Steve McQueen didn’t know he was dying while making The Hunter. A week after wrapping, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer linked to asbestos exposure. The film hit screens in August 1980. Three months later, McQueen was gone. He was 50.

Steve was a better actor than he was given credit for, I think he's thought of better today than when he was alive. Would've loved to have seen him in some later roles he turned down, like Cap. Willard in Apocalypse Now or Jackie Scanlon in Sorcerer.

I also think he would've gotten better as he got older. He had the balls to take chances, and I think that would've continued.

Now that was a fucking actor

Some absolute classics under his belt.

Yeah, I can’t think of a bad one

In addition to the regrettable personal loss, it would have been wonderful to see him age into his later years on screen the way some of his contemporaries - Newman, Redford, Hoffman, Hackman, etc. - did so.

He took a lot of chances throughout his career, not always the easy option (Pappillon springs to mind), I think he would've continued this into his later years. It would've been interesting

How’d he get exposed to asbestos?

He went AWOL during his military service (I think to see a girl), when he returned he was punished by being made to remove asbestos lagging from pipes on naval ships. He said the air was so thick with dust that he couldn't breathe. Historians point at this event as the cause.

Ah. Makes sense why he wasn’t covered since back then they didn’t know how bad it was

😊🤘

Please, please, please post the stun gun scene. "It ruins their day."

That's a great scene. 😃

It's the only scene of the movie my friend and I remember. Stunt man let himself get shot with a bean bag, thus releasing a wobble of every ounce of fat in his body.

Was this train top stunt not used in the opening credits of The Fall Guy? Just have a feeling in the back of my 80s mind. That and the slow-mo stun gun scene.

Some great location work shot in my hometown of Chicago. Used to ride that Ravenswood El every day.

He was as badass in real life as the characters he played in the movies. Even more so. On an unrelated note: is the bus driver in this the cop who the assassin shoots on the train in French Connection?

I dead his biography many years ago. He was a pretty screwed up guy, a ball of insecurities. He was a very complex character, which is why he was a good actor, he was always acting, even in his own life. As for the bus driver, I'm not sure.

Interesting. Never would have guessed he was insecure. Goes to show you never know what someone is going through.

He had a tough childhood that followed him around. Dwspite how far he rose, he was never really secure about his own ability as an actor. This always makes me smile when someone calls him The King of Cool, because it was all an act, a brilliant 24/7 act.

Damn. Cool under pressure.

Exactly that. He earned the title, just not in the way people think.

To this day, his motorcycle jump in The Great Escape and the chase in Bullitt have yet to be topped. Spoiler: he didn't do the motorcycle stunt.

The original Bad Ass Finding out that in the Motorcycle chase scene in 'The Great Escape' that in the long range shots, the different Germans chasing on the motorcycles is actually McQueen also because the originally hired professionals were not driving fast enough That's Bad Ass

Great in Papillon and Sand Pebbles, really showed his range.

This stunt by McQueen Stunt Double, Loren Janes.

You could see it though...he looked very tired.

Not a star, a SuperNova...period

Great movie Love the combine chase scene

Great actor and movie...but that poor Trans Am...

I’m a fan, he was absolutely a complex person… the coke didn’t help either

50? He looks a rough 60

I seen this movie at the driveway with my parents. Those bean bag loads will stick with me forever... As well the original stuntman.

McQueen was a true actor. He excelled both in likeable roles and as a "tough guy." His death saddened everyone. Since that day, there has been only one person in cinema who followed in his footsteps and drew attention for his striking resemblance: Paul Walker..the same fate...

@stevensongs I recall he went to Mexico for some sort of bullshit peach pit anti-cancer voodoo in those last months.

I saw this movie in the theater when I was a kid. Still love it to this day.

I hope him and Keith Moon were neighbors again in heaven....lol

Mexico for natural 'therapy.'

a bad movie but a great stunt

he wrapped a film about his own mortality without knowing it, and the timeline still feels unreal