This week is a double whammy for me. Friday June 17th will mark the 5-year anniversary of my father’s passing…and then on June 19th it will be the 6th Father’s Day without him. So needless to say, my father has been on my mind recently. My father is a huge reason why I love movies. One of my most popular pages on Hub Pages was My Dad’s Top 5 Movies of All-Time…which I wrote in June 2011. I think that page is still BERN1960’s favorite page that I have ever written. FYI – This page was written in 2016…so the above numbers are much biggert today.
Recently I was responding to a comment on our Steve McQueen page when I remembered one of my favorite stories my dad used to tell me. Since it revolves around a famous movie star, and I have a movie website…. I have decided to share it here. Shockingly there will be no tables of stats on this page…. but don’t worry Flora and Laurent…Michael J. Fox and Josef von Sternberg pages are coming very soon.
I am sure I will get some details wrong about this story…. but give me a break I was not there…. heck….I was still 10 years away from being born.
The Place And Time
This story takes place in either 1958 or 1959 in Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke was having a parade. Steve McQueen was the Grand Marshall of the Parade. My dad and his friend were covering the parade for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper. McQueen was starring in the television show, Wanted Dead or Alive, and was still a couple of years away from superstar status. I am sure McQueen’s agent thought this would be great publicity. I can only imagine McQueen’s disbelief when he arrived in a town that closely resembled Andy Griffith‘s Mayberry. Turned out that McQueen, my dad and his friend were staying in the same hotel.
The First Encounter
My dad and his buddy were standing right outside the front door of the hotel when McQueen drove up in a fancy sports car and with a very good-looking woman. McQueen jumped out of the car, walked up to my dad and handed him the keys to the sports car…and told him, “Be real careful when you are parking the car.” My dad handed the keys back to McQueen and said, “Sorry there is no valet service here…. you are going to have to park your car yourself.” McQueen took back the keys and they went their separate ways.
The Second Encounter
Later that night my dad and his buddy were drinking and talking about how they could not believe that McQueen thought they were valets. At some point they decided to call McQueen’s room (how they got his room number is unknown, but this was 60 years before the Erin Andrews lawsuit). So even though it was early in the morning…. they called McQueen’s room. McQueen answered the phone and my dad said, “We are down in the bar having some drinks and we were wondering if you would like to come down and let us buy you a drink or two”. McQueen responded, “Well right now I am sleeping so I will have to pass on the offer”. This is probably why celebrities use fake names these days.
The Third and Final Encounter
So, the next morning……my dad and his buddy are eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant when McQueen and his lady friend sat down at the table across from them. Feeling a little hungover and feeling a little bad about calling McQueen’s room in the middle of the night…. they walked over to McQueen’s table and said, “We are sorry we woke you up last night when we called your room”. McQueen said, “Don’t worry about it, normally I would have been down there with you.” After breakfast they all headed to the parade…and a few hours later they all left Roanoke. Pretty sure Steve McQueen probably never thought about his encounters with my father…. but sharing this story was one of my father’s favorite stories he liked to tell. I think in his dealings with my father…. McQueen was indeed “The King of Cool”.
Hi
A really lovely story about your dad. Really this whole site is a wonderful tribute to his input into your life. Thanks for sharing the story.
Yes, well you do not know how true this statement is for me. For two years I was offline when my computer crashed and I had no home computer. Bruce – the son of a reporter – contacted me through my mother whose email address he had from when we were on Hubpages together to find out how I was. He and
Steve Lensman thought I was dead. It is eerie for me to read comments between them during hose two years as well as a review on letteboxd where he talked about me – in the past tense. Very weird.
Hey Flora….well whenever he or I did a classic movie subject…it did not take long before your name would pop up in our comments. Sorry it was eerie for you to read. It is much better to hear directly from you…versus trying to guess how many or how few movies you had seen my a classic performer. Glad we found you!
Yes! I love this website. 🙂
Thanks for a great comment Chris…..his fingerprint is on this website without a doubt. Glad you enjoyed this story.
