereafter, he carried a concealed weapon.

Issued a private pilot's license by the FAA in 1979 after learning to fly in a Stearman bi-plane, which he purchased for that purpose. After his death it was sold at auction, along with his large collection of vehicles, in 1982.





Trained in Tang Soo Do with ninth-degree black belt Pat E. Johnson (not Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris as is popularly believed). His son was trained in karate by Norris. Lee trained him in Jeet Kune Do.

He was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 12, 1986.



He was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#19) (1995).





Was a pallbearer at the funeral of Bruce Lee

Dropped out of school in ninth grade.





Former stepfather of Josh Evans



He proposed the idea for the drama film Bodyguard (1992) in 1976. However, this was forgotten for 16 years until 1992, when Kevin Costner revived the idea.



His role in Wenn das Blut kocht (1959) was originally going to be played by Sammy Davis Jr. . A feud had broken out between Davis and Frank Sinatra after Davis had claimed in a radio interview that he was a greater singer than Sinatra. Sinatra demanded he be dropped from the cast, and thus McQueen received his breakthrough role.



Sheryl Crow made a song titled "Steve McQueen" as a tribute to him. It is featured on the album "C'mon C'mon" (2002).



Was originally slated to star with Paul Newman in Zwei Banditen (1969); however, due to a disagreement over the billing, he left the project. Ironically, the billing method was used several years later when he and Newman would star in Flammendes Inferno (1974), the original script of which called for McQueen's character to have more lines of dialogue than Paul Newman 's. McQueen insisted the script be changed so he and Newman would have the same number of lines. He reportedly believed his talent was superior to that of the other actor and wanted the critical criteria to be as equal as possible.



He was very interested in playing John Rambo in the adaptation of the novel "First Blood". He was actually slated to star, but did not due to his death. Sylvester Stallone got the role instead in Rambo (1982).



The band Drive-By Truckers have the tribute song "Steve McQueen" featured on their album "Gangstabilly" (1998).



Was the first of the original film Die glorreichen Sieben (1960) to pass away.



Had appeared, helmeted and uncredited, as a motorcyclist in the B-movie Dynamite Trio (1976), starring Warren Oates and Christopher George . Legend has it that the call went out for dirt bike riders to take part in this low-budget action adventure, and among those who turned up was McQueen. Heavily bearded and overweight, he kept a low profile (this was during his reclusive period when he was turning down multi-million-dollar offers for such films as Die Brücke von Arnheim (1977) and Apocalypse Now (1979)), and was only noticed when he queued up to accept his day's payment, about $120. The astonished production assistant handing out the cash saw his name on a list and said, "Is that THE Steve McQueen?". McQueen's riding style (standing on his foot pedals, leaning forward, head over the handlebars) makes him immediately identifiable to bike buffs.

He was voted the 56th Greatest Movie Star of all time by "Entertainment Weekly".





The "King of Cool" became a born-again Christian shortly before he died, due to the influence of his third wife Barbara Minty and his flying instructor Sammy Mason. He went through Bible studies with Rev. Billy Graham . It is interesting to note that this conversion happened before he was diagnosed with cancer, meaning it was probably genuine. McQueen's favorite Bible verse was John 3:16, which reads, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.".



In the 1960s, he publicly threatened to break Howard Hughes ' nose if Hughes did not stop harassing Mamie Van Doren , a woman both men had affairs with, but at different times. Needless to say, Hughes never bothered Van Doren again.



Upon meeting Martin Landau , McQueen told Landau that they had already met. Landau, who didn't remember McQueen, inquired as to where. McQueen told him that he--Landau--was on the back of James Dean 's motorcycle when Dean brought it in for repairs at a garage in New York City. The motorcycle mechanic at the garage was none other than McQueen.



After the huge success of Flammendes Inferno (1974), McQueen announced that any producer wishing to acquire his services would have to send a check for $1.5 million along with the script. If he liked the script and wanted to make the movie, he'd cash the check; the producer then owed him another $1.5 million. He'd keep his half of his $3 million salary if the producer couldn't come up with the other half. McQueen likely used this then-unprecedented pay-or-play arrangement to guarantee the six-year semi-retirement he undertook after "The Towering Inferno", in which he appeared in only one picture, the vanity project Ein Feind des Volkes (1978). When he did return to commercial filmmaking, his price was $3 million.

