The world of vintage


 On the set of "The Great Escape".

James Garner and Steve McQueen co-starred in the 1963 blockbuster and long-runningly popular film, "The Great Escape." While Steve was more famous as a movie star, his salary was $87,500, compared to James's $150,000. James clearly had a more successful agent.

According to many of those involved in the film's production, including director John Sturges, Steve was unpopular with many of them. James said of him: "Like Marlon Brando, he could be a nuisance on set. Unlike Brando, he wasn't an actor. He was a movie star, a pose-maker who created the image of a macho man. He brought personality to every role, and people loved that, but you could always see that he was acting. For me, that was a killer."

However, the two hit it off and became friends. The film was a huge box office success, and they ended up co-starring again—for about three seconds.


James, Steve, Sam.

In 1972, while Steve was filming Sam Peckinpah's "The Getaway," James visited the set. Because the film had a scene involving a high-speed car, James, who had experience with racing cars, was asked by Sam, or one of the stuntmen, to drive a racing car in one of the scenes. James agreed, and his orange Beetle is shown for just a brief moment. When the scene was over, James approached Sam and jokingly asked how much he was paid for the job. Sam took out his wallet and handed James a generous.

In his biography, James wrote that he enjoyed acting in that scene so much that he would have been willing to pay Sam for the privilege.

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