Performers - Part 31

 Steve McQueen

In 1963, after actor Steve McQueen's breakout role in The Magnificent Seven, and just before the release of The Great Escape, which made him a superstar, LIFE magazine sent photographer John Dominis to hang out with McQueen and photograph him.  The two bonded because they shared a passion: car racing.  Above is a photo Dominis took of McQueen, at right, in a cross-country motorcycle race.  LIFE published this photo along with some other Dominis photos of McQueen in an article about the new star in their July 12, 1963 issue.

For three weeks, Dominis followed McQueen everywhere, not getting in his way and not bothering him, and McQueen got used to the photographer being around.  This photo of McQueen's dog Mike waking him up on a camping trip in the Sierra Madre mountains also appeared in the LIFE article.  McQueen said, "I'd rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on Earth."

The most skin that appeared in the LIFE article was this photo of McQueen and his wife Neile.  Dominis observed that they were very affectionate.  "They were always necking," he said.

But in the LIFE photo archive there are other, more revealing photos by John Dominis that were never published.  Above, McQueen in very short shorts by the pool of his house in Palm Springs.  By the way, short shorts were normal in those days.  Men's shorts have gotten much longer since then.

But then McQueen starts pulling down his shorts and underpants.  Why?  Presumably to skinny-dip, since he's next to his swimming pool.  What about the photographer?  McQueen didn't care.

Dominis didn't take any frontal shots of McQueen, but he got this shot of "the king of cool" strolling away naked.  Now that's an unashamed male.

Another photographer who became friends with Steve McQueen before he became famous was William Claxton.  They also shared a passion for fast cars, and they remained friends until McQueen's death.  Claxton also followed McQueen around and took photos of him everywhere.  Here's a 1962 photo of McQueen in tighty whities.

Here's a 1963 Claxton photo of McQueen working out in the Paramount Pictures gym while making the movie Love With a Proper Stranger.  Is that a bit of a VPL in his sweatpants?

There's no need to guess what he was packing, because Claxton took this photo of him whipping it out at the seashore in Carmel, California in 1965.

Steve McQueen died at age 50 in 1980 from mesothelioma, probably due to exposure to asbestos in the military and as a stunt driver.  He'll be remembered as the king of cool in the 1960s and 1970s who was both a tough guy and a nice guy, and unashamedly male.