A crash helmet owned and used by Steve McQueen

A crash helmet owned and used by Steve McQueen for off-screen driving , e circa late 1950s-early 1960s, given to the vendor, a crew ,in the c1962 Columbia Picture The War Lover, on completion of filming at Shepperton Studios in England; the Everoak motor racing helmet with glass fibre hard crown, ear guards and front protuding lip, in silver finish embellished with black painted detail including a wide central stripe and fine decorative contour line, the exterior applied with a band of silver tape around the circumference, the back with stitched leather goggle strap below a circular paper sticker printed with gold lettering MGM Studio Club - Sports Club Association and black dragon insignia; the helmet interior lined with various materials including cork, webbing and leather with three-piece cheek and neck protection of cream canvas with adjustable tan leather straps, the chin strap applied with additional customised soft fabric support piece; the underside of the leather lining signed and inscribed in blue ink Wear it in good health, Steve McQueen; accompanied by two black and white stills of McQueen wearing an almost identical crash helmet whilst racing a Lotus Le Mans Mark XI at Santa Barbara Raceway in 1959 -- (printed later); and a letter concerning the provenance from the vendor - Estimate 25,000 - 30,000 British pounds

Bibliographie : TANAKA, Rin and KELLY, Sean Steve McQueen 40 Summers Ago...Hollywood Behind the Iron Curtain Japan: Cycleman Books, 2004, p.18;
SANDFORD, Christopher McQueen, The Biography, London: HarperCollins, 2001, pp. 98,126 & 133
TERRILL, Marshall Steve McQueen, Portrait Of An American Rebel, London, Plexus, 1995, pp. 75 & 77
www.McQueenonline.com

Notes : Peter Wallis, the vendor of this lot was a stand-by prop-hand on the crew of The War Lover, and worked directly with Steve McQueen throughout the making of the film at Shepperton Studios in Middlesex between 1961 and 1962. Wallis would commute to the studio on his BSA 250cc motorbike and often encountered McQueen enroute, driving a jeep to the same destination. Quite frequently the pair would race each other. Wallis recalls that on occasion he managed to overtake McQueen but just as he drew level with him, he'd see McQueen wink at him and knew then that the star had let him win again. Wallis didn't wear a helmet on his bike at this time, all he had was his old army beret and a pair of ragged RAF pilot's goggles. He remembers McQueen wearing this helmet however, whilst racing a motorbike around the back lot, throughout the production in between takes. McQueen knew that Wallis was a dispatch rider in the Royal Signals during his army service and admired his skill on a motor bike.

Surprisingly The War Lover was the first and only time that McQueen made a film in the United Kingdom. He played the character of Captain Buzz Rickson, a fighter pilot in World War II. Early in his career, and following the success of The Magnificent Seven in 1960, it was an opportunity to broaden his exposure. Although the film was not regarded as a hit in Hollywood at the time, it did generate a stir in the UK and Europe propelling McQueen towards stardom this side of the Atlantic.
McQueen's sojurn in the UK also enabled him to indulge his passion for motor racing. When he was not filming, he visited Brands Hatch race track in Kent. According to biographer Christopher Sandford, on one occasion he had the misfortune of spinning a souped-up Mini Cooper off the course in the wet and was lucky that he did not seriously injure himself. A journalist at the time reported the incident ...McQueen did a superb job of propelling the Cooper between a series of poles and metal signs that could have demolished it...
The next day McQueen was apparently forced to wear an oxygen mask during shooting, to hide his swollen lip and superficial scratches to his face. It would appear that McQueen was more aware of risks involved with vehicles and speed than the non-helmet wearing vendor, and it was this motive that prompted him to donate his own crash hat to Wallis at the end of filming, when their time working together ended. A letter McQueen wrote to US professional bike racer and friend Bud Ekins in January 1962 whilst making The War Lover describes how he frightened himself on a few occasions whilst biking in the UK ...I go out quite a bit weekends but weather is so bad that it's not really much fun because you always come back soaking wet. But I'll tell you one thing, I've scared the shit out of myself on more than one occasion. They have an awful lot of trees in England...

The name Steve McQueen and the sport of motor racing have become synonymous with one another. He spoke of this dichotomy himself I'm not sure whether I'm an Actor who races or a Racer who acts. Before McQueen started acting professionally he would race bikes to boost his income. His passion for speed endured throughout his life. Racing enabled him to escape from the insecurities and paranoias that go hand-in-hand with movie stardom. McQueen spoke of the feelings of liberation that racing induced: ...It gave me a fresh identity. I was no longer just an actor, I was a guy competing. And it was real important to me to have this separate identity.

It seems highly probable that McQueen used the helmet in this lot when he first started racing cars on the track. Photos of McQueen apparently taken in 1959 at the Santa Barbara raceway in California, show him wearing a helmet which is identical in all but a few minor decorative details, when racing a Lotus Le Mans Mark XI. This particular model of helmet was groundbreaking in its design, it was the first British crash helmet to provide temple protection. Designed by Everitt William Vero and manufactured in London for Everoaks, it was first made for racing driver Mike Hawthorne in 1956 and exported in limited numbers to the States thereafter. The popularity of this helmet with racing drivers at the time would undoubtedly have been enhanced by Hawthorne who wore his Everoak when winning the British Grand Prix in 1957 and the Formula 1 World Championship in 1958. Very few photographs of McQueen wearing this style of Everoak racing helmet exist, which suggests that he may have started out with this revolutionary helmet when he began racing cars in 1959 and then moved on to the Herbert Johnson 'style' crash helmet with attached visor, favoured by top drivers including Sir Stirling Moss, from 1960 onwards. It would appear that by the time McQueen had arrived in England for filming in 1961, he used this helmet primarily for motorbike driving.

It is interesting to note that The Santa Barbara racing photos clearly show the gaffer tape McQueen had added to stop his goggles from slipping, an essential modification when racing at top speed. The images also show a customised fabric chin support, identical to the one on the helmet in this lot.

Sir Stirling Moss clearly recollects racing with McQueen in 1960. The two men first met in either 1956 or 1957 when they were introduced by a mutual contact, Woolworths' heir, Barbara Hutton's son Lance Raventlow who apparently used his fortune to back one of the most successful motor racing teams in America in the 1960s. Moss recalls racing with McQueen at Sebring Raceway in Florida on the 26th March, 1960. Moss said of his driving ...For a film star he was a good racer, he enjoyed it.. McQueen's admiration for Moss is well documented, he found him to be an inspiration.

The scarcity of this crash helmet, owned and used by McQueen, is without question. None surfaced in the recent Steve McQueen Auction in Los Angeles in 2006 and our research has not unearthed another example appearing on the market to date. It is even more unusual to have such a personal piece, signed and inscribed by a star who was notoriously reluctant to give his autograph. It survives as a testament to the attachment that McQueen must have felt towards Peter Wallis and the mutual interest they shared.

Christie's would like to thank Sir Stirling Moss, also Donna Redden and Darren Wright of Steve McQueen on-line and Luke E.W.Vero of Everoak, for the invaluable assistance they have given with the preparation of this catalogue entry.

Christie's. Film & Entertainment Memorabilia. 19 December 2007, 2:00 pm. 85 Old Brompton Road, London