After making his debut appearing in an uncredited role in the crime drama Girl on the Run (1953), McQueen featured in the Paul Newman starrer Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), where he played the uncredited role of Fidel, a member of the protagonist's gang. In 1958, he appeared in the science fiction film The Blob, which was his first film as a lead actor. It proved to be commercially successful at the box office, grossing ($ in 2022) against a budget of ($ in 2022). McQueen became known for portraying bounty hunter Josh Randall in the CBS television series Wanted Dead or Alive (1958–1961). He continued to act in films, playing the lead in The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959), and in a supporting role as a corporal in Never So Few (1959), his first of three films with John Sturges.
