McQueen, the epitome of cool …

The picture above is of the great Steve McQueen. It comes from the 1971 racing film “Le Mans,” in which McQueen plays a Formula One driver trying to come back after a serious crash. My friend Dan Fratini sent it to me, knowing my admiration for one of the coolest — if not THE coolest movie stars of all time.

I’ve had an ongoing argument about this, not with most guys I meet but with some women. My wife, for example, doesn’t see the attraction. She keeps harping on his height, which has been the subject of a lot of controversy (anywhere from 5-feet-7 to 5-feet-10 with the truth likely somewhere in between).

But as I said in an e-mail to my friend, McQueen’s appeal has nothing to do with looks, height or even sex appeal — though he’s no slouch in two of three of those categories. It has to do with screen presence, which he had in abundance. Examples:

Tossing a baseball against the wall in “the coolah.”

Telling those Mexican peasants , “We deal in lead, friend.”

Powering his Mustang through the streets of San Francisco.

And riding that German motorcycle so effortlessly over field and stream.

No other movie star, alive or dead, could have done any of this with a greater sense of ease. Case closed.