He was voted the 31st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere magazine.



McQueen joined the Marine Corps at age 17 and worked as a tank driver and mechanic. He earned a commendation for rescuing five Marines during a training accident. According to military records released by the Pentagon in 2005, Marine Pfc. Steve McQueen was confined to base for 41 days and fined $90 for being absent without leave (AWOL) from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (Some sources indicate he was AWOL for as long as 21 days [3 weeks] but the exact amount of time he was AWOL is unconfirmed.) He avoided a dishonorable discharge and later took advantage of the GI Bill's education benefits to study at the Actors Studio in New York.





When he briefly left Gesprengte Ketten (1963) during filming, due to the fact that his character did not play as large a part as he would have liked, it was James Coburn and James Garner (his friend and immediate next door neighbor in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA) who convinced him to return. Because of the huge success and continuing popularity of the film, it has become his best known role.



Always resented the fact that Horst Buchholz was cast as Chico in Die glorreichen Sieben (1960), the role he had initially wanted.



Like the coolest movie stars, was strongly connected to Triumph motorcycles, riding a 650cc TR6 Trophy in Gesprengte Ketten (1963) and competing on the same model in the 1964 International Six Days Trial held in East Germany. Photographs of his desert racing also show him upon this model. He also visited Triumph's Meriden factory in 1964 and 1965 for collection and preparation of his motorcycles.



In the movie S.W.A.T. - Die Spezialeinheit (2003), Colin Farrell 's character of Jim Street has a poster of McQueen's Bullitt (1968) in his apartment. In real life, Farrell frequently cites McQueen as one of his idols and influences as an actor.

In 1960, with his growing success, he formed his own production company called Scuderia Condor Enterprises, which he ran until 1963 when he and his family moved to 2419 Solar Drive and he renamed his company Solar Productons, Inc., and would produce many films under this banner until his death.





Of all the characters he ever played, he frequently cited Lt. Frank Bullitt from Bullitt (1968) as his favorite.



The last words he uttered on screen were "God bless you" in Jeder Kopf hat seinen Preis (1980). He died shortly after the film's release.



His only two appearances at the Academy Awards were as a presenter: in 1964, he presented the Oscar for Best Sound, and in 1965, holding hands with Claudia Cardinale , he presented the Oscar again for Best Sound.



Shortly before filming began on Ich, Tom Horn (1980), he had quit smoking cigarettes. His somewhat "squashed" appearance was due to a crash diet.



His name somehow appeared on President Richard Nixon 's "List of Enemies" in 1972. In reality, McQueen was conservative in his political beliefs, with a strong belief in self-help. In 1963 he had declined to participate in the March on Washington for civil rights and, in 1968, refused to join many of his Hollywood peers in supporting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy 's presidential campaign. An incredulous Ali MacGraw asked McQueen how he could have been considered a threat by Nixon, adding, "You are the most patriotic person I know!" McQueen responded to the whole affair by flying an enormous American flag outside his house.



Was William Friedkin 's first choice for the Jackie Scanlon character in Atemlos vor Angst (1977). McQueen accepted the part, but on one condition. He wanted a co-starring role for his then wife, Ali MacGraw . Friedkin would not accept his conditions, and McQueen dropped out of the film. Freidkin later went on record has having regretted not accepting McQueen's conditions.



Before his death, McQueen optioned two screenplays from Walter Hill Driver (1978) and "The Last Gun". "The Driver" got made later, with Ryan O'Neal playing the lead part. "The Last Gun" remains unproduced.



Turned down a role for the sequel to Flammendes Inferno (1974) in 1977.



Felt ill during the filming of Ich, Tom Horn (1980), and assumed he had pneumonia. However, towards the end of filming he began to cough up blood. On 22 December 1979, after filming had finished, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, which often afflicts workers in ship-building and construction industries. As in most cases, a tumor was discovered on the outside lining of a lung, and spread to other areas of the body. Although McQueen had been a heavy smoker, which may or may not have been a contributing factor, mesothelioma itself is not a smoking-related lung disease. While the source of his exposure has been debated, McQueen himself pointed to two likely sources, including the time when he took part in replacing asbestos-based insulation in the ship's engine room during his stint in the Marines. He also believed he could have been exposed in his years as a film star, since soundstage insulation had also been made of asbestos. Others have suggested sources as varied as automotive brake pads and the cloth used to bandage his broken foot during the 12 hours of Sebring race in 1971. He died from two consecutive heart attacks at 3:45 am on November 7, 1980, less than 24 hours after undergoing surgery at a Mexican clinic (where he went to undergo a controversial "apricot pit" therapy that is still banned in the United States) to remove the malignant tumors in his stomach and lungs. According to the doctor present at the operation, his right lung was entirely cancerous.



