Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee: Complicated Tinseltown frenemies

“Bruce Lee: A Life” ink slinger Matthew Polly delves into the deadly nunchucks expert’s relationship with Steve McQueen in an exclusive interview. Here a navy blue crew-neck sweater-clad King of Cool participates in a racing event in Southern California in the mid-1960s. The Persol sunglasses were famously wore by McQueen in “The Thomas Crown Affair.” McQueen’s widow Barbara Minty sold her pair for $70,000 at the 2006 Bonhams & Butterfields auction held at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Bruce Lee also took a liking to the Persol brand. Image Credit: The Estate of Steve McQueen

“Steve McQueen doesn’t know the meaning of quitting. He just keeps pushing himself — punching and kicking for hours without a break — until he is completely exhausted.” Bruce Lee started private kung fu lessons with the Oscar-nominated Sand Pebbles antihero in August 1967, an uncertain period of self-discovery following the cancellation of ABC’s sole season The Green Hornet, Lee’s big break in North America, albeit in a stereotypical role as the comic book protagonist’s dependable manservant Kato. McQueen determinedly clawed his way out of embarrassing B-movies like The Blob to the small screen horse opera Wanted: Dead or Alive. Now he was a top ten box-office attraction with a Brentwood mansion dubbed “The Castle,” a fleet of vintage autos and motorcycles, and respect from Hollywood’s power players. Lee was envious. Who wouldn’t be?

Lee had to earn the trust of the typically reticent, suspicious McQueen. “You couldn’t want a friendship with McQueen because he was too paranoid,” asserts expert Marshall Terrill. “He had to want something from you — in this case Lee’s fighting technique.” Separated by 10 years, the younger Lee eventually realized they shared similar backgrounds — intelligent but mediocre grade-wise students who questioned authority.