She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio,[1] rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head Columbia Pictures in 1987.
[4] Steel attended the School of Business Administration at Boston University from 1964 to 1965, but left due to financial problems.
In 1975, she founded a merchandising company that produced novelty items such as designer logo toilet paper called Oh Dawn!
While at Paramount, Steel's support for Flashdance (1983) and the movie's massive success, helped secure her the position of president of production for the studio in 1985.
[3] Steel was the second woman to head a major film production department (the first being Sherry Lansing at Twentieth-Century Fox and the third being Nina Jacobson at Buena Vista).
The first film she approved as president was Casualties of War; Pauline Kael said that "whatever else [Steel] does, she should be honored for that decision, because twenty years later this is still risky material.
"[11] Under her tenure the studio also released When Harry Met Sally... which had been developed and produced independently by Castle Rock productions.
She left Disney in 1993 after making two films, 1993's Cool Runnings, a comedy about the Jamaican bobsled team, and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
[14] In the book Steel describes finding out – after giving birth to her daughter – that she was fired as President of Production at Paramount.
[2]Steel's career at Paramount as Chief of Production was referenced in the HBO series Entourage, in the Season Three (2006) episode "What About Bob?
She dated young struggling actor Richard Gere in 1975 and director Martin Scorsese (after his divorce from Isabella Rossellini) in 1983.
[2] In April 1996, at age 49, Steel was diagnosed with brain cancer and ultimately died on December 20, 1997,[3][17] after a 20-month battle against the disease.