Following the release of Bullitt (1968), McQueen found it hilarious that he was considered the coolest celebrity by teenagers, given that he was almost 40 years old. In November that same year (1968) he declared his support for the Vietnam War and voted for Richard Nixon in the presidential election.



Homer Simpson named McQueen as his personal hero in an episode of Die Simpsons: Saturdays of Thunder (1991).



In 1973, McQueen flew to England to meet Oliver Reed and discuss a possible film collaboration. "Reed showed me his country mansion and we got on well," recalled McQueen. "He then suggested he take me to his favorite London nightclub." The drinking, which started at Reed's home, Broome Hall, continued into the night until Reed could hardly stand. Suddenly, and with no apparent warning, he vomited over McQueen's shirt and trousers. "The staff rushed around and found me some new clothes, but they couldn't get me any shoes", said McQueen. "I had to spend the rest of the night smelling of Oliver Reed's sick".

Posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. [April 2007]



He did not like gratuitous violence, swearing or nudity in movies.





Was considered for the role of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), which eventually went to Marlon Brando



At one point he approached playwright Samuel Beckett with an idea for filming the play "Waiting for Godot", but Becket had never heard of him.



Intended to retire after filming Flammendes Inferno (1974).

Inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978.



Inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.





His friend and co-star Richard Attenborough said that if McQueen had lived for longer he would have been regarded as the greatest film actor since Spencer Tracy



British band Prefab Sprout used his name for the title of their second album, released in 1985. Due to objections from the late actor's estate, the album was issued with the alternative title of "Two Wheels Good" in the United States.

Profiled in "Back in the Saddle: Essays on Western Film and Television Actors", Gary Yoggy, ed. (McFarland, 1998).





Kevin Costner has named McQueen as his favorite actor, and his main influence as an actor.



Made headlines when accepting the lead in Tai-Pan (1986) for an unheard of $10 million, for which he was given a $1-million fee up front. However, his health declined and he died before the producers were able to raise the necessary capital for production. It was eventually released six years after McQueen's death, with Bryan Brown in the lead.



Was considered, but ultimately rejected, for the role of Jay Gatsby in Der große Gatsby (1974). The role eventually went to Robert Redford

On March 21, 1967, three days before his 37th birthday, he became the 153rd star to put his handprints and footprints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theater.





Turned down a role in Die Brücke von Arnheim (1977) because he only wanted top billing roles, not all-star assembled projects.

Of English, German, Scottish and Scots-Irish descent, as well as more distant Cornish, Dutch, and Welsh lineage, he was raised by his grandparents. A troubled teenager, he often ran away from home, working on ships, as an oil field laborer and fairground barker. He spent five years in a California reformatory. Had a younger paternal half sister, Terri McQueen, whom he never met.





Dick Powell , head of Four Star Productions, gave the green light to McQueen's western series Der Kopfgeldjäger (1958), but was concerned about his continuing in the lead after the pilot sold because the actor was not big or tall enough to be believable as a rough-hewn bounty hunter, and did not know how to ride a horse. Powell changed his mind when he saw McQueen's charismatic performance in the early rushes of the show's first episode.

He was a rebellious teenager, didn't get along with his stepfather and had several thefts on his record. In 1944, his parents placed him in the California Junior Republic for Boys at Chino. In later years, he referred to his stay at Chino as "the best thing that ever happened to me" and that "they straightened me out there".





After his first meeting with director Robert Wise for his first film role in Die Hölle ist in mir (1956), Wise referred to him as "just a kook in a beanie".



In 1966, he appeared on the game show What's My Line (1956).



Acting teacher Sanford Meisner said of the fledgling actor: "He was an original--both tough and childlike, as if he'd been through everything, but he had preserved a basic innocence".



