Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
32
Gender
Male
Birthday
November 16, 1930 ( 69 years old )
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Also Known As
Robert Ball Watson
The Crybaby of Hollywood
Bobs Watson
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.
Known For
Boys Town
1938-09-08Take Her, She's Mine
1963-11-13Dodge City
1939-04-08Show Boat
1936-05-17The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
1939-04-04In Old Chicago
1938-04-15Mrs. Stone's Thing
1970-07-11Men of Boys Town
1941-04-11Blackmail
1939-09-08The Bold and the Brave
1956-01-04