Bobs Watson
Born: 1930-11-16 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Died: 1999-06-27
Known For: Acting
Biography
Watson was a member of the Watson Family, famous in the early days of Hollywood as being a houseful of child actors. He was brother to Coy Watson Jr., Harry, Billy, Delmar, Garry, Vivian, Gloria, and Louise, all of whom acted in motion pictures. The family, known as "the first family of Hollywood", lived by the Echo Park area of Los Angeles and Bobs attended nearby Belmont High School. They were honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce by placing the Watson family star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6674 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California. Watson was best known for his role as "Pee Wee" in the 1938 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Boys Town and its sequel Men of Boys Town (1941), both starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. Tracy and Watson became good friends during the making of the first film, and Watson was reportedly Tracy's last visitor before his death in 1967. In 1939, Watson delivered a fine, tear-jerking performance as Pud, Lionel Barrymore's grandson, in the MGM film, On Borrowed Time. Watson later made guest appearances in many television programs, including The Twilight Zone, Lou Grant, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, and The Fugitive. In addition to working in the motion pictures business, Watson went to Claremont School of Theology to become a Methodist minister, inspired from the movie Boys Town. He retired after 30 years of serving in Burbank and La Cañada, California. He died of prostate cancer in 1999 at Laguna Beach, California.
Filmography
1993
- Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives as Judge Ezra Frank
1977
- Grand Theft Auto as Minister
1970
- Mrs. Stone's Thing as Bartender
1968
- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo as Rod
1967
- The Mothers-in-Law as Officer Bailey
- First to Fight as Sergeant Maypole
1965
- Green Acres
- The F.B.I. as Walsh
1963
- The Fugitive as Milt Plummer
- Take Her, She's Mine as Western Union Messenger (uncredited)
1962
- The Beverly Hillbillies as Fred Penrod
- The Virginian as Hotel Clerk
- The Lucy Show as Calvin
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as Clerk in Newspaper Department
1959
- The Twilight Zone as Man at Dining Room Table (uncredited)
1956
- The Bold and the Brave as Bob
1943
- Hi, Buddy as Tim Martin
1941
- Scattergood Pulls the Strings as Jimmy Jordan
- Men of Boys Town as Pee Wee
- Hit the Road as Pesky
1940
- Wyoming as Jimmy Kincaid
- Dreaming Out Loud as Jimmy
- Dr. Kildare's Crisis as Tommy, the Crippled Child
1939
- Dodge City as Harry Cole
- The Story of Alexander Graham Bell as George Sanders
- Calling Dr. Kildare as Tommy Benson (uncredited)
- On Borrowed Time as Pud Northrup
- Blackmail as Hank Ingram
1938
- Boys Town as Pee Wee
- Kentucky as Peter Goodwin - 1861
- In Old Chicago as Bob O'Leary (as a boy)
- Young Dr. Kildare as Little Boy (uncredited)
- Go Chase Yourself as Junior (uncredited)
1937
- It Happened in Hollywood as Boy
- The Great O'Malley as Boy (uncredited)
- She's Dangerous as Boy at Airport
1936
- Show Boat
- Libeled Lady as Waif (uncredited)
- Pay As You Exit as Audience
1935
- Two-Fisted as Jimmy's Boxing Partner
- Life Begins at Forty as Meriwhether Son
1932
- Life Begins as Edgar, Harry’s Son (uncredited)