Actor: Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen built a persona on doing less than anyone else in the frame. He counted his lines, cut them where possible, and understood that in a two-shot the actor who moves least draws the eye. It made him difficult to work with and extremely effective on screen.

The Great Escape, Bullitt, The Thomas Crown Affair and The Getaway are the star vehicles, and the Bullitt car chase, which he drove substantially himself, changed what an action sequence was expected to be.

Papillon and The Sand Pebbles show a wider range than the persona allowed, and the latter earned his only Academy Award nomination.

He was a serious motorcycle and car racer, competing at professional level, and died at fifty from mesothelioma likely contracted from asbestos in racing equipment.