66. One day, Steve and his Marine tank crew discovered that the vehicle’s hot exhaust pipe could be used to heat up a can of pork and beans. At the time, they were on a cold-weather training exercise in Labrador, Canada, where everyone was simply given K-rations, which were eaten cold and became boring rather quickly. McQueen’s crew noticed a case of canned pork and beans in their inventory, which must have seemed like a fancy gourmet meal at the time! One Marine held a can over the exhaust pipe while Steve kept the engine RPM up and another Marine kept watch for officers or others who might not be sympathetic to their cause. After becoming comfortable with the process, they eventually let a can heat up for too long, at which point it exploded and covered the entire area with pork and beans, including several other tanks and the unit’s gear.
67. McQueen’s fascination with vehicles and his calling to find trades that involved engines continued after his time in the Marine Corps. Following his honorable discharge from the Corps, he worked as a cab driver in Washington, D.C., before saving enough money to get himself back to New York City.
68. Steve first got hooked on motor vehicles while living with his Uncle Claude in Slater, Missouri, where he grew up working with tractors, and his uncle drove a Jeep. It was while riding in that open-top Jeep that he fell in love with motoring. In his words to author Michael Munn, “Feeling the wind in my hair and on my face was like the most free feeling I ever had. And the faster we went, the better it was. That feeling of freedom and the feeling that wherever you were going, you were leaving behind something. I’ve always loved that leaving something behind.”
RACING
69. On Steve’s fourth birthday, his uncle Claude bought him a red tricycle to help him burn off his extra energy. Soon after, he began racing the other kids in the neighborhood on it. “There was a dirt bluff behind the farm, and I’d challenge the other kids in the area,” he said. “We raced for gumdrops. I usually reached the top first. Got some skinned knees, but I sure won a lot of gumdrops!”
70. While working in the traveling carnival at age 13, young Steve’s favorite pastime was walking away from his job to watch the car races put on by the carnival. “Man, you should’ve seen those smashers get knocked dingy on the track,” he commented later.
PERSONAL LIFE
71. When studying to be an actor in New York, McQueen used the Stanislavski system developed by Russian theater practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski. The principle stated that an actor’s training and preparation should go beyond simply line memorization and dramatics. An actor should actually experience the role that he or she is to play beforehand, so as to make actions and reactions more natural.
72. In his young acting days, McQueen read an article in a celebrity magazine about an actor who commented that he often had a difficult time deciding which of his cars to take to work on a particular day. As a car lover himself, Steve got mad reading the article. Later, once he could afford any car he wanted, in multitude, he commented that he doesn’t “get sore at the stories about all the automobiles the stars own and the choices they have to make.”
73. In his early days as an aspiring actor, while he still needed women to pay for his meals, Steve befriended a cook at a popular Greenwich Village spot called Louis’ Tavern. The cook’s name was Sal, and Steve made the deal with him that if Sal would feed him, Steve would pay him back once he landed paying acting jobs. True to his word, Sal fed Steve when he was hungry, and Steve payed him back in full whenever he got work.
74. McQueen had his first real experience with children when he occasionally babysat for one of The Neighborhood Playhouse faculty’s baby daughter. It must have been an incredible experience for him to witness first-hand what a traditional family was like. This may have been a major factor in being considered a great parent once he had children.
75. In late 1954, McQueen and fellow actor Richard Martin left New York in search of work in Los Angeles. The only offer they received while there was to sail on magician John Calvert’s yacht for a two-year tour. Although they’d be paid for the time, neither was willing to make the two-year sacrifice.
76. About the only thing that Steve and Richard did accomplish on their mission to Las Angeles was earning the notoriety of being kicked out of the famous hotel Chateau Marmont for skinny-dipping with a couple of actresses. This story spread throughout the acting community back in New York, and when they returned, the job offers began to roll in.
77. While on the set of Two Fingers of Pride, Steve had affairs with two female castmates: Peggy Feury and Olga Bellin. Each filled a different void that he needed in his life. His relationship with Feury was largely based on attraction while Bellin provided more on the emotional support side of things.
78. While living in The Village as a carefree, rebellious youth on a motorcycle, Steve’s nickname in the neighborhood was “Bandido.” In her memoir, wife Niele recalls being referred to as “Bandido’s Girl” when they first started dating.
79. Critical and audience reviews of his performances never seemed to bother Steve while he was doing stage work, who understood that he was still a student actor. The one reviewer who did intimidate and frighten him was his very own teacher, Lee Strasberg!
80. Steve disliked classes and performing skits because he felt he got more out of live performances for patrons. Of being reviewed by Strasberg in class, Steve once said, “I would rather take my chances with the paying public.” By his reasoning, at least he was getting paid!
MOVIE FACTS
81. When the Broadway production of Time Out For Ginger moved to Chicago in 1954, producers cast Steve as Eddie Davis. McQueen starred alongside several of the original cast members, including Melvyn Douglas, Nancy Malone, and Philip Loeb. The play focused on a girl, Ginger, who wanted to try out for her school’s football team and the blowback that affected her supportive father. Steve would have been fired outright from the production if not for his agent, Peter Witt, stepping in and convincing Douglas and director Shepard Traube to let him resign. Getting fired from his first paying job would have had damning effects on his career.
82. McQueen’s first known performance was in the play Molly Picon, which was put on by a Jewish company in New York in 1952. His one line in the play was: “Allez iz forloren,” which is Yiddish for “All is lost.” This role earned him $40 a week. McQueen said that he got the part thanks to his roommate’s sister who was an actress and talked the producers into hiring him. He was fired after four performances, which he jokingly blamed on his “lousy Yiddish.”
83. In the summer of 1952, McQueen dusted himself off and got back on the stage, this time at the Country Playhouse in East Rochester, New York, for the week-long production of Peg O’ My Heart. The play required him to use an English accent; however, he was so nervous that he forgot some of his lines on the show’s opening night.
84. A cast mate approached him after the show and said, “I want you to know that your performance was just embarrassing.” McQueen recalled feeling like the wind was taken out of his sails. After that, he contemplated getting out of acting altogether.
85. Steve’s first on-screen performance was in a 1952 TV short called Family Affair. The 27-minute film was originally intended for AT&T employees and select public groups to show the necessity of having multiple phones in a modern household. McQueen, credited as Stephen McQueen, plays a goofy sailor named Freddy. While on leave, he plans to propose to his girlfriend, but in order to connect with her he must use the household’s additional phone. McQueen has four scenes, in all of which he wears a Navy uniform.
86. McQueen’s second on-screen performance came in the form of an uncredited extra in the 1953 film Girl On The Run. The film is a murder mystery in which police investigate a murder in a burlesque theater.