Neile Adams (aka Neile McQueen Toffel), author, performer and the former wife of the late legendary actor, Steve McQueen, will make a special appearance at a screening of the film, Bullitt, as part of the Film Series entitled, "King of Cool - The Films of Steve McQueen," being held at Seattle Art Museum; SAM Downtown, Plestcheeff Auditorium; 1300 First Avenue (between Union Street and University Street); Seattle, WA 98101, on Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. The film Bullitt stars Steve McQueen, along with Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset, under the direction of Peter Yates.
"King of Cool - The Films of Steve McQueen" is being held this year in observance and celebration of the birth of the Steve McQueen 80 years ago on March 24, 1930. A Questions and Answers session will be held with Neile Adams following the screening of Bullitt that evening, after which Adams will sign copies of her autobiographical book, My Husband, My Friend, about her life with Steve McQueen. Copies of the Adams's book, which is currently in development as a major feature film in Hollywood, CA, will be available for purchase.
At this time, tickets will only be sold at the door on the day of the event for $7 each (cash only). Patrons are urged to arrive by no later than 6:45 p.m. to purchase tickets, which will be sold on a First-Come, First-Served basis. Parking is available in the museum's underground parking garage for a nominal fee. For further information about this special screening of Bullitt and other Steve McQueen movie screenings in this Film Series playing through March 11, 2010, please call the Seattle Museum Museum Box Office at 206-654-3121, E-mail boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org and visit online at www.seattleartmuseum.org. For further information about Neile Adams (aka Neile McQueen Toffel) and Steve McQueen, please visit www.myhusbandmyfriend.com.
Neile Adams (Entertainer) first saw her name on Broadway as a teenager at Billy Rose's Ziegfeld Theatre in the original production of Kismet, with AlfrEd Drake and Doretta Morrow. She came to national attention as a featured performer for noted choreographer/director, Bob Fosse, starring in the Broadway production of The Pajama Game.
She was personally selected by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to play a lead in their first National Company Tour of Me And Juliet. Adams starred opposite the legendary Paul Muni in the original Broadway-bound production of At The Grand, and also starred in numerous regional musical productions, including: Damn Yankees, Bye, Bye Birdie, Carousel, Can Can, South Pacific, Connecticut Yankee, Where's Charley?, Desert Song, and others.
Adams has appeared in many films and television shows, including: This Could Be The Night, Buddy, Buddy, Fuzz and award-winning episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She has worked with such entertainment greats as George Abbott, Robert Wise, Billy Wilder, Eddie Fisher, Patrice Munsel, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Andy Williams and Bob Hope.
She is a member of the charitable organization, SHARE and is a board member of The Boys Republic of Chino Hills. In 1986, Adams wrote her best selling book entitled, My Husband, My Friend, about her life with her former husband, Steve McQueen. In 2006 Adams' book was re-released in a 20th Anniversary editon by AuthorHouse. The book is now in development to be made as a major feature film in Hollywood, CA. Adams' second husband, the late businessman, Alvin E. Toffel, encouraged his wife to return to her musical roots and indeed she has.
In recent years Adams has created and presented he own cabaret shows, which have received rave reviews in New York, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Palm Springs. She has four CD albums. To learn more about Neile Adams and Steve McQueen, please visit the website, www.myhusbandmyfriend.com.
Steven Terrence McQueen (Steve McQueen's birth name) was born on March 24, 1930 in Beech Grove, Ind., and endured a troubled childhood which included being abandoned by his father, left to be raised by a great-granduncle, and then taken by his mother to California to live with her cruel and abusive second husband. He became involved in gang life, eventually ending up in a parochial school, The Boys and Girls Republic of Chino and Monrovia, where he finally learned responsibility. After a brief stint in the Marines, he went to New York and took up acting, winning a scholarship to Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. Of the 2000 performers who auditioned for The Actors Studio in 1955, only two were accepted: Martin Landau and Steve McQueen.
McQueen impressed everyone who saw him and quickly earned a small role in Robert Wise's Somebody Up There Likes Me as well as his first Broadway role in A Hatful of Rain. After a string of low-budget movies, including the cult classic, The Blob, McQueen landed the starring role in the Western television series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, playing a soft-spoken bounty hunter with a sawed-off rifle. Within a few years, he had become a household name.
