Quotes by Steve McQueen

About Steve McQueen:

Terence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American actor. Called "The King of Cool", his "anti-hero" persona, developed at the height of the Vietnam War-era counterculture, made him a top box-office draw of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles. His other popular films include The Blob, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, and Papillon, as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and The Towering Inferno. In 1974, he became the highest-paid movie star in the world, although he did not act in films again for four years. McQueen was combative with directors and producers, but his popularity placed him in high demand and enabled him to command large salaries.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I love actors. That's my bread and butter, and I got to work with some amazing ones on '12 Years'.

Steve McQueen

I just see myself as a guy who's trying to make a film or, make art.

Steve McQueen

I'm not sure that acting is something for a grown man to be doing.

Steve McQueen

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.

Steve McQueen

I'm the kind of person who likes to create the environment and mindset - not because I do it deliberately, but because that's how I like to live - where, from catering to makeup to hair to wardrobe, electricians, camera department lighting, sound, yo...

Steve McQueen

I don't do storyboarding, ever; I'm not interested in that.

Steve McQueen

Film is important; it can be more than reportage or a novel - it creates images people have never seen before, never imagined they'd see, maybe because they needed someone else to imagine them.

Steve McQueen

I'm about challenging people. Like, properly challenging them and their assumptions.

Steve McQueen

I'm certainly not who people think I am. I always do whatever I want to do, and my films are personal to me.

Steve McQueen

I'm not that interesting of a person.

Steve McQueen

I need to have a reason why I'm doing something. Otherwise I'm lost.

Steve McQueen

I'm a filmmaker, so I always think: When is the breaking point? Sometimes you've got to go beyond the breaking point, and then you catch it. When is long enough? It's one of those things you have to look at, walk away, and go home and find out what i...

Steve McQueen

When I did 'The Great Escape,' I kept thinking, 'If they were making a movie of my life, that's what they'd call it - the great escape.'

Steve McQueen

I'm not a great actor - let's face it. I don't have a great deal of scope. There are certain things I can do, but when I'm bad, I stink. There's something about my shaggy dog eyes that makes people think I'm good. I'm not all that good.

Steve McQueen

Audiences make their minds up about people they see on screen, just like they do in real life. That's what fascinates me in film. You see a character and have to think: is this person different to what I assumed he was when I first saw him?

Steve McQueen

My influences come from real life. I'm not interested in cinema for cinema's sake. I'm interested in life - what one does and how one interacts.

Steve McQueen

I learned that life is a long and difficult road, but you have to keep going, or you'll fall by the wayside.

Steve McQueen

I love creating images, of course, because I'm an artist.

Steve McQueen

Politics will take care of itself. I'm interested in people who are involved in the situations that politicians create. Politics is taken care of by politicians - they're not filmmakers.

Steve McQueen

I can't work in an environment where it's a stiff hierarchy; that's not my kind of way.

Steve McQueen

Author Bio

  • NameSteve McQueen
  • DescriptionAmerican actor
  • AliasesTerence Steven McQueen
  • BornMarch 24, 1930
  • DiedNovember 7, 1980
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionActor; Film Actor; Motorcycle Racer