Ultimate Behind-the-Scene Look At Steve McQueen, King Of Cool

Steve McQueen was an epic bad-boy on screen, with a fanatical audience. He was also difficult to work with on-set. So, while he could demand a higher salary than any other male actor, he was notoriously aggressive, belligerent, even combative with directors. From all reports, he was also a womanizer (he told his first wife that he just couldn’t say “no”), wife-beater, and philanderer. Read more about the man behind the legend, with all the good, bad, and the ugly.

Was Steve McQueen Ever a Kid?

Born with the first name “Terrence,” Steve McQueen comes across as a James Dean heartthrob, but he really did come from somewhere. His father was a stunt pilot and his mother’s profession is not known. She was an alcoholic (she has also been called a prostitute), so she left McQueen with her parents in the midst of the Great Depression.

They, in turn, moved to a farm owned by McQueen’s uncle, who became a father figure to him until his mother took him to live with her and his new stepfather in what would become a series of short, unstable, and even sometimes abusive marriages.