March 24 - Steve McQueen

Actor Terence Stephen "Steve" McQueen was born on March 24, 1930, near Indianapolis. Dyslexic and partially deaf from a childhood ear infection, he spent part of his youth in Slater, Missouri, with grandparents. His mother’s third marriage took him to L.A., where gang life, street crime and fights with his stepfather landed him in reformatory school. After a stint in the Marines and acting studies in New York, he gained fame in the TV series “Wanted: Dead or Alive” (1958-61) as a gunfighter who used a shortened Winchester rifle. He crossed over to movies with “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), followed by “The Great Escape” (1963), which made him a superstar; “The Sand Pebbles” (1966); “Bullitt” (1968); “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968); and others. He was the world’s highest-paid actor when he starred in “The Getaway” (1972). McQueen died in 1980 of pleural mesothelioma apparently caused by asbestos exposure while in the Marines.