4 new McQueen Bios

Steve McQueen: The Great Escape

Just released is Steve McQueen: The Great Escape by Wes D. Gehring. Gehring is a professor of film at Ball State University and an associate media editor for USA Today Magazine, for which he also writes the column "Reel World." The award-winning author of twenty-nine books, Gehring has written biographies of such screen legends as Charlie Chaplin, W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Irene Dunne, Carole Lombard, James Dean, and Red Skelton.

Steve McQueen, King of Cool: Tales of a Lurid Life

Next up, due for release on December 25th, we have Steve McQueen, King of Cool: Tales of a Lurid Life by Darwin Porter. Porter is famed for writing extremely sleazy biographies of celebrities. His books are also widely considered to be complete "fantasy" fabrications, more representative of his own lurid imagination than the actual truth. Highly UNrecommended.

Steve McQueen: Living on the Edge

Then, due out on April 12, 2010, we have Steve McQueen: Living on the Edge by Michael Munn. Munn has written 21 books, including the best selling John Wayne: the Man behind the Myth and the acclaimed Richard Burton: Prince of Players. This one promises something new and original, as the author claims to have known McQueen personally.

From the blurb on Amazon.ca: In the summer of 1970 McQueen and author Michael Munn took a road trip in England while the actor's film Le Mans was on hold. McQueen told stories of being a kid on the street, petty theft, rolling drunks, gangs and losing his virginity to a whore who took cakes in exchange for sexual favours. Munn met McQueen on other occasions, last speaking in 1980, and in this poignant, personal account, recalls the story of one of the greatest American anti-heroes of all time.

It should be noted that Munn's authenticity as a biographer has come into question in the past. David Niven Jnr, the son of David Niven (the subject of a Munn bio), denied Munn's claims to have known and been intimate with his father, strongly refuting several passages in the book. And on a similar note I have it from a source close to McQueen at the time of filming Le Mans that Steve was with then wife Neile in Morroco while the film was "on hold", which throws a serious doubt over Munn's claims to have spent that time with him.

Steve McQueen: A Rebel's Life

And finally, Marshall Terrill, the acclaimed author of Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel and co-author of the photo-book Steve McQueen:The Last Mile is going back to the drawing board and releasing a completely new bio which will incorporate new and improved information that he has learned over the 15 years since originally releasing Portrait. The book is slated for a November 2010 release and is to be titled Steve McQueen: A Rebel's Life.

Thanks to Donna Redden, Pascal van Zanten, Carmela Amari and Marshall Terrill for alerting us to these releases.