Steve McQueen Quotes

Steve McQueen Biography

Steve McQueen was the silver screens epitome of cool during the 1960's and 1970's when his career was at its peak and all of Hollywood was at his beck and call. Although he admitted he was not the best of actors he had an on screen presence and magnetism that oozed star quality.

He was given the moniker the "King Of Cool" and it is a testament to this icon of yesteryear that his hipness still endures to this day. His iconic roles in The Great Escape (1963) and Bullitt (1968) have cemented his position as an all time Hollywood great.

In January 2018 Ford unveiled a new Mustang called the Bullitt thus reinforcing the McQueen association with the famous car is still as relevant 30 years on from the original release of the movie.

Other prominent movies that are worth a mention are: The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Papillon (1973), but the movies mentioned here are my personal five favourites that McQueen excelled in.

His love of racing saw him bring that adrenaline rushed excitement to the screen with some daredevil motor cycle riding in The Great Escape and the speeding around San Francisco in Bullitt, indeed he was so skilled in driving he performed most of his own stunts and chases where the insurance company allowed.

McQueen also starred in the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno where he had a minor on screen rivalry with Paul Newman about top billing, this was escalated onto the race track as both actors had a passion for motor racing, however for all the gossip column tittle-tattle they never actually raced against each other competitively.

He was the cool dude on camera given some fantastic scripts to narrate but he was also good for a one liner off the screen so here is my compilation of 20 of the best Steve McQueen quotes

Quotes About Steve McQueen

His acting teacher Sanford Meisner said of him: "He was an original, both tough and childlike, as if he'd been through everything, but he had preserved a basic innocence"

Dick Barbour who trained Steve McQueen as a race car driver and co-drove with Paul Newman knew them well enough to give this comparison between their styles: "Paul was a very methodical driver. He wasn’t a natural like Steve. McQueen picked it up immediately"

The actor Robert Vaughn had fond memories: "We went to a lot of races together and we drove a lot of cars down Sunset Boulevard checking out chicks. A good place to check out chicks was having Steve McQueen at the wheel of the car"

Robert Vaughn went on to say about McQueen: "The same fascination that the world had with him on the screen was there in person - he was the guy you looked at"

The author Darwin Porter did not hold back with his words: "He had no morals. He was an alley cat who would have sex with anyone. Yet that’s what helped make him a star because he was willing to sleep with anybody - men, women, acting coaches, co-stars, rivals, idols - if it could win him a role"

The Italian actress Claudia Cardinale described him thus: "Steve was a strange guy, also very sensitive, silent, inaccessible"

The actor Alessandro Roja was impressed to say: "McQueen should be studied for his unique way of becoming a character"