This week I’m going to focus on two the coolest men in Hollywood- Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Before Paul started making Newman’s Own salad dressing and Sheryl Crow sang about the Bandito in “Steve McQueen,” these two icons were two of the best known faces in Hollywood.
Steve McQueen was born in 1930, and hails from central Indiana.
His films include The Blob, The Great Escape, and Bullitt. He was also part of the all-star cast that included Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno. He also starred in the TV show Wanted Dead or Alive as Josh Randall. He had a small, uncredited role in Somebody Up There Likes Me, which starred Paul Newman.
McQueen died in 1980 at the young age of 50.
Paul Newman was born in Ohio in 1925.
His films include Somebody Up There Likes Me, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was also in The Towering Inferno with Steve McQueen. In the eighties, he starred in and won an Oscar for his role in The Color of Money. My kids will always know him as the voice of Doc Hudson in Disney Pixar’s Cars.
So how do you tell these two apart? They both had low, gravelly voices. They both liked fast cars and racing. Newman lived longer, so if it was made after 1980, it’s Paul Newman by default. If it’s a World War II movie, it’s probably McQueen. If it’s movie about someone in prison, or doing something that can send you to prison, it’s probably Newman.
Do you have trouble telling these two leading men apart? Are there any other requests for stars to sort?
10 replies on “Sorting the Stars: Paul Newman and Steve McQueen”
I haven’t actually seen any Steve McQueen movies (except towering inferno because it had Paul Newman in it :-p). I LOVE me some Paul Newman!! He seems like he was a genuinely good person, vs McQueen just seems like an ass. I just recently watched Hud and I was very sad to see Newman play such a terrible person, but he was still really good at it (he was nominated for an Oscar)!! I’ve been on a Paul Newman Netflix kick recently because he really is soooo dreamy and I love his voice. :)
Also, Newman was a much, much nicer guy than McQueen in real life. Steve was an abusive asshole to Ali MacGraw for the entirety of their relationship.
This is true. Although he wasn’t a spotless saint: he divorced his first wife Jackie Witte to marry Joanne Woodward.
And he was also colour blind. The things I learn on Wikipedia.
And then he famously never cheated on her, except when he TOTALLY DID!
Thanks for this. Because they are like onto one dude in my head. I think it’s because they have been in similar style movies too often. The Secret War of Harry Frigg or The Great Escape? The Magnificent Seven or Butch Casidy and the Sundance Kid? About the only one I don’t have to think about is Slapshot because I am fairly certain that Steve McQueen was never in a movie about hockey.
I love them both!
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is one of my favorites, and The Great Escape is always fun to watch.
Paul Newman is dreamy. Steve McQueen is a badass.
*swoon*
They were both so dreamy. Â And Paul Newman makes some seriously awesome food products.
Man, they don’t make ’em like they used to…
Well, they do, but still, these were some really hot dudes, just fifty years too early for me.
I love this series!
Paul Newman is very dreamy to me, so I haven’t had a problem mixing him up with anyone else.
However, I often confuse Gregory Peck & Cary Grant. Maybe you can do a bit on that those two.