NEILE ADAMS ON MCQUEEN!

Steve and Neile McQueen

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As we approach the 2nd Annual Steve McQueen Film Festival (see "NEWS" at http://www.michaelmanning.tv/) I'll be sharing a carefully selected, thoughtful recollections from the people "Up Close and Personal" in Steve's Life. Neile Adams is an acclaimed actress, dancer, singer and author who was married to Steve for 16 years. Her children with Steve are daughter Terry (deceased, 1998) and son Chad. Quotations are from public domain.

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NEILE ADAMS: "Well, he had a violent temper and he was just wild to handle, and you just never knew what would trigger him off. He was the most maddening and the sweetest--I mean he was just everything. He was crazy! I kept seeing him everywhere. He would be on my street, everywhere. I'd see him on his motorbike with no shirt. In those days, that was very riske'. People around Greenwich Village called him "The Bandito", because he was so great at scamming food and beer from diners and bars.

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"I had just come out out of dance class and I had on this red dress--which is my lucky dress (laughter). And I was feeling really good because I had just started rehearsals for "Pajama Game" . Anyway, I came out of Carnegie Hall, I turned left and there he was. I said "Hi!" And he said "Hi!". He said 'You're pretty'. And I said 'You are too!' "Mark Rydell and I were having dinner and he came right over to the table and said "Hi", and I said "Hi!" So, Mark had to introduce us. And then the very next night, he was at the theatre to pick me up. He was with me the whole week. And at the end of it he moved in with me. He brought his one suitcase, his riding gear and a big Bus Stop sign and he used to work out with that.

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"On our first night together, he told me he had been in the Marine Corp. He loved the Marine Corp. When his stint was over, he came to New York looking for some sort of education or vocation with the G.I. Bill. Instead of going to tile-setting school, he would up at the neighborhood playhouse, because the girls---the girls were there. He was so raw as far as acting technique was concerned. He was put on stage with a girl in some improvisation--and I don't know what it was about, but the girl slapped him and he was so stunned that he socked her and she went out cold! But he really, really liked what he was doing and applied himself and started getting work in the theatre. And eventually, he did some extra work in movies and you always noticed him even when he was in the background. But as soon as he found The Actors Studio, life began for him--as far as he was concerned.

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"His first movie was "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and of course, Paul Newman was the star. He was just terrible in it, by the way (laughter). He was still looking for his personality. I was going into a movie called "This Could Be the Night". So, when I went to California to do the movie, he called me up and said, "I'm coming out there to make an honest woman out of you!"

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"His agent came to us and said, 'Steve, there's a movie here. It's a mom and pop operation. It was being shot in Philadelphia by a minister ("The Blob"). He said, 'We can give you ten percent of the profits or $2,500'. And he said 'I want the money in my hot little hand'. I said, 'Do it! Nobody will ever see it'. Well, (laughing) then it became a cult film. It made, I think ten million dollars which was a huge amount of money for that time and he said, "Well, I'm sorry I didn't get a piece of that".

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"(In 'Never So Few'): He had not the biggest part---but it was a bad ass good soldier type. After the movie, Frank (Sinatra) was so enamored with Steve, he took us to New York. That was our first look at what a star of Frank's magnitude could have. And Steve Said, "Oh, yes, I'm, gonna have that". All the reviews went for him (in 'The Magnificent Seven'). They said he's going to be the next Gary Cooper--and so it went".

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