During the scene in Bullitt (1968) in which the giant airliner taxis just above McQueen, observers were shocked that no double was used. Asked if the producers couldn't have found a dummy, the actor wryly replied, "They did".

McQueen was cremated and a memorial service was held at his home with a bi-plane flyover by his flying buddies. There were so many flowers and cards from his fans put on his likeness at the Hollywoo Wax Museum, the wax statue had to be put in storage to prevent damage from the tributes.





He was born on March 24 (1930), the same day that 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German POW camp Stalag Luft III in 1944, during World War II, which later became the basis of Gesprengte Ketten (1963) in which McQueen starred.

He quit smoking cigarettes in 1978, although he continued to smoke cigars.



Smoked three packs of cigarettes a day.





Had a feud with next-door neighbor British rocker Keith Moon ("the loon") of The Who in Malibu. Moon had a habit of leaving his bathroom light on at night. The light shone directly into McQueen's bedroom and kept him awake at night. After telling Moon repeatedly to turn it off without success, he took out a shotgun, blew out the light and went back to bed. He also held a four year grudge with his next door neighbor in Brentwood, Los Angeles, James Garner , whom McQueen allegedly resented for winning the lead role in Grand Prix (1966). The two men did not speak for four years.

Charged a $50,000 script reading fee upfront during his semi-retirement years.



Was voted #14 in an online poll for Channel 4's 100 Greatest Movie Stars in 2003 (UK).



Was the first actor to make the transition from television star to huge box-office movie star.





First wife Neile Adams had an abortion in 1971 when their marriage was on the rocks. Several months later, then-girlfriend Barbara Leigh also had an abortion. Second wife Ali MacGraw had a miscarriage in 1974.



Considered Jacqueline Bisset the most beautiful actress he worked with.



He was originally going to star in Grand Prix (1966). A first meeting with producer Grand Prix (1966) went very badly and McQueen showed no further public interest in the role. However, privately he was fuming, and he chose not to speak with his friend, and next-door neighbor, who just happened to be James Garner , for the next four years.



He turned down George C. Scott 's role in Inseln im Strom (1977) as he had temporarily retired from acting and was traveling the United States on his vintage Indian motorcycles.



He was originally going to star in California Split (1974) when the project was at MGM. This soon changed when MGM started making ridiculous demands, including insisting that the script be a specified number of pages and that it should be set at the Circus Circus casino complex in Las Vegas - which MGM owned. They also wanted the film to have a Mafia subplot and to have a role for Dean Martin



He was Warner Bros.' choice for the role of Lewis Medlock in Beim Sterben ist jeder der Erste (1972), but he turned it down.



He was considered for the role of Benjamin Braddock in Die Reifeprüfung (1967); the role went to Dustin Hoffman.



He was approached to star opposite Paul Newman in Erdbeben (1974), but they had already committed to appear in Flammendes Inferno (1974).



He was considered for the role of Tom Hagen in Der Pate (1972); the part went to Robert Duvall.



He filmed a cameo as Sam Spade in Der Tod kennt keine Wiederkehr (1973) that ended up on the cutting room floor.



He was offered the lead role in Hebt die Titanic (1980) but disliked the script and turned down the offer.

He followed a daily two-hour exercise regimen, involving weightlifting and, at one point, running 5 miles (8 km), seven days a week.



In 2012, he was posthumously honored with the Warren Zevon Tribute Award by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO).



According to William Claxton, McQueen smoked marijuana almost every day; biographer Marc Eliot stated that McQueen used a large amount of cocaine in the early 1970s. He was also a heavy cigarette smoker.





He was originally approached to star in Convoy (1978), but turned it down.



In Papillon (1973), he performed the famous stunt where he jumps off a cliff. McQueen once said that it was "one of the most exhilarating experiences" of his life.

The Beech Grove, Indiana, Public Library formally dedicated the Steve McQueen Birthplace Collection on March 16, 2010 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of McQueen's birth on March 24, 1930.



He flew and owned, among other aircraft, a 1945 Stearman, tail number N3188, (his student number in reform school), a 1946 Piper J-3 Cub, and an award-winning 1931 Pitcairn PA-8 bip, flown in the US Mail Service by famed World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. They were hangared at Santa Paula Airport an hour northwest of Hollywood, where he lived his final days.



He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in April 2007, in a ceremony at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.





