Imagine watching Steve McQueen’s last movie, and you happen to catch a former Jeopardy! guest host as a star in it.
Well, it did happen, Outsiders.
Steve McQueen’s film starring role was in The Hunter, released in 1980, and LeVar Burton was one of his co-stars.
Bob Taylor on Twitter shared the details on the social media platform.
What was the film about? According to IMDb, “Bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson is receiving death threats from a criminal he helped put away. This while his girlfriend is about to give birth, an event he isn’t looking forward to.”
In Steve McQueen’s final film, he plays Thorson.
Burton plays Tommy Price in this film. Others in the cast included Eli Wallach, Kathryn Harrold, and Ben Johnson.
Steve McQueen died of cancer on Nov. 7, 1980, at 50 years old. For the Jeopardy! guest host, this film would occur three years after being Kunta Kinte in the TV series Roots. It was based on the book by author Alex Haley.
Steve McQueen’s Career of Kung Fu Teachings Included Bruce Lee
For another generation, the name of Bruce Lee was connected to martial arts in both films and television.
It turns out that Steve McQueen’s career in the world of learning about kung fu included Lee.
Both actors were quite different in their approaches.
But there was one common denominator: Both McQueen and Lee were big stars in the movie industry at the same time.
Bruce Lee gained fame for movies like Enter the Dragon. He also gained quite a following from playing Kato for one season on The Green Hornet on TV.
Steve McQueen’s movies included The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Bullitt, and The Thomas Crown Affair.
Both of them developed an acquaintance.
For Lee, it was between The Green Hornet and The Big Boss in 1971 that he met McQueen. At the time, McQueen also was 10 years older than Lee.
In the hopes of finding a common interest, McQueen hired Lee to teach him kung fu.
From there, an incredibly unsteady friendship was born. According to Screenrant, Marshall Terrill, the McQueen biographer, has stated what it was like for people to grow close to Steve McQueen. He was allegedly “too paranoid” to make friends.
The time the two spent together was mostly kung fu training. The two men would soon discover they actually had a lot in common, too.
Bruce Lee taught a variety of celebrities after he moved from Los Angeles to Seattle in 1966 and opened a martial arts school in the city.
Sadly, his entertainment career ended when he died on July 20, 1973, at 32 years old. Yet his mark on martial arts remains firm.
