Bruce Lee and McQueen were two of the greatest actors of their time, and there was both deep friendship and competition between the two. They come from different fields, with Lee being a rookie in martial arts films and McQueen, a Hollywood A-list star whose name is a household name in the United States.
Today, Bruce Lee has become a generation of martial arts legends, and his wonderful performances in five kung fu movies have always been talked about by fans, and "Dragon Fight Tiger Fight" has become a Hollywood classic. But at the time, he didn't become famous overnight, and his friend Steve McQueen had been running in Hollywood for years and had been the darling of major studios.
In the 1960s, McQueen starred in major films such as The Seven Dragons, Bullitt, The Thomas Krone Affair, and The Great Escape. In addition, his role in the anti-Vietnam war film St. Paul's Gunboat was widely acclaimed and earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
After the cancellation of "The Green Hornet" in 1967, and the breakthrough performance in "Big Brother Tangshan" in 1971, Bruce Lee temporarily did not have a job. Through their friend, celebrity hairstylist Jay Seblin, Bruce Lee met McQueen. McQueen was ten years older than Bruce Lee and was already very famous at the time.
Their relationship began with McQueen asking Bruce Lee to teach him kung fu, but the two didn't soon become friends. According to Marshall Trier, McQueen's biographer, the actor was "too suspicious" to make friends easily, and his friendship with Bruce Lee was slowly cultivated during their training together.
Initially, McQueen was with Bruce Lee because he felt he could learn martial arts from Bruce Lee. During the training process, Bruce Lee impressed McQueen, who called Bruce Lee a man who "would never give up."
As their relationship deepened, they also respected each other, and Terrell said there was a "sibling rivalry" between them professionally. Bruce Lee's goal has always been to become a Hollywood superstar, and he admits that he wants to become more famous than McQueen. When he started working on Silent Pipes with James Coburn, it added to his ambition to surpass McQueen. Bruce Lee planned to invite McQueen to the film, but was rejected. McQueen explained via close weekly that he didn't want to use his fame to "make others stars," much to Bruce Lee's anger.
There is a widely circulated story about their friendship: once, the two drove for a ride, but McQueen drove the car so fast that bruce Lee was frightened. Since then, although they have maintained friendship, they have also continued to compete.
After making several films, Bruce Lee wrote to McQueen, claiming that he was now more famous. McQueen humorously replied with one of his autographed photographs: "To Bruce Lee, my most loyal fan." After Bruce Lee's death, McQueen also carried his coffin at the funeral, showing that he cherished the friendship.
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