Steve McQueen Photos That Capture The 'King Of Cool'

From troubled teen to Hollywood star to high-speed racer, Steve McQueen lived life in the fast lane.

Steve McQueen led the kind of life that a whole generation observed in awe. He was a man’s man who rapidly became iconic to movie buffs and race car fanatics alike. Men wanted to be him and women couldn’t help but notice him.

But before the glamorous Hollywood parties, celebrity friends, romances, and race car antics, the Indiana-born kid had to overcome some serious hurdles. Mere months after the Great Depression hit, McQueen was born into a family in turmoil. His father left before he was born.

Meanwhile, McQueen’s mother was an alcoholic who left him with her parents. For financial security, the three moved in with McQueen’s uncle Claude, whom he later called “a very good man, very strong, very fair.”

James Coburn And James Garner And Steve Mcqueen

Norman Jewison Steven Mcqueen And Faye Dunaway

Steve Mcqueen At The Funeral Of Bruce Lee

Steve Mcqueen Drinking With His Wife In The Jacuzzi

Steve Mcqueen In Sunglasses With A Cigarette

Steve Mcqueen Riding Past The Swiss Border

Steve Mcqueen Sleeping In A Pickup Truck

Steve Mcqueen Visiting The Boys Republic

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McQueen fires off some shots during target practice in the desert.

May 1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen loved the outdoors and frequently hiked and camped with his dog.

June 1963. Sierra Madre Mountains, Mexico.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen and Neile Adams were married for 16 years and had two children before they divorced in 1972.

1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Between takes of The Great Escape, Steve McQueen takes his costars James Garner (rear) and James Coburn (sidecar) for a ride around set — and then through nearby Munich.

November 1962. Munich, West Germany.Bettmann/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen and John Wayne reviewing their note cards before an event.

1969. Los Angeles, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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Ever the race car driver, McQueen was arrested for speeding — as well as drunk driving.

June 22, 1972. Anchorage, Alaska.Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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McQueen and his wife Neile Adams read the paper while on the set of Alfred Hitchcock Presents' "Man from the South" episode.

Dec. 23, 1959. Los Angeles, California.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

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Director Norman Jewison (left) discusses some of the scenes for The Thomas Crown Affair with friends and collaborators Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.

1967.Bill Ray/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Peter Revson and Steve McQueen beaming with adrenaline and joy at the finish of the 12 Hours of Sebring. They managed to finish in second place.

March 21, 1970. Sebring International Raceway, Florida.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

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McQueen poses with his special racing model, the Jaguar XK-SS, and his horse, on the set of the CBS western Wanted: Dead or Alive.

May 24, 1960. Hollywood, California.CBS/Getty Images

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McQueen reloading his shotgun while taking a smoke break.

1963. Sierra Madre Mountains, Mexico.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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The Philippines-born dancer and actress, Neile Adams, lounges poolside with her husband at their Palm Springs home.

May 1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen and The Thomas Crown Affair director Norman Jewison discuss a scene from the movie while chomping down on cigars. McQueen was a creatively involved actor.

May 18, 1968. Bettmann/Getty Images

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Unfortunately for McQueen, he was banned from racing at Le Mans for insurance reasons. Nonetheless, he's seen here attending the trials — before filming Le Mans on location during the race.

April 12, 1970. Le Mans, France.Reg Lancaster/Daily Express/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee were not only peers, but friends. McQueen straightens the sign on Lee's casket while mutual friend James Coburn watches on from behind.

July 30, 1973. Seattle, Washington.Bettmann/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen quenches his extreme thirst during a break in the Mojave Desert 500 — a cross-country motorcycle race with as many miles as the name implies.

1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen in character as race driver Michael Delaney in Le Mans, which was shot on location at the famous sporting event.

June 1970. Le Mans, France.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen and his wife take a sulfur bath together while drinking some champagne.

June 1963. Big Sur, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen takes his wife for a ride in his Mercedes Benz 300 SL through Greenwich Village, where McQueen used to live.

May 6, 1960. New York, New York.CBS/Getty Images

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McQueen and his wife, Neile Adams, in a convertible car.

1965.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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The Bullitt star takes a phone call in his garden while sipping on some coffee.

