Margaret Bowman (February 14, 1928 – August 13, 2018) was an American actress.
Career Bowman's early career included musical theater in Nashville, Tennessee, and Stages Repertory Theater in Houston, Texas. A method actor, she first took acting classes at her local YMCA while in her 50s, when she "decided to reinvent" herself after spending the first part of her adult life as a homemaker. She later was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California.
Bowman was primarily a character actor for film and television. Her first on-screen role was Mrs. Flora Hawkins in The Fulfillment of Mary Gray (1989). Between 1989 and her death in 2018, Bowman primarily appeared in bit roles, such as Old Nanny in three episodes of A Woman of Independent Means (1995), and as Fat Lady in The Lone Ranger (2013). Bowman spent her free time observing people and inventing backstories for the characters she imagined they were, saying, "If you want to be a good character actor, you have to observe the people around you." In 1995, Bowman was cast by Tommy Lee Jones in the TNT TV movie The Good Old Boys, as "an old woman, Mrs. Faversham, whose mind has gone." Jones, who had a reputation for being cantankerous, called her work "exquisite".
One of her most notable roles was as the "T-Bone Waitress" in the critically acclaimed film Hell or High Water (2016). Bowman said she "had the character in mind before [she] even auditioned." She based the character partly on her favorite waitress and partly on her own mother, who "waited tables to support herself, her mother, and three daughters" and "then I came along and waited tables to support my family many years ago, so I know what it's like to stand all day and have your back hurt and your feet hurt." In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, the newspaper described her performance as "scene-stealing." The Los Angeles Times said, "She may be an unnamed waitress in Hell or High Waters diner scene, but, boy, does she leave an impression." Actor Michael McKean said, "it's one of the most hilarious scenes on film this year. There's an actress named Margaret Bowman, who had a bit part in Waiting for Guffman. But in this, she just nails the world's worst dragon waitress. You just fall in love with her. She has one little scene and she kind of steals the picture."
Personal life Bowman raised six children with her husband, Jay, to whom she was married for 68 years.
She sang bass in a barbershop quartet for "many years".
Filmography YearTitleRoleNotes1989Dream DateWoman in Hotel RoomTV movieThe Fulfillment of Mary GrayMrs. Flora HawkinsTV movie1990The Hot SpotWoman at Gas StationFilm1991Hard PromisesWalt's MomFilmFinal VerdictNeighborTV movie1992Leap of FaithWoman with Cherries HatFilmUnsolved MysteriesDorothy LangEpisode #5.12, playing the mother of Matthew McConaughey's characterSimple MenNurse LouiseFilm1993A Perfect WorldTrick 'r Treat LadyFilmNed Blessing: The Story of My Life and TimesEpisode: "A Ghost Story"1995In the Name of Love: A Texas TragedyLandladyTV movieWalker, Texas RangerWifeEpisode: "Case Closed"The Good Old BoysMrs. FavershamTV movieA Woman of Independent MeansOld NannyTV Miniseries - 3 episodes1996Waiting for GuffmanCostumer DesignerFilm1999A Slipping-Down LifeMrs. HarrisonFilm2007No Country for Old MenDel Rio Motel ClerkFilm2009Night NurseHospital OrderlyShort2010ChaseGretaEpisode: "Repo"2011BernieTownspersonFilm2012DallasMiss HendersonEpisode: "The Last Hurrah"2013The Lone RangerFat LadyFilm2015Lost in the SunIvyFilm2016LongmireEthelEpisode: "Pure Peckinpah"Hell or High WaterT-Bone WaitressFilm2019Trading PaintMartha (as Margaret A. Bowman)Film
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