My Best Friend Is Steve McQueen
Fri 6 May, 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm 30mins
In 1960, Steve McQueen walked into a Los Angeles motorbike shop owned by Bud Ekins.
The pair were soon dirt bike racing together and forged a friendship which lasted until McQueen's untimely death from cancer aged just 49.
After racing together, McQueen asked Bud if he would like to go to Germany to be his stunt double in his latest film.The film in question was The Great Escape, and Ekins performed the famous jump over a barbed wire fence. Soon afterwards, Bud was in demand as a top Hollywood stuntman.
Away from the film set, their friendship flourished as their families grew up together and they shared their passion for motorbikes. McQueen qualified along with Bud for the US motorcycle team, competing in the equivalent of the Olympics for motorcycles. ISDT International Six Day Trials .. held in Germany.
In this very personal portrait, Ekins reflects on their time together racing, on film sets, and on how their friendship changed his life forever.
