To jump off the cliff into an abyss: A life’s work with Emmy nominee Lee Purcell

In her most revealing interview to date, Lee Purcell of “Big Wednesday” and “Valley Girl” fame recalls anecdotes from a 50-year Tinseltown career. Circa 1968, the baby-faced actress’s destiny in front of the camera already appears assured while a neighbor nonchalantly waters the lawn. Steve McQueen soon cast her in his Solar Productions-financed “Adam at 6 A.M.,” a rarely seen 1970 movie exploring a cool California semantic professor’s quest for personal fulfillment. Purcell’s debt of gratitude to the undisputed King of Cool is uncovered in part two of an extensive profile available under this caption. Photography by Harry Langdon

“Ohhh, I can do this!” Flapping makeshift chicken feather wings in a school operetta version of Peter and the Wolf, precocious seven-year-old Lee Purcell knew she was destined for a career in the limelight as she experienced wave upon wave of spontaneous clapping from an appreciative audience.

As evidenced by perhaps her most wide-ranging interview unleashed exclusively today, Purcell has encountered a richly rewarding career in television, motion pictures, and theatre.

None other than the King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, personally selected and ultimately mentored the consummate actress for her first major role in Adam at 6 A.M., costarring a wet-behind-the-ears Michael Douglas. Since Purcell’s scene-stealing performance as small town girl “Jerri Jo Hopper” in the 1970 coming of age drama, the auburn-haired beauty has worked in westerns, dramas, comedies, murder mysteries, horror — virtually the whole gamut [“Mentored by the Biggest Star in the World: Inside Steve McQueen’s ‘Adam at 6 A.M.’” encompasses the entire McQueen angle].

Purcell describes a behind the scenes journey that will make most folks envious. She shared screen time with some of the most iconic stars of the 20th century, namely James Garner’s oft-imitated Rockford Files, Charles…