1960s. Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen became an iconic racing figure not only for his involvement in the sport, but for classic photographs like these. Here he is wearing a Firestone racing suit and leaning against a Lola T70 SL70/14 car at Riverside Raceway.

July 1966. Riverside, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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Just another leisurely afternoon at the McQueen home.

May 1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen has a smoke in his Firestone racing suit at the Riverside Raceway.

July 1966. Riverside, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen arrives at a California campsite in his trusty Land Rover.

May 1963. Sierra Madre Mountains, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen drives a Porsche 908/02 at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

March 21, 1970. Sebring International Raceway, Florida.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

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McQueen and his Alaskan Malamute, Mike, on a fruitful camping trip.

May 1963. Sierra Madre Mountains, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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The Hollywood legend on the set of Nevada Smith, in which he played the titular role.

1966.Keystone/Getty Images

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Husband and wife share a laugh while hanging out on their couch.

1960. Los Angeles, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen in a personalized racing suit while promoting Le Mans, which was directed by Lee H. Katzin.

1971. France.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen even made taking a phone call look cool.

Mid-1960s. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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The Hollywood daredevil races his Jaguar XK-SS down Sunset Boulevard in the early 1960s.

May 1963. Hollywood, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen gets ready for the grueling 12 Hours of Sebring race.

March 21, 1970. Sebring International Raceway, Florida.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

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McQueen puts on his jacket before resuming the Mojave Desert 500 motorcycle race across the Mojave Desert.

1963. Mojave Desert, California. John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen takes a gander at the crowd while filming Le Mans.

June 14, 1970. Le Mans, France.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

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Bike in gear, cigarette in mouth, and McQueen is ready to tear out of his driveway.

1960s. Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen atop the motorcycle that helped launch him to stardom in The Great Escape.Bettmann/Getty Images

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The flatbed of a pickup truck was a place as good as any for McQueen when he needed a nap.

1963. Hollywood, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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A slightly different kind of wheel for McQueen, but nonetheless one he easily mastered.

1965.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

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Perhaps one of the earliest paparazzi snaps of an actor as famous as McQueen. This photo was taken near a sign on his property that read: "Anyone caught in here better have a damned good reason."

May 1963. Palm Springs, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen was a humble star, and one who loved to give back. Here he is back on the campus of his alma mater, the Boys' Republic Reformatory School, to inspire the younger generation.

June 1973. Chino Hills, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen and his crew after a long day of shooting Le Mans.

June 14, 1970. Le Mans, France.Bernard Cahier/Getty Images

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McQueen and his son goof off at home.

June 1, 1963. Los Angeles, California.John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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McQueen and his daughter, Terry, whom he had with wife Neile Adams, strolling around rainy Los Angeles.

1964. Los Angeles, California.Schweitzer-Hecht/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

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Steve McQueen Photos That Prove He’ll Always Be The ‘King Of Cool’

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Dyslexic and partially deaf, McQueen returned to Indianapolis some years later to live with his mother and her new husband. His stepfather regularly beat him, and before long McQueen resorted to petty crime and joined a street gang. After police caught him stealing hubcaps, his stepfather threw him down the stairs.

It was at the California Junior Boys Republic reformatory school in Chino where McQueen finally found peace in discipline and routine. Had he not gone to reform school, McQueen believed, "I would have ended up in jail or something. I was a wild kid."

In 1947, the 17-year-old McQueen joined the Marines and sailed off to the Dominican Republic, where he quit to work as a towel boy at a brothel. Soon after an honorable discharge in 1950, his life as an actor began.

Steve McQueen: The 'King Of Cool'

While working as a bartender in New York City, McQueen met an actress who got him interested in acting. He nabbed his first stage role in 1952 and he earned $40 a week to say one line — "Nothing will help" — in Yiddish.

It was enough to give him the acting bug. Using G.I. Bill-funded financial aid, McQueen studied at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. With Sanford Meisner's acting techniques firmly under his belt, the young actor nabbed minor roles in several plays before making his Broadway debut in 1955's A Hatful of Rain.

"He always said he wasn't an actor, he was a reactor," said Bullitt costar Peter Yates. "By that he meant that he didn't want to be lumbered with speaking plot. He wasn't sure he could do it."

By the time Sam Peckinpah's crime-thriller classic The Getaway came out in 1972, Steve McQueen was not only America's leading man — but also the highest-paid actor in the world. Ironically, he didn't think he was that good of an actor, which might have influenced his onscreen presence.

