Steve McQueen

A former Marine, Steve McQueen was revealed in 1958 in the series In the Name of the Law, before his career took off thanks to his role in John Sturges' The Seven Mercenaries. He had a string of successes and built up his image as a fearless and lonely hothead, a seducer and a heartbreaker - he married Neile Adams and then Ali MacGraw. An absolute fan of motorcycles and Formula 1 racing, he is known to perform most of his stunts himself, when they are not dubbed, among others, by his friend Bud Ekins. The man who shared a love of the Triumph Bonneville with McQueen throughout their lives was seen on the Triumph Trophy TR6 in The Great Escape in 1963.

In 1968, he played in Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair. He played a jaded businessman, a billionaire improvising as a bank robber, with his emblematic Persol on his nose, and let his passion for cars express itself. We see him driving his mythical Meyers Manx buggy, his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow or his Ferrari 250GT. It is in this film that we witness the longest kiss in the history of cinema, between McQueen and Faye Dunaway, on the timeless soundtrack of Michel Legrand.

The following year, one of the other great successes of the bad boy was released: Bullitt, by Peter Yates. This time he drives a Ford Mustang GT 390, at the center of one of the most important car chases in the history of cinema. In California, Steve McQueen plays the role of Frank Bullitt, a rebel cop who roams the streets of San Francisco. He followed this with Le Mans, where he played Michael Delaney, a racing driver at the wheel of a Porsche 917, who made a cult following with his Tag Heuer Monaco watch - in the city, it was a Rolex Submariner 5513 that completed Steve McQueen's often copied but never equalled style. Like On Any Sunday, the film was released in 1971, a year driven by the exhilaration of speed and his passion for motor sports. It was with Solar Production that he participated in Bruce Brown's feature documentary, nominated for an Oscar in 1972.