On this day in 1980, Steve McQueen, an iconic actor recognized as one of Hollywood’s leading figures during the 1960s and 1970s, known for action thrillers like Bullitt and The Towering Inferno, passes away at the age of 50 in Mexico while undergoing an experimental treatment for cancer.
Diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1979, a cancer often associated with asbestos exposure, it was later suggested that McQueen, the ruggedly handsome actor with a passion for fast cars and motorcycles, may have encountered asbestos from his racing suits.
Born Terrence Steven McQueen on March 24, 1930, in Beech Grove, Indiana, he endured a troubled childhood that included time in reform school before serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in the late 1940s. Following his service, he pursued acting and began to compete in motorcycle races. McQueen made his film debut with a minor role in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), featuring Paul Newman. He gained further recognition in the camp classic The Blob (1958) and became famous as a bounty hunter in the TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive, which aired from 1958 to 1961.
In the 1960s, McQueen established a reputation for portraying cool, solitary heroes in a series of films including the Western The Magnificent Seven (1960), directed by John Sturges and also starring Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson; The Great Escape (1963), where he played a U.S. soldier making a daring motorcycle escape from a German prison camp during World War II; and The Sand Pebbles (1966), a war epic for which he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination. One of his most celebrated performances was as a detective in the 1968 film Bullitt, famous for an extraordinary car chase through San Francisco. In the same year, he also portrayed a sophisticated thief in The Thomas Crown Affair.
Throughout the 1970s, McQueen ranked among Hollywood’s highest-paid actors, starring in box office successes such as Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway (1972) alongside Ali MacGraw, whom he married from 1973 to 1978; Papillon (1973), featuring Dustin Hoffman; and The Towering Inferno (1974), with Paul Newman, William Holden, and Faye Dunaway.
Despite his often contentious relationships with directors and producers, McQueen’s appeal meant he was in high demand and commanded substantial salaries.
His romantic involvement with co-star Ali MacGraw on the set of The Getaway led to her divorce from her husband, the famed Paramount Studio head Robert Evans.
His son, Chad, appeared as one of the “Kobra Kais” in The Karate Kid (1984), and his grandson, Steven R. McQueen, is recognized as a regular on the series The Vampire Diaries.
In the summer of 1980, McQueen went to Rosarito Beach, Mexico for unconventional cancer treatment involving coffee enemas and a therapy based on apricot pits.
Following surgery on November 6, 1980, to excise cancerous masses, he passed away the next day.
His last films released in 1980 were Tom Horn and The Hunter.
