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Neile Adams

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Filipina-American actress, singer and dancer

Neile Adams
Neile AdamsAdams in 1960
BornRuby Neilam Salvador Adams
(1932-07-10) July 10, 1932 (age 92)
Manila, Philippine Islands
OccupationActress
Years active1952–1991
Spouses
Steve McQueen ​ ​(m. 1956; div. 1972)​
Alvin Toffel ​ ​(m. 1980; died 2005)​
Children2, including Chad McQueen
RelativesSteven R. McQueen (grandson)
Enrique Iglesias (great-nephew)

Ruby Neilam Salvador "Neile" Adams (born July 10, 1932) is a Filipina American actress, singer, and dancer who made more than 20 appearances in films and television series from 1952 to 1991.

Early life and family

Adams was born in Manila on July 10, 1932, daughter of José Arrastia of Asian descent. He is the maternal great-grandfather of Enrique Iglesias. She reportedly never met her father. Her mother, Carmen "Miami" Salvador, was a hula dancer of Spanish and German descent.

In her early teens, during the Japanese army's occupation of Manila during World War II, Adams became a spy for the Philippine resistance, carrying messages between guerrilla groups. She later was wounded by shrapnel during the Allied liberation of the island. She moved to the United States in 1948 and attended Rosemary Hall, a private school in Connecticut. She then went to New York to study dancing where she got a scholarship at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance. To avoid typecasting because of her name, she became known as Neile Adams.

Her half-sister was Maria Beatriz Arrastia y Reinares, mother of socialite Isabel Preysler, mother of Enrique Iglesias and Julio Iglesias Jr.

Career

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Dancer posing expressively in an ornate leotard and sheer fabric costume, one knee resting on an upholstered bench
Publicity photo (1960)

In 1958, producer George Abbott offered Adams a role in the Broadway production of Damn Yankees. She was unable to accept because the Versailles Club would not release her from her contract as a dancer. Her Broadway credits include performing in Kismet and The Pajama Game. She also performed in Broadway Bound at The Grand opposite Paul Muni. She married then-struggling actor Steve McQueen four months after their meeting in 1956 while filming MGM’s This Could Be the Night (1957) where she was under contract. She opened the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas in 1958 with Dick Shawn and Vivian Blaine.

Her other screen credits include Women in Chains (1972), Fuzz (1972), So Long, Blue Boy (1973), Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981), and Buddy Buddy (1981). Her television credits include: The Perry Como Show, two Bob Hope Christmas specials, The Eddie Fisher Show, The Patrice Munsel Show, The Pat Boone Show and The Hollywood Palace. Her dramatic television roles include a particularly macabre 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, titled "Man from the South", with McQueen and Peter Lorre. Two more Alfred Hitchcock episodes followed: a half-hour show directed by Arthur Hiller in which she starred, "One Grave Too Many", and an Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode titled "Ten Minutes From Now". She also appeared on episodes of television series such as Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Rockford Files, The Bionic Woman, Fantasy Island, and Vega$.

Personal life

With husband Steve McQueen in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1960

Adams met and married American film and television actor Steve McQueen in 1956. The couple had two children together: a daughter, Terry Leslie McQueen, and a son, Chad McQueen. The marriage ended in divorce in 1972. She is the grandmother of actor Steven R. McQueen. She later married Alvin Toffel, a political campaign manager and president of the Norton Simon Museum; they were married until Toffel's death in 2005.

Adams would outlive both of her children, with her daughter Terry dying March 19, 1998 and her son Chad dying on September 11, 2024.

Archive

The Academy Film Archive houses the Steve McQueen-Neile Adams Collection, which consists of personal prints and home movies.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ Eliot, Marc (2012). Steve McQueen: A Biography. Crown/Archetype. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-0-30-745322-8.
  2. https://neileadamsmcqueen.com/about/
  3. "Neile Adams: "No ha habido nadie comparable a Steve McQueen"". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). November 7, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  4. García Blesa, Óscar (2019). Julio Iglesias. La biografía (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España. ISBN 978-84-03-52133-9.
  5. ^ Gawecki, Marcia (June 4, 2014). "Neile Adams Says Affairs Spelled End to Marriage to Steve McQueen". Palm Springs Life.
  6. "What Neile Wants, Neile Can't Get". Life. Vol. 40, no. 7. February 13, 1956. p. 137.
  7. "Neile Adams". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020.
  8. ^ "Alvin Toffel, 69; Led Museum, Ran McCloskey Political Races". Los Angeles Times. March 10, 2005. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  9. "Terry McQueen; Daughter of Actor Owned Production Company". Los Angeles Times. March 21, 1998. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  10. Barnes, Mike (September 12, 2024). "Chad McQueen, 'Karate Kid' Actor and Son of Film Star Steve McQueen, Dies at 63". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  11. Bechara, Diego Ramos (September 12, 2024). "Chad McQueen, 'The Karate Kid' Star and Steve McQueen's Son, Dies at 63". Variety. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  12. "Steve McQueen-Neile Adams Collection". Academy Film Archive.

Further reading

External links

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