Cameron Crowe’s mother loved Steve McQueen as ‘Junior Bonner’
“We feel like Steve McQueen is part of our family.” Cameron Crowe breathlessly shared the out of the blue revelation about the late King of Cool actor during his freewheeling debut on political satirist Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast. “I was born in Palm Springs,” as the director of Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Vanilla Sky set the scene for Maher, who moonlights as the host of HBO’s Real Time.
“There was a western costume shop in Palm Springs, and my mom [Alice Crowe, 1922–2019, a San Diego City College professor, guidance counselor, and social activist who loved cinema] goes into this place to look around. She realizes that all the women in the store are staring at the guy that’s just walked in — Steve McQueen. The star — not the director [the West London-raised African American has helmed Hunger, 12 Years a Slave, and Widows in the 21st century].
“My mom fearlessly walks right up to Steve and says, ‘What was the name of the horse that you rode in your movie Junior Bonner?’ Little does my mom know that she’s approaching Steve after The Great Escape and all of his huge movies have come out [e.g. The Cincinnati Kid, The Sand Pebbles, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, Papillon, and The Towering Inferno]. Mom could have asked Steve about one of his obvious hits, but no, she picks Junior Bonner…