Another great story from Grandpa and Another great article from Cogerson! He will be missed once again this year as always but we remember him best through the stories we share. I can vaguely recall hearing Grandpa tell me this story when I was younger. It is much funnier now realizing that he was partaking in adult beverages and as Scotty referred to it, “drunk dialing” the man. This story will be added to the list of great stories including the 1st argument (bed spread) and I Cant Believe Its Not Butter! (The Battle for Margarine) Thanks for the read Cogerson, look forward to your next page. RIP Grandpa!
Ohhhh, I would love to hear these stories via email, Bryan. Happy Father’s Day to you ahead of time. 🙂
I know the butter one….the bed spread one is a little foggy for me….I will have to ask BERN1960 about that one.
Hey Bryan….Grandson #1…..I imagine you have the best and most memories of your granddad. I appreciate you taking the time to comment…I am sure grandma will appreciate it even more. So glad I was able to share grandpa’s drunk dialing moment….proud day indeed……lol. RIP grandpa.
I love this story. I miss grandpa so much. He made waffles with me too when I slept over. I miss those chocolate waffles. ;(
Thank you for the comment….Grandchild #5…..good to know you have waffle memories of him too.
Awesome story!
Yes it is, Katie. 🙂
Thank you Katie….or as he would call you grandchild #3.
1 On a TV programme one night a film historian highlighted a feature of McQueen’s screen persona that had never occurred to me. A common theme running through many of his films was that in one fashion or another “he escapes.”:
(1) The Getaway and the Great Escape titles speak for themselves.
(2) In Junior Bonner he escaped from his family (ie by abandoning them).
(3) Pappillon was all about escaping from prison
(4) At the end of the 1968 Thomas Crown Affair he flies away to escape those seeking to entrap and imprison him..
(5) In Nevada Smith he gets himself imprisoned and later escapes through the swamps.
(6) And of course the entire cast wanted to escape from The Towering Inferno !
2 I loved McQueen when he debuted; but unfortunately I went off him a bit over his carry-on in relation to his billing feud with Newman. It is possible that he was a competitive obsessive. In 1976 Brando secured the now fabled financial deal for Superman (1978) that got him into the Guinness Book of Records as the highest paid actor ever up to that time. Apparently for several years after that every time McQueen’s agent negotiated a new deal for him he had to assure Steve that it was on a par with the Brando deal.
3 There is of course nothing wrong with trying to secure the best billing and money available; but Steve’s public triumphalism about his perception that he had outwitted Newman in their billing compromise for Towering Inferno was I thought unnecessary and even vulgar.
[It reminded me of 1962 Cape Fear. Peck had production control and went to great trouble to secure a role for Mitchum in the film. It won Mitchum fine reviews from the critics; whereupon Bob got up at a press conference and boasted how he had out-acted Greg the star and producer of the film. Greg [like Newman an apparently nice man] expressed himself to be very hurt].
3 However despite all the foregoing I would have been as thrilled as your Dad to meet Steve – even once!- or any of those greats; and I am pleased for you as you are an obvious massive film buff that your own had had the chance to meet one of those special people. [“Where do they come from?” – Anthony Hopkins]
Exactly. Gregory Peck gave Mitchum this juicy role in Cape Fear because he knew he was the right actor for the part. Peck was not only a great actor but he was a great film producer. He knew whom to cast in a film to get the best movie. Just because Gregory Peck was a movie star he did not feel he had to always have the biggest or showiest role. He was interested in making a great movie.
Back to Steve and billing issues – next time you watch The magnificent Seven – notice how both he and Yul Brynner are above the title BUT:
While Yul is first, Steve is NOT second: Eli Wallach is.
FLORA:
1 What you say does not surprise me. In 1960 Steve, though he had enjoyed a good profile as a TV performer was not yet an over- important star. He had made I think just 4 or 5 films, the most prominent of which were a low-budget horror movie, The Blob [where he was billed as Steven McQueen]; a supporting role in a Sinatra movie, Never So Few; and most ironically a walk-part in Somebody Up There Likes Me, where he was billed miles below NEWMAN !.
2 The Magnificent Seven made him a star; but although he secured good leading man roles in the years immediately following the Brynner film, historians opine that he did not become a MEGA star [ie join the all time greats] until Bullitt in 1968. It always seemed to me that it was from roughly that point on that he became ‘difficult’. Certainly before he achieved super-stardom he struck me as a very nice guy.
