STEVE MCQUEEN - PARANOID MCQUEEN TESTED HIS PALS

Movie icon STEVE McQUEEN was so paranoid about friends getting too close to him and giving away his personal secrets, he constantly changed his telephone numbers and lied about his life in a bid to sort his good pals from the bad.

The BULLITT star, who died 25 years ago (80), hated the idea of his private life being made public and used to test his best friends to make sure they were loyal to him.

Actor pal DON GORDON says, "Steve used to change his phone number, like, once a week, once every two weeks... and you couldn't get hold of him.

"Then he would come by my house on his bike and then he'd begin some elaborate, crazy, wild story about the fight he got into and he thinks he killed this guy... Then he would read the newspapers to see if there were any stories because he would tell only me that story.

"Of course, I wouldn't say anything to anybody - it was none of my business.

"Then he'd say, 'Oh, by the way, I'm changing my phone number,' and he'd give me the new phone number. He wanted to see if people were trustworthy - for good reason. When you're a big movie star, people tend to use you."