Ink-slinging Steve McQueen biographer Marshall Terrill dishes on Elvis, Paul Newman, and the Duke
Guilty as charged for penning seven authoritative tomes about Steve McQueen going back to 1993’s Portrait of an American Rebel, Marshall Terrill is a reporter in the truest sense of the word. Although a dyed in the wool King of Cool aficionado, Terrill doesn’t sugarcoat any details about the actor’s ceaselessly fascinating, complex life as evidenced by a “Biographer of the Year” accolade bestowed by The Arizona Republic and a day gig promoting Arizona State University.
The executive producer of the theatrically-distributed documentary Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon is corralled below in an exclusive interview probing McQueen’s lifelong rivalry with Paul Newman, the Boys Republic alum’s competitive romantic streak with Elvis Presley over stunning fashion model-actress Barbara Leigh, an evening when the King of Cool stumbled upon a bladder-busting John Wayne backstage at an awards ceremony, and a gritty late ’70s action flick that McQueen mistakenly turned down during his Hollywood sabbatical.