Harry Ruilton Watson (August 31, 1921 – June 8, 2001) was an American child actor, a

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

combat photographer in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and a pioneer in television journalism.

Early life

Watson was a member of the Watson Family, famous in the early days of Hollywood as being a family of child actors. Brother to

Coy Watson Jr. James Caughey Watson Jr. (November 16, 1912 – March 14, 2009), professionally known as Coy Watson, was an American child actor of the silent era, who was from an extended family of nine siblings of fellow performers known as Watson family, The W ...

, Delmar, Bobs, Garry, Billy, Vivian, Gloria and Louise. The family lived by

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...

area of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and Harry attended Belmont High School. His high school yearbook the ''Campanile'' talked about his photography: "His magnificent sport action shots are the embodiment of perfection. His coach? Big brother Coy, of course."''Campanile 1938'', Belmont High School, 1938

Career

Watson performed supporting roles in many early Hollywood movies including, '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'', '' Penrod and Sam'', ''A Damsel in Distress'' as little "Albert", as well as many others. During WWII, his career in Hollywood was interrupted, and he served on a tour of the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

as a

combat photographer War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war ...

. After the war, he became a pioneer in television journalism, contributing to bringing same-day coverage to the

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outle ...

evening news. The Watson family were honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce by placing the Watson family star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

, at 6674

Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

.Pool, Bob.
Star Shines Brightly for Hollywood's First Family; Movies: The Watson clan of former child actors finally receives recognition for its pioneering contribution to films
." ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. April 23, 1999. Metro Part B Metro Desk Page 1.

Partial filmography

*''

Taxi 13 ''Taxi 13'' is a 1928 silent film comedy produced and distributed by Film Booking Offices of America and directed by Marshall Neilan. The film stars Chester Conklin in what is FBO's first film with a pre-recorded soundtrack. Once thought lost, ...

'' (1928) - Mactavish Child (uncredited) *'' Blue Skies'' (1929) *''

Love, Live and Laugh ''Love, Live and Laugh'' is a 1929 American drama film directed by William K. Howard and written by Edwin J. Burke, Dana Burnet, and George Jessel. It is based on the 1922 play ''The Hurdy-Gurdy Man'' by Leroy Clemens and John B. Hymer. The f ...

'' (1929) - Little Boy (uncredited) *'' Indiscreet'' (1931) - Baseball Captain (uncredited) *'' Too Many Cooks'' (1931) - Cousin Harry Cook (uncredited) *''

The Star Witness ''The Star Witness'' is a 1931 American pre-Code crime drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by William A. Wellman. The film stars Walter Huston, Frances Starr, Grant Mitchell, and Chic Sale. ''The Star Witness'' wa ...

'' (1931) - Boy Baseball Player (uncredited) *''

The Sport Parade ''The Sport Parade'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Dudley Murphy and starring Joel McCrea, Marian Marsh, William Gargan, Robert Benchley, and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. Benchley also co-wrot ...

'' (1932) - Kendricks' Boy (uncredited) *''

Man's Castle ''Man's Castle'' is a 1933 pre-Code American film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young. Plot Well-dressed Bill (Spencer Tracy) takes pity on Trina (Loretta Young), a hungry young woman he meets in a city park an ...

'' (1933) - Baseball Team Captain (uncredited) *''

Call It Luck ''Call It Luck'' is a 1934 American comedy film directed by James Tinling and written by Dudley Nichols and Lamar Trotti. The film stars Pat Paterson, Herbert Mundin, Charles Starrett, Gordon Westcott, Georgia Caine and Theodore von Eltz. The ...

'' (1934) - Child (uncredited) *'' Life Begins at 40'' (1935) - Meriwether Son (uncredited) *'' Silk Hat Kid'' (1935) - Child (uncredited) *''

Magnificent Obsession ''Magnificent Obsession'' is a 1929 novel by American author Lloyd C. Douglas. It was one of four of his books that were eventually made into blockbuster motion pictures, the other three being '' The Robe'', '' White Banners'' and ''The Big Fisher ...

'' (1935) - Boy (uncredited) *''

Paddy O'Day ''Paddy O'Day'' is a 1936 American comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Seiler and released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Jane Withers, Pinky Tomlin, and Rita Hayworth (credited as Rita Cansino). The story follows the adventures of a plucky Iri ...

'' (1936) - Street Boy (uncredited) *''

Under Proof ''Under Proof'' is a 1936 British comedy crime film directed by Roland Gillett and starring Betty Stockfeld, Tyrell Davis and Judy Kelly. The screenplay concerns a man who is threatened into joining a gang of smugglers. Cast * Betty Stockfeld ...

'' (1936) - (uncredited) *''

Let's Sing Again ''Let's Sing Again'' is a 1936 American film directed by Kurt Neumann. Plot An orphan (eight-year-old boy soprano Bobby Breen) gets a chance to sing opera in New York. Cast *Bobby Breen as Billy Gordon *Henry Armetta as Joe Pasquale * Ge ...

'' (1936) - Orphan washing dishes (uncredited) *''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' (1936) - Boy (uncredited) *''

Bullets or Ballots ''Bullets or Ballots'' is a 1936 American gangster film starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, and Humphrey Bogart. Robinson plays a police detective who infiltrates a crime gang. This is the first of several films featu ...

'' (1936) - Kid Playing Pinball (uncredited) *''

Old Hutch ''Old Hutch'' is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Wallace Beery as a man who finds $100,000 in the depths of the Depression. It is a remake of the 1920 Will Rogers film '' Honest Hutch.'' Cast *Wall ...

'' (1936) - Freddie Hutchins *'' King of Hockey'' (1936) - Boy Locating Dugan (uncredited) *''

Time Out for Romance ''Time Out for Romance'' is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair, written by Lou Breslow and John Patrick, and starring Claire Trevor, Michael Whalen, Joan Davis, Chick Chandler, Douglas Fowley and Benny Bartlett ...

'' (1937) - Messenger (uncredited) *''

Love Is News ''Love Is News'' is a 1937 romantic comedy film starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Don Ameche. The movie was directed by Tay Garnett and was the first film for which Power had top billing. The picture was remade in 1947 as ''That Wonderf ...

'' (1937) - Newsboy (uncredited) *'' Penrod and Sam'' (1937) - Sam *''

The Road Back ''The Road Back'', also translated as ''The Way Back'', (german: Der Weg zurück) is a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, commonly regarded as a sequel to his 1929 novel ''All Quiet on the Western Front''. It was first serialized in the ...

'' (1937) - Boy (uncredited) *''

Hot Water Water heating is a heat transfer process that uses an energy source to heat water above its initial temperature. Typical domestic uses of hot water include cooking, cleaning, bathing, and space heating. In industry, hot water and water heated t ...

'' (1937) - Newsboy (uncredited) *'' A Damsel in Distress'' (1937) - Albert *''

Kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

'' (1938) - Sandy - an Urchin (uncredited) *''

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United St ...

'' (1939) - Ben Donaldson (uncredited) *'' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939) - Hopper Boy #3 *'' I Take This Woman'' (1940) - Oldest Murphy Kid (scenes deleted) (final film role)

References

Bibliography

* John Holmstrom, ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995'', Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 105-106.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Harry R 1921 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male child actors American male film actors Belmont High School (Los Angeles) alumni Male actors from Los Angeles United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II