American actor of the New Hollywood era nicknamed the King of Cool, known for Bullitt, The Great Escape, and The Magnificent Seven.
Background
Born Terence Steven McQueen in Beech Grove, Indiana, he had a difficult childhood, spent time at the Boys Republic school in Chino, served in the United States Marine Corps, and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
Career
He played Josh Randall on CBS’s “Wanted: Dead or Alive” before lead roles in John Sturges’s “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape,” Norman Jewison’s “The Thomas Crown Affair,” Peter Yates’s “Bullitt,” and Franklin J. Schaffner’s “Papillon.” He earned a single Oscar nomination for “The Sand Pebbles.”
Style
McQueen pioneered a minimalist, action-driven leading-man persona and was an accomplished motorcycle and sports-car racer who performed many of his own driving stunts.