In 1973 The Rolling Stones referred to McQueen in the song "Star Star" from the album Goats Head Soup for which an amused McQueen reportedly gave personal permission. The lines were "Star fucker, star fucker, star fucker, star fucker star/ Yes you are, yes you are, yes you are/Yeah, Ali MacGraw got mad with you/For givin' head to Steve McQueen".



In spite of multiple attempts, McQueen was never able to purchase the Ford Mustang GT 390 he drove in Bullitt (1968), which featured a modified drivetrain that suited McQueen's driving style. One of the two Mustangs used in the film was badly damaged, judged beyond repair, and believed to have been scrapped until it surfaced in Mexico in 2017, while the other one, which McQueen attempted to purchase in 1977, is hidden from the public eye. At the 2018 North American International Auto Show the GT 390 was displayed in connection with the 2019 Ford Mustang "Bullitt" in its current non-restored condition.

He was set to co-drive in a Triumph 2500 PI for the British Leyland team in the 1970 London-Mexico rally, but had to turn it down due to movie commitments.



He raced in many top off-road races on the West Coast, including the Baja 1000, the Mint 400, and the Elsinore Grand Prix.



He competed in off-road motorcycle racing, frequently running a BSA Hornet. His first off-road motorcycle was a Triumph 500 cc, purchased from Ekins.





He considered being a professional race car driver. He had a one-off outing in the British Touring Car Championship in 1961, driving a BMC Mini at Brands Hatch, finishing third. In the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race, Peter Revson and McQueen (driving with a cast on his left foot from a motorcycle accident two weeks earlier) won with a Porsche 908/02 in the three-litre class and missed winning overall by 23 seconds to Mario Andretti/Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella in a five-litre Ferrari 512S. This same Porsche 908 was entered by his production company Solar Productions as a camera car for Le Mans (1971) in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans later that year. McQueen wanted to drive a Porsche 917 with Jackie Stewart in that race, but the film backers threatened to pull their support if he did. Faced with the choice of driving for 24 hours in the race or driving for the entire summer making the film, McQueen opted for the latter.



He was inducted in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978, the same year as his immediate next-door neighbor in Brentwood, James Garner

He designed a motorsports bucket seat, for which a patent was issued in 1971.



Porsche 917, Porsche 908, and Ferrari 512 race cars from Le Mans (1971)

Porsche 911S (used in the opening sequence of Le Mans)

1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso

1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4

1956 Jaguar XKSS (right-hand drive) (now on exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California)

1958 Porsche 356 Speedster 1600 Super (black exterior, interior and top) (McQueen drove the car in numerous SCCA racing events)

1968 Ford GT40 (Gulf liveried) (used in Le Mans)

1953 Siata 208s (McQueen replaced the Siata badges with Ferrari badges and called it his "little Ferrari")

1967 Mini Cooper-S (McQueen had the car customized by Lee Brown with changes including a single foglight, a wood dash, a recessed antenna and a custom brown paint job)

1951 Chevrolet Styline De Lux Convertible (used in Jeder Kopf hat seinen Preis (1980), McQueen bought the car in 1979 after filming ended)

1952 Chevrolet 3800 pickup camper conversion (McQueen used the truck for cross-country camping trips. It was the last car he rode in before his death)

1950 Hudson Commodore convertible

1952 Hudson Wasp 2-door sedan

1953 Hudson Hornet 4-door Sedan

1956 GMC Suburban

1958 GMC Pickup Truck (Reportedly one of McQueen's favorite cars, it is powered by a 336 Ci V8 which has been modified. The tag "MQ3188" is a reference to the ID number assigned to him when he was in reform school)

1931 Lincoln Club Sedan

1935 Chrysler Airflow Imperial Sedan

1969 Chevrolet Baja Hickey race truck (Originally debuted at the 1968 Mexican 1000 Rally and was driven by Cliff Coleman, Johnny Diaz, Mickey Thompson and others during its racing career. Said to be the first truck specifically constructed by GM for use in the Mexican 1000, McQueen bought it from General Motors in 1970.).

He owned a number of classic motorcycles, as well as several exotics and vintage cars, including:

Although he was the highest paid star of the 1960s, McQueen had a reputation for being tight-fisted. On some films he would demand ten electric razors and dozens of pairs of jeans. It was later reported he gave these to Boys Republic, a private school and treatment community for troubled youngsters, where he had spent a few years himself.





