Although subtitling a book “The King of Cool” is perfectly appropriate for a book on Steve McQueen, it does raise an obvious question. What is cool?
The book’s author, Marshall Terrill, thinks it’s a quality you can’t define. “You either have it or you don’t,” he explains. “And Steve had it. He appealed to men and women alike. Men aspire to be like him and women find him incredibly sexy.”
Interestingly, the notion of cool is something completely lost on Barbara. “Cool?” she laughs. “I’m looking at the guy that did The Twist, who got a perm and listened to The Bee Gees...”
Barbara’s position is unique when it comes to this iconic actor. While there’s clearly a contrast between the private McQueen and his screen persona, Barbara isn’t the person to ask.
“I’ve never really seen any of his movies,” she admits. “I saw The Blob and The Towering Inferno a long time ago but my family wasn’t movie-oriented, so I never really knew who Steve McQueen was. I just fell in love with a man who had a good job.”
Marshall has a different view. “To me, he defined a whole new genre of acting. We talk about Brando being a method actor, and I don’t mean to put Marlon Brando down but Steve took it to another level. I don’t think anyone’s surpassed McQueen as a reactor, someone who could convey a lot of words and emotion with one look. In real life, we read each other from our actions and emotions, and Steve was able to bring that realism to film.”
Given the earlier answer, one very obvious question – favourite Steve McQueen movie? – has been rendered academic. “The Blob?” suggests Barbara with a smile.
“Papillon,” declares Marshall. “Steve should have won the Academy Award for that but the perception at the time was he was just playing himself. They didn’t realise that he was just a great natural actor. He was a little flippant about acting, to show he didn’t care about it that much, but he really did. He put a lot of preparation into his roles, to the point where he made it easy.”
That difference between the private and public personas is evident from the photos in the book and, for a week or two, an exhibition in London’s West End.
“I have two favourite pieces,” says Barbara. “There’s one of Steve on his ‘Rat’ bike, the motorcycle he kind of put together by himself. You could put a sleeping bag on it and take off anytime. That’s a good photo. And the other one I took first thing in the morning. He’s got his flying jacket on, his scarf, the sun was just coming over the hill, he’s got his cup of coffee and he’s standing next to his plane. Those are my favourites. He’s unguarded. He was such a good subject because he knew the camera so well, I’d get him on something and say ‘that’s great, hold still’ and all of a sudden, he’d change.” She mimes a tilt of the head and laughs. “I’d have to say ‘no, don’t act, just be you.’ You could see he’d turned something on, that acting thing.”
Or, perhaps, that cool thing?
'Steve McQueen – A Tribute To The King of Cool' by Marshall Terrill is out now, rrp £35. Click here to buy it from the Saga Bookshop at a discount.