THE GREAT ESCAPE
The forty-minute drive to the Geiselgasteig Studios was good for Steve, for it provided him his "creative thinking time," but not so good for the farmers who used the narrow roads. Steve made up his own rules as it suited him. John Sturges and company spent half their time keeping him out of jail. Every time Steve came on the set the German police would be right behind him. John would quickly reprimand him with, "You cannot drive through a flock of chickens and you cannot drive into woods and then come back onto the road to pass somebody. You cannot drive faster than makes sense or you will hurt yourself." But when Steve was troubled, driving around was the answer. It helped to calm him."
(page 114 - My Husband, My Friend by Neile McQueen Toffel (1986)
The residential hamlet of Deining to the north of Munich appears on the map but the farming hamlet of Deining to the south of Munich does not appear on the map and it is here where Steve McQueen and his family actually lived during the filming of The Great Escape.......
The 'beautiful chalet' is located in the small farming hamlet of Deining, Egling. The chalet is off the main road and is hidden by a series of thick trees. Nobody in the hamlet appeared to know where the McQueen's lived during their six month stay from May 1962. By chance, the owner of the WALCH garage stated that when she was 8 years old she played with McQueen's children, Chad and Terry in their chalet. During her lunch break, she walked up the road with her dog and introduced the owner of the chalet to us. The proprietor gave permission for photographs to be taken of the 'beautiful chalet.'
Steve McQueen frequently visited this garage, as it was at the bottom of his road, and the owner stated that McQueen would often repair his car at this garage when he was not filming.
Throughout the shoot, Steve McQueen would infuriate the local authorities by tearing to and from the studio in his Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. The German police rigged a speed trap especially in his honour. The police clocked the actor at more than 100mph and confiscated his license. Later, to keep from colliding with a tractor, he performed what he described to Pleasence as "a controlled crash" into a forest.
12, Birkenweg - Deining
The McQueen's lived opposite the garage and up a winding road to 12, Birkenweg, Deining.
The video shows the location of the 'beautiful chalet' in Deining where the McQueen's lived during the filming of The Great Escape (My daughter is singing in the background: The Midnight Hour).