The Great Escape (1963) The Cooler King – aka Steve McQueen – has a teabreak with his wife Neile Adams between escape attempts. Never the most collaborative spirit on set, the star demanded rewrites to boost his character’s role and spent most of his downtime at a chalet near the movie’s Bavarian set. "I hadn’t realised things like this go on in Hollywood," marvelled co-star Donald Pleasance of McQueen’s demands. Others were less circumspect about the high-maintenance actor. "He was an impossible bastard," screenwriter W. R. Burnett remembered. "He drove you crazy."