Steve McQueen, epitome of 1960s movie cool for roles such as Bullitt and the motorcycling Yank in “The Great Escape,” died of cancer. That much is known. What is not usually told is that he died with a Bible open on his chest.
“One memory that continually blesses me,” writes Daniel Southern in The Message of Leadership, “is that of Steve McQueen sitting in the balcony of a California church drinking up every word of the Gospel as he carefully followed along in his Bible.”
That’s a great image. The church was most probably Hollywood Presbyterian on the very edge of tinsel-town not far from the famous Capitol Records building. According to Southern, the great actor was convinced by his quiet but humble Christian flight instructor – who never nagged him about faith and belief issues – that Christianity must have something. It does. It everlastingly does.