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granddaughter, Terry, was the one to find it after so much time had passed.

      153. Steve and Neile had their first child, a girl, on June 5, 1959. Terry Leslie McQueen was named after her father, whose real name was Terrence Steven McQueen, and by default her grandfather, William Terrence McQueen. Although Steve quickly fell in love with his newborn daughter, he didn’t hold back in admitting that he had really wanted a boy. “I was a little hacked when the old lady bore me a daughter, but this kid is really gonna be a gas,” he said. “I wanted a boy, but now I want another girl.”

      154. After he decided that he wanted another girl, the universe blessed Steve and Neile with a son on December 28, 1960, whom they named Chadwick Steven McQueen. According to Neile, “When the children were little, when they were first born, he really couldn’t relate to them yet. He just sort of dissed them until they were able to become little persons. As soon as their personalities started evolving, then Steve could relate to them as children. He was wonderful with the children and he was wonderful with children in general because he saw the world through the eyes of a child. Consequently, it was always playtime when they were together.”

      155. In 1960, with his payday from The Magnificent Seven, Steve and Neile purchased a home at 2419 Solar Drive for $60,000. The Hollywood Hills estate overlooks downtown Los Angeles, and is situated near popular Runyon Canyon Park. With the move also came a name-change of McQueen’s production company to Solar Productions from Scuderia Condor Enterprises. His company remained with this name from then on.

      156. Before the filming of Wanted Dead or Alive, Steve spent many hours over the course of a few weeks practicing with firearms to develop his draw. However, because the gun used in the show was an actual, working firearm, he had to get a special permit to remove it from the studio.

      157. It was extremely important to Steve that he was able to draw and handle the gun properly, just as his character, Josh Randall, would have. At the time, he claimed to be the fourth fastest gunman in California. He said, “I can put a book of matches on the back of my hand, drop it from waist level, draw, and fire two shots into it before it hits the ground.”

      158. Steve and Neile were invited to participate in Bob Hope’s annual Christmas show entertaining soldiers stationed in Alaska. Although filmed primarily in Colorado, Steve still had to request leave from the filming of Wanted to be on the show. CBS encouraged him to do the show, even though it would be stuck paying even more overtime for the crew of Wanted. Steve’s appearance not only brought even more public attention to his television show, but promoted Never So Few, which opened just a few weeks later. His successful appearance led to numerous other guest spots to promote his projects.

      159. McQueen and co-star Yul Brynner may have bumped some serious heads while filming The Magnificent Seven, but that didn’t stop Dorris and Yul Brynner from sending the McQueen family a telegram on New Year’s Eve that read, “Happy New Year happy new baby.”

      160. The first strike in Screen Actors Guild history began on March 7, 1960, and nearly destroyed the possibility of making The Magnificent Seven. Everyone in Hollywood was under a mad rush to have contracts signed and projects initiated before that date to avoid being caught up in the strike. This worked out to McQueen’s benefit on Wanted, where he was contractually given permission to make The Magnificent Seven in addition to a doubled salary.

      161. The Screen Actors Guild strike almost lost The Magnificent Seven, the movie Steve had fought so hard for, since director John Sturges didn’t complete casting until the day before production began and a week before the strike began.

      162. Because .44-40-caliber rounds didn’t look that big sitting in Randall’s cartridge belt, .45-70-caliber rounds were used for a more striking visual effect. Since the large firearm required its own unique draw style, Steve turned to actor/singer Sammy Davis, Jr., whom he knew from his time in New York. Davis was a serious Old West pistol enthusiast and reportedly practiced his draw technique for hours a day. He helped McQueen develop Josh Randall’s characteristic draw.

      163. Folks all over the country tuned in to watch CBS’s Wanted Dead or Alive to see Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall. Among them was a five-year-old girl named Barbara Minty who sneaked out of bed on Saturday nights to secretly watch without her grandparents’ knowledge. About 20 years later, Barbara and Steve met, fell in love, and married. When they actually did meet, McQueen was fresh off his portrayal of Dr. Thomas Stockman in An Enemy of the People and she didn’t realize until well after the meeting that Josh Randall and Steve McQueen were the same person!

      164. It’s no shock that Steve used trickery to convince store owners that he was returning an item for cash while he was scrounging his way around New York City in his teens and early 20s. But can you imagine that he pulled the same trick on the night of his daughter’s birth in 1959. He had already hit it big financially with Wanted, but he never gave up the habit of not carrying any cash. Needing something to toast his first-born’s birth, he walked into a wine store, picked up a bottle, and simply asked if he could exchange it for another one. The clerk obliged the TV star’s request and Steve walked out with a free bottle of wine!

      165. Even though Steve McQueen’s relationship with his mother was strained at best, Neile’s introduction into their lives helped ease the tension and provide them both with an outlet of communication. Steve always kept his mother at arm’s length, but with her fondness for Neile it’s no surprise that Steve told her about his plan to propose before anybody else.

      166. Ever since he was a boy growing up on Uncle Claude’s farm, Steve McQueen loved animals and was always determined to someday have a dog of his own. On his 27th birthday he made that dream a reality when he stopped in a pet store and purchased a German Shepard puppy named Thor. It was his first dog and since they were all living in a tiny New York City apartment at the time, Steve, Neile, and Thor all slept on the floor together. After Thor, Steve always had a dog by his side.

      167. Steve had hearing problems stemming from a double mastoidectomy when he was a young boy and a scuba diving accident when he was 20 years old. He often raised his hand to his ear to show that he was hard of hearing.

      168. However, being a street-smart guy, he eventually learned that the signal of cupping his ear, and public knowledge of his hearing issues, could be used to his advantage. If a journalist asked a question he wasn’t prepared for, he could simply cup his hand around his ear and think about a response as the journalist repeated himself. He would also use the motion if he were bored in a conversation in the hope that the other person would grow weary of repeating themselves and give up the line of conversation. Chalk this one up as another one of Steve’s signature tricks!

      169. When McQueen first started as Josh Randall on Wanted Dead or Alive, he had access to his first press agent who’s responsibility was promoting the show and in turn, him. In addition to the show’s publicist, Steve also hired his own publicist for the purpose of separating him from the show. Wanted’s publicist wanted to promote Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, but Steve’s own publicist worked to separate him from Josh Randall and show him as a multifaceted actor. The investment in building his brand paid off as Steve’s reputation continued to grow.

      170. In 1960, after shooting Never So Few, Steve returned to Louis’ Tavern to see Sal. He brought Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford with him, surely making all those free meals worth the effort and giving his old friend a lifelong memory.

MOVIE FACTS

      171. Steve McQueen made his Broadway debut in 1956 in A Hatful of Rain. His character, Johnny Pope, was originally written as being Latino, which McQueen was not. Because of his noticeably European features, stage manager Ed Julian nicknamed him “Cornflakes.” Although his performance was good, the actresses who played his wife, Vivian Blain followed by Kim Hunter, looked much older than he did. Critics suggested that they appeared old enough to be his mother.

      172. While working on Wanted Dead or Alive, McQueen filmed three television ads for Viceroy Cigarettes. The commercials took place on set, with McQueen in costume but playing himself. His commercial catchphrase was: “Viceroy

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