Code: 6010
Title:
Duration: 52'
Format: For TV

Abandoned as a baby and with a childhood spent in reform school, stints as a sailor, lumberjack and oilfield worker, Steve McQeen overcame the odds to become one of the most popular and highly-paid screen actors of the 60s and 70s - an appealing combination of unheroic hero, gregarious loner and exuberant introvert. This docu-special mixes comments from co-stars (Jacqueline Bisset), admirers (Michael Madsen), and family with clips from Bullitt, Papillon, and TV's Wanted: Dead or Alive. No dark detail is unexplored - from McQueen's presence on the Manson family hit list to his stormy marriage to Ali MacGraw. "Being an actor is a gas", McQueen once said. "Being a movie star is a pain". Yet as this hour demonstrates, he made both look easy.