Steve McQueen
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McQueen was widely known as a tremendous motorcyclist and racecar driver.
When insurance companies for the films allowed, he would perform many of his own stunts.
His most famous stunts were performed in The Great Escape where he did much of the bike riding and Bullitt where he did much of the driving. Much to his dismay, the insurance companies would not allow him to perform the most dangerous stunts in either film which he always regretted. Contrary to popular belief, McQueen did not perform the the famous fence jump in The Great Escape. Instead his good friend and stunt driver Bud Ekins made the jump.
Steve always made a point to credit Bud Ekins for the jump whenever asked about it during interviews. There were many times someone would say
“That was a GREAT jump!”
and he would say
“Yeah, it was but I didn’t make it.”
