Although his screen credits and many records indicate a wide variety of names and spellings, Steele's own signatures on his military documents indicate that he was born William Anton Gittinger on March 28, 1888 (not 1889, as some sources have it) in San Antonio, Texas.
As the film industry in Hollywood was just blossoming, and as he apparently had great experience with horses, Steele easily obtained work in quickie Westerns.
He fought in Europe in World War I, then returned to Hollywood.
[1] While he was extremely inconsistent in the names he used, he worked consistently in Westerns throughout the silent era and up until the 1950s.
He is buried under his birth name at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.