Terrill appears at Melvyn's on Feb. 13

Biographer set to appear at Melvyn's series
Judith Salkin • The Desert Sun • February 12, 2008

Since 1989, Marshall Terrill has spent a lot of time researching and chronicling the life of Steve McQueen.

On Wednesday, he'll be the guest speaker at Melvyn's "Dinner With..." speakers series in Palm Springs.

Terrill's first book, "Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel," was published in 1993. Since then, Terrill has published 10 books, including "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile" (2007).

Terrill is also an experienced reporter. His career began in 1989, shortly after going to work for Charles Keating, the banker at the center of the decade's savings and loan scandal.

"I was working my way through college," said Terrill. His plan was to earn his degree and go to work for one of Keating's companies.

But, "when the job went, so did my marriage." (Keating was convicted of fraud in 1999.)

In 2007, Merrill published three books, including his latest McQueen book, which took nine months.

"It's mostly a pictorial with a 500-word passage at each chapter," he said. "It's Barbara's (McQueen's third wife) recollections of their time together."

Terrill also published "Maravich," a biography of basketball legend "Pistol" Pete Maravich, and "Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business," co-authored with Sonny West, who was Presley's friend and bodyguard for 16 years.

"That book took four years to research and write," Terrill said. "There's so much information out there on Elvis, I had to make sure it was absolutely perfect before it was published."