He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Die glorreichen Sieben (1960) and Bullitt (1968).

Given he was a huge Hollywood star and that keeping a low profile was difficult, Steve McQueen went to great lengths to guard his private life.



On August 14, 2020, he was honored with a day of his filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.





He was the immediate next door neighbor of James Garner in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Although McQueen was moody, and even sometimes had short term disagreements with Garner, when they were getting along, which was more often than not, they frequently had neighborly backyard bar-b-ques together with their families.

Personal Quotes (35)

In my own mind, I'm not sure that acting is something for a grown man to be doing.



[interview in "TV Guide"] When a horse learns to buy martinis, I'll learn to like horses.



I don't believe in that phony hero stuff.



If I hadn't made it as an actor, I might have wound up a hood.



When I believe in something, I fight like hell for it.





Sometimes kids ask me what a pro is. I just point to the Duke [ John Wayne

I live for myself and I answer to nobody.



Stardom equals freedom. It's the only equation that matters.



I just want the pine trees and my kids and the green grass. I want to get rich and fat and watch my children grow.



An actor is a puppet, manipulated by a dozen other people. Auto racing has dignity. But you need the same absolute concentration. You have to reach inside yourself and bring forth a lot of broken glass.



Stardom equals financial success, and financial success equals security. I've spent too much of my life feeling insecure.



I really don't like to act. At the beginning, back in '52, I had to force myself to stick with it. I was real uncomfortable, real uncomfortable.



When a kid didn't have any love when he was small, he begins to wonder if he's good enough. You know if my mother didn't love me, and I didn't have a father, I mean, well, I guess I'm not very good.



You only say what's important and you own the scene.



I worked hard, and if you work hard you get the goodies.



I'm not sure whether I'm an actor who races or a racer who acts.





[on Ein Feind des Volkes (1978)] The main thing I was shooting for was not to make bucks but to have something I could believe in.

The Marines gave me discipline I could live with. By the time I got out I could deal with things on a more realistic level. All in all, despite my problems, I liked my time in the Marines.



I believe in me. I'm a little screwed up but I'm beautiful.



They call me a chauvinist pig. I am . . . and I don't give a damn!



I have to be careful because I'm a limited actor. I mean, my range isn't very great. There's a whole lot of stuff I can't do, so I have to find characters and situations that feel right. Even then, when I've got something that fits, it's a hell of a lot of work. I'm not a serious actor. There's something about my shaggy-dog eyes that makes people think I'm good. I'm not all that good.



I'm out of the Midwest. It was a good place to come from. It gives you a sense of right or wrong and fairness, which is lacking in our society.





Listen, in Taiwan most people don't know who Lyndon B. Johnson is, but they sure as hell know who John Wayne is.



[on Dustin Hoffman ] If a guy like him can become a star, what'll happen to guys like [ Paul Newman ] and me?



Every time I look in the rear-view mirror, I see Robert Redford

[His last words] I did it.



The only time that I really honestly relax it seems is when I'm motor racing. I do relax a lot at speed. One really has to. You must stay relaxed because if any trouble comes up, you don't want to be tense, you want to stay very relaxed so that you can cope with it.





[on Le Mans (1971)] If we're going to do this, we are going to do it right. No typical Hollywood bullshit--no clever twists, no perfect ending. It has to be pure. And if we're going to do it about one race, it has to be Le Mans

I believe that I want to lead the type of life that I want to lead. In other words, my private life is my own, and I'll fight to have that.



I've hurried all my life. It's a way of life for me.



You only go around once in life and I'm going to grab a handful of it.





To me, a woman's ass is important. Jane Fonda always works out and keeps her ass in A-1 condition.

When I did 'The Great Escape,' I kept thinking, if they were making a movie of my life, that's what they'd call it - the great escape.



Hopefully, the cheap scandal sheets and curiosity seekers will not try to seek me out, so I can continue my treatment. I wanted to retain my sense of dignity as, for sure, I thought I was going to die.



I'm not a great actor - let's face it. I don't have a great deal of scope. There are certain things I can do, but when I'm bad, I stink. There's something about my shaggy dog eyes that makes people think I'm good. I'm not all that good.



Salary (24)