Bobs Watson
Acting • Born 1930-11-16 – Died 1999-06-27
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
47 credits
Boys Town
Movie • 1938
Pee Wee
Take Her, She's Mine
Movie • 1963
Western Union Messenger (uncredited)
Dodge City
Movie • 1939
Harry Cole
Show Boat
Movie • 1936
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
Movie • 1939
George Sanders
In Old Chicago
Movie • 1938
Bob O'Leary (as a boy)
Mrs. Stone's Thing
Movie • 1970
Bartender
Men of Boys Town
Movie • 1941
Pee Wee
Blackmail
Movie • 1939
Hank Ingram
The Bold and the Brave
Movie • 1956
Bob
Two-Fisted
Movie • 1935
Jimmy's Boxing Partner
She's Dangerous
Movie • 1937
Boy at Airport
Grand Theft Auto
Movie • 1977
Minister
On Borrowed Time
Movie • 1939
Pud Northrup
Kentucky
Movie • 1938
Peter Goodwin - 1861
Wyoming
Movie • 1940
Jimmy Kincaid
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Movie • 1962
Clerk in Newspaper Department
It Happened in Hollywood
Movie • 1937
Boy
Young Dr. Kildare
Movie • 1938
Little Boy (uncredited)
First to Fight
Movie • 1967
Sergeant Maypole
Calling Dr. Kildare
Movie • 1939
Tommy Benson (uncredited)
The Great O'Malley
Movie • 1937
Boy (uncredited)
Libeled Lady
Movie • 1936
Waif (uncredited)
Dreaming Out Loud
Movie • 1940
Jimmy
Hit the Road
Movie • 1941
Pesky
Hi, Buddy
Movie • 1943
Tim Martin
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
Movie • 1940
Tommy, the Crippled Child
Life Begins at Forty
Movie • 1935
Meriwhether Son
Life Begins
Movie • 1932
Edgar, Harry’s Son (uncredited)
Scattergood Pulls the Strings
Movie • 1941
Jimmy Jordan
Pay As You Exit
Movie • 1936
Audience
Perry Mason: The Case of the Wicked Wives
Movie • 1993
Judge Ezra Frank
Go Chase Yourself
Movie • 1938
Junior (uncredited)
Green Acres
TV • 1965
The F.B.I.
TV • 1965
Walsh
The Lucy Show
TV • 1962
Calvin
The Beverly Hillbillies
TV • 1962
Fred Penrod
The Twilight Zone
TV • 1959
Man at Dining Room Table (uncredited)
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Hotel Clerk
Pete and Gladys
TV • 1960
The 20th Century Fox Hour
TV • 1955
The Fugitive
TV • 1963
Milt Plummer
The Jim Backus Show
TV • 1960
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Clerk
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Matt Lewis
The Mothers-in-Law
TV • 1967
Officer Bailey
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
TV • 1968
Rod