Steve McQueen, the Final Chapter

by Grady Ragsdale

Few stars guarded their private lives as zealously as Steve McQueen. He was a loner. untrustmg, scarred by events that shaped his formative years. Reporters found him difficult to corner;... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0884491056
• ISBN13: 9780884491057
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Vision House Pub
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.

Customer Reviews

It's how you end that counts

They say it's not how you run the race, but how you finish it and -- according to Grady Ragsdale -- Steve McQueen finished well. This book follows the last year-and-a-half of McQueen's life and ends just after his memorial service. Grady describes McQueen's failing health in detail, and even recounts his last visit to the bedside of the dead actor. You won't find much here about McQueen's fame (apart from a reference to Lee Majors) or his legendary love of speed. What you will find is a gentle tale, told with tenderness, of a man who said he'd done everything there was to do and now just wanted to be happy. What made McQueen happy? The answer might surprise you, as will the path he embarked upon in his last year. Everyone wants to be like 'The King of Cool'. But perhaps to become most like McQueen is to become like the man described in this book: one who loved his family, his friends, and God.

The Final Chapter - Steve Mc Queen

Just finished "Steve McQueen-the Final Chapter" by Grady Ragsdale. I couldn't put the book down, and will read it a second time in a week or so. A heart rendering story of a great movie star who was also a real human being most people would never guess lived behind the Hollywood glitter. Mr. Ragsdales book is a simple story, factual, and told from a very unique viewpoint. It's also a story about what happens when all the options run out on life, and you discover your days are really and truly numbered. Who do you turn to, where do you go? The story also illustrates that your own life may influence others by what you might consider inconspicuous actions. Actions you routinely do without thought, but someone may notice and take heart. I have no problem recommending this book to anyone interested in either this end time of Mr. Mc Queens life, or as a book of inspiration for those who may think "those who die with the most toys win" - that just isn't so. I'm happy to say that I believe Mr. Mc Queen won the last round after all.

A homegrown yarn

Grady Ragsdale passed away not long after this his first and last effort as an author. Although it is written very simply and from the perspective of a big fan, Grady was Steve's local caretaker, helper, and all around gopher and he is accurate in his cataloging of Steve's last year alive. There are stories in here you won't read anywhere else and stories as yet not told in the McQueen saga, but Grady was a simple man and he tells it simply, like it was. Anyone who is a McQueen fan should try to get a copy of this book because it will show you a McQueen that very few people knew but the spirit of a man you will recognize even at the end of his days, when he realized his days were numbered and as is documented, he never gave up. The book focusses on McQueen's love of flying, his search into the next world and his creation of the dream, his last home, the ranch in Santa Paula. This book and Nolans book are perhaps the best and most accurate documentation of a man who while he was alive held back more information than he gave, except to those who observed him while he wasn't looking. What is missing in Grady's story is the side of Steve that Grady, being a country boy wouldn't have understood...but that is exactly why Steve allowed him in so close.