2 At least it would appear that he was not as “billing greedy” as Tom Cruise. It is reported that in the 90s Tom had a clause in his contract that guaranteed him solo billing above the title on posters unless he otherwise consented. Gene Hackman who appeared in The Firm with Tom asked to be billed alongside Tom on the posters but was refused. Thereupon Gene withdrew his own name from the posters rather than be billed below the title. His name still appeared on the screen – after Tom’s of course!
3 Incidentally I remember reading that for years after his death sales of McQueen memorabilia exceed even those of Elvis items.
Thanks for the Magnificent Seven information.
BOB ROY
Re: Peck. In Roman Holiday, Audrey was making her first movie. Peck saw the rushes. He realized how fantastic she was and that she would steal the movie from him. So he insisted that she be billed with him above the title of the film – after him but above the title – as a leading lady and future star as he knew she was. She won the Best Actress Oscar for her film debut. Peck knew talent when he saw it.
I am a member of the closed fan club of Steve McQueen. I have not mentioned The Towering Inferno at all though I love it. I will not mention it in that group because of this billing issue.
1 By all accounts Greg was a modest man for a film star. However even he could not take it when he started a film with Monroe and as production progressed Marilyn kept persuading the producers and scriptwriters to build up her part at the expense of Greg’s; so he walked out. I think the film was Lets Make Love [1960] and that Greg was replace by Yves Montand. It’s grosses were said to be disappointing to the studio.
2 One final billing anecdote. Lee Marvin and Richard Burton made The Klansman together, and as they had never met and as both had a reputation for being volatile, the film makers were a bit nervous about how they would get on. Marvin was sitting on the set when Richard first arrived and he shouted over to Burton “I suppose you know that I get top billing.” Burton stared back and in that Winston Churchill voice of his retorted “I suppose you know I get more money!”
3 Of course they subsequently got on like a house on fire because they had one common bond: drink. And they must have done some boozing on that set; because it is said that years later each claimed that he could not remember ever having met the other!
4 It is a cliche but true that we all have our faults; and just because we greatly admire someone – and Steve had much to admire – that does not mean that we should condone everything the person does. I regard your proposed stance within your group as most principled.
I enjoyed reading the conversation between Flora and Robert Roy…..good points made by all. Hey Robert Roy….in case you did not pick up on it…Flora is a serious Gregory Peck fan….lol.
Hey Robert Roy.
1. That is very interesting about McQueen’s “escape” movies…I also had not thought of that….very interesting indeed.
2. I have read a few books on McQueen part of his issues with “more money” and “top billing” are due to him making so many bad business decisions….it started when he had the choice of a % of the profits…or the set fee of $10K for his role in The Blob…he took the money up front…which could have been close to a million bucks if he had taken the %. I think after that he always wanted to be sure he did not lose out again.
3. As Newman said about The Towering Inferno…..”Hell ….we all know the true star of the movie…it is the fire”.
4. Peck was the man.
5. Glad you like my story about my dad and McQueen….good quote from Sir Hopkins.
LOL comment from Newman about The Towering Inferno!
Update of McQueen’s page for Father’s Day ?
He will get updated soon….I was looking at Newman’s stats last night…but I got tired before I finished his update…..McQueen is just going to have wait for Newman…lol.
BRUCE:
At last someone who can do what Newman couldn’t: put Steve in his place!
Incidentally your information about the background to Steve’s billing/financial deal obsessions was very interesting and it got me thinking. In the 1956 Somebody Up There Likes Me Paul was the star and of course was billed first above the tile. Steve though, in what may have been his debut movie, had just a walk-on part and was not even credited. Perhaps that’s why he singled-out Paul to ‘eclipse’ in terms of stardom.
Anyway look forward to more updates
BOB ROY
I was working on his (Newman’s) yearly ranks while at work today….probably going to get his page update first thing in the morning.
Maybe Newman did something to McQueen on the set….to make McQueen mad….or maybe McQueen was a little jealous that Newman was the star and McQueen was a bit player on Somebody Up There Likes Me….either way the man seemed to hold a grudge for a very long time.
Yes. Peck was the Man. I think Robert Roy has figured out who I am. If not, Robert – check out Bruce’s page on Gregory Peck. I am mentioned in it. LOL!