For Ali MacGraw, who began a love affair with McQueen while filming The Getaway, McQueen's stoic composure was a welcome change from typically showy Hollywood actors in the industry.

"I think it's safe to say that it would have been impossible not to fall in love with Steve," she later admitted.

Steve Mcqueen In The Thomas Crown Affair

Wikimedia CommonsSteve McQueen, the "king of cool," in the 1968 classic The Thomas Crown Affair.

McQueen's appeal crossed the gender gap into universal gravitas. His daring motorcycle and race car stunts gave men a boost of adrenaline and made them eager to relate to him. Meanwhile, women believed there was deep-seated pain and fragility behind McQueen's facade.

"Steve was the ultimate movie star," explained Robert Vaughn, his costar in The Magnificent Seven. "He had what they refer to as the X-factor. Well, it's sex appeal, that's what it is. He had enormous sex appeal."

McQueen's filmography is one for the ages. From The Blob, to The Great Escape, The Cincinnati Kid to The Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans to Papillon, the man immortalized himself onscreen over and over again.

Nonetheless, it was his quiet aura, masculine calm, and daredevil hobbies that elevated him from movie star to legendary icon.

Even contemporary news anchor Brian Williams admitted as much of the man aptly dubbed the "king of cool." Williams said, "Whether men realize it or not, he's the standard everyone's been chasing for 40 years."

Hollywood, Highways, And Hostile Behavior

"He liked camping, he liked rugged things, he liked firing a gun," said LIFE photographer John Dominis of his friend and subject, Steve McQueen.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many superstar actors, McQueen liked booze, drugs, and women who weren't his wife. In 1972, the actor divorced his wife of 16 years, Neile Adams, and embarked on an on-set romance with Ali MacGraw while shooting The Getaway.

This relationship quickly turned into a Hollywood scandal since MacGraw was married to film executive Robert Evans at the time. Nonetheless, she and McQueen married in 1973. They helped fuel each other's drug and alcohol abuse until they divorced five years later.

Bruce Lee testifies to Steve McQueen's toughness as a Jeet Kune Do student of his.

The actor's mystique grew larger when he began training in martial arts with his friend and mentor Bruce Lee. McQueen wanted to know everything Lee could possibly teach him, and didn't stop training until his clothes were completely soaked through.

Of course, McQueen valued the road far more than he did anything related to martial arts. He drove cars and motorcycles in races all over the world — like the Mojave Desert 500 and the 12 Hours of Sebring — and he even filmed his 1971 classic Le Mans on the site of the actual race.

Steve McQueen's Last Act

"Steve liked to [seduce] blondes, but he married brunettes," his ex-wife Neile Adams said at McQueen's funeral in 1980.

That comment certainly got a much-needed laugh on a somber day, but it was true. And McQueen wasn't just a womanizer and philanderer — he was also a wife-beater. In a 1986 memoir, Adams revealed how he beat her bloody after she revealed an affair with an Oscar-winning actor, and he beat her time and time again until she divorced him in 1972.

It was the Sharon Tate murders in 1969 that reminded the man of his mortality long before he'd have to face it. McQueen was about to go to dinner at Tate's Cielo Drive home with his friend Jay Sebring when he "ran into a chickie and decided to go off with her instead," said Adams.

TwitterSteve McQueen picking up his new Shelby Cobra from the legendary racing driver and designer Carroll Shelby.

"Going off with that girl saved his life," she said. "After that, he became more paranoid and wouldn't let me go anywhere without a gun."

McQueen himself carried one at all times, as well — even to Sebring's funeral. But all the guns in the world wouldn't save him from his fate.

It was a biopsy shortly before Christmas 1979 that revealed McQueen had pleural mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure. He was only 50 when he died, leaving behind a complicated legacy of mismanaged masculinity, worldwide adulation, and a rare cinematic footprint.

"Me a legend?" Steve McQueen once asked incredulously. "You wanna know what a real legend is, look at Duke Wayne. Me? I'm just a dirty old man who can't wait to get out of here and go play in the dirt."

After looking at the life and times of Hollywood legend Steve McQueen, take a look at these James Dean photos that capture his wild life and tragic death. Then, check out vintage Hollywood in these mesmerizing images.