The Fire Chief who battled to save a colossal 135-story San Francisco skyscraper and it's Opening Night guests in a 1974 disaster epic may have been battling something more sinister: clutter.
The London Times reports that an extensive collection of Actor Steve McQueen's memorabilia and personal "collections" will be auctioned off in November, as part of his wife's publicity plan for the release of her book "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile."
Apparently, McQueen's rugged on-screen persona battled his personal desire to amass a massive volume of stuff. Included in the Bonham and Butterfield's auction are motorcycles, oil lamps, luggage tags, clocks, a hackamore, two Hoosier-style kitchen/ice boxes, gun racks, an extensive selection of vintage toys, horse saddles, a truck with the license plate MCQ3188 and the blue Persol sunglasses he made famous in the Thomas Crown Affair. Here is a quote from his last wife, whom he lived locally in Malibu:
"The Oregon farm girl turned model [McQueen's wife, Barbara] said she was “house clearing” before moving from her home in rural Montana. “It is time to say goodbye, not to Steve but to the clutter he left behind. He bought everything he liked in twos, so there was a lot of stuff just hanging around here.”
A quick search at the Butterfield's website lists the actor's auction date to be November 11 at the Peterson Auction Museum located on Hollywood's Miracle Mile. Strangely enough, McQueen starred in the 1974 disaster epic The Towering Inferno and the sale will take place at the very street corner where the 1997 film Volcano took place and firefighters battled molten lava.
