A WEEKEND WITH BARBARA MCQUEEN AND REVISITING "JUNIOR BONNER"!

In early December, 2008 a group of us flew from the West Coast and Southwest points of the U.S. to Santa Paula, California to participate in a fundraiser for the Santa Paula Airport Museum called "Remembering Steve McQueen". Each of us, unknown to each other were brought together by another dear friend of mine-author Marshall Terrill. Marshall co-authored "Steve McQueen: The Last Mile" with Steve's widow Barbara McQueen. He is also author of the groundbreaking biography: "Steve McQueen: Portrait of An American Rebel".

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Prior to my trip to California, I had watched Barbara two years earlier as a guest on "Late Night with David Letterman" in addition to her appearance in the Turner Movie Classics production of the documentary, "Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool". We all fell in love with Barbie. Her outgoing personality and sense of humor is contagious. One of my favorite memories of Barbara that weekend occurred when she pulled a joke on me in a hotel bar where we were all surrounding her with conversation and plenty of laughs mixed in with wonderful stories she shared of Steve. Seated next to me she whispered, "Do that thing with your eyes again, you're gorgeous". We had been joking most of the day and I said "Oh, that's nice"--and dismissed her as tossing out a funny line. Suddenly, without warning she grabbed me off my bar stool and dipped me (which was quite fun and hysterical)!

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Seeing her again in Arizona was a chance for all of us to dine with her and recall those fun memories. A lovely, beautiful woman, Steve had finally found the peace he longed for in his life over the three and a half years he spent with Barbara. She is precious to me and to every one of us in this photo whose life was inextricably touched by Steve McQueen. At the end of our weekend in California, we somehow came up with a name for ourselves and settled on "The McQueen Orphans". Barbara calls us "The McQueeniacs"!

Here we are at the rear exit courtyard of The Palace Bar in Prescott, Arizona. It is here where a tender scene between actress Ida Lupino and actor Robert Preston was filmed in 1972's "JUNIOR BONNER". The original stairs have been replaced, however, the building is essentially unchanged. In the movie, Preston played Ace Bonner--McQueen's father who was a one time world champion rodeo star who becomes estranged from his wife, Elvira, chases women, drinks too much and becomes obsessed with get-rich schemes including mining for gold in Australia. I can't adequately describe how close we all felt to this film and how poignant it was for us all to stand at this spot. We experienced this magic several times as we walked and drove with William Pierce, former Chairman of the Prescott Film Commission who worked closely with Steve McQueen. Other sites of note included the town square courthouse where actor Ben Johnson (who played rodeo owner Buck Roan) offers McQueen's character a partnership in the business. On Main Street, we stood where McQueen walks up to Robert Preston (who has stolen McQueen's horse to ride in the Frontier Days Rodeo Parade) The pairing of Preston with McQueen as father and son is tremendously convincing, as the two played off each other brilliantly.

My dear friend Veronica Valdez and myself standing in the driveway of the Prescott home Steve used while filming "Junior Bonner". It is roughly 10 minutes from the set location.

Steve McQueen's private pilot Mike Jugan and myself with Rod Hart, who wrote and sang "Arizona Morning" and "Rodeo Man"--both of which appear in the movie "Junior Bonner". We were so honored to receive a private performance from this wonderful new friend of ours!

Here's my friend Adrienne McQueen with Jeb Rosebrook, screenwriter for "Junior Bonner". Director Sam Peckinpah, in an unusual move insisted that Jeb remain on the set through the entire filming. Steve referred to Jeb as "Shakespeare" in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Steve preferred little dialogue and made extensive use of facial expressions to convey a scene. It was a Joy for each of us to spend some time with Jeb.

"The McQueen Orphans" L-R: Me, Author Marshall Terrill, Photographer Donna Redden, Actress & Producer Adrienne McQueen, Photographer Veronica Valdez and Steve McQueen's Private Pilot Mike Jugan at The Palace Bar in Prescott, Arizona on March 7, 2009 where the 1972 McQueen movie "JUNIOR BONNER" was filmed. At the upper-right corner of the giant mural behind us is the famous slow dance scene between Steve McQueen and Co-Star Barbara Leigh, (who played Charmagne in the film) who was my Special Guest on my Blog feature, "THE INTERVIEW".