Wylie Watson

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Wylie Watson (born February 6, 1889 in Lanarkshire , Scotland as John Wylie Robertson , † May 3, 1966 ) was a Scottish actor.

life and career

Wylie Watson was born into a family of Scottish entertainers and began performing as a boy soprano at an early age . Later he traveled around the world with a theater company; among others he played in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. He got his first film role during a stay in the USA: He took a small part in Sam Wood's comedy It's a Great Life from 1929, but there were no further film offers in Hollywood. He then returned to Great Britain, where he became an eclectic supporting actor in British cinema in the 1930s. Watson, rather short and with a mustache, played mostly serious and fussy characters in supporting roles.

Watson assumed his most famous role in 1935 as Mr. Memory , the music hall attraction with the brilliant memory, in Alfred Hitchcock's classic film The 39 Steps . Four years later he starred again, under Hitchcock's direction, in Riff Pirates alongside Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara , this time as one of the Beach Pirates. In total, Watson has appeared in around 50 films, including as the aging criminal in Brighton Rock (1947) who is pushed to his death by Richard Attenborough's character over a banister, and as the smart shopkeeper in the Ealing Studios comedy Joy to Life ( 1949). In the early 1950s, he and his wife Ada moved to Australia. After a nine-year hiatus, he was in front of the camera again in 1960 for a film: In the adventure drama The Endless Horizon, shot in Australia with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum , he played the supporting role of Herb Johnson .

Wylie Watson died in 1966 at the age of 77, according to some sources in Scotland, according to others in Australia.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brian McFarlane: The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition . Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-5261-1197-5 ( google.de [accessed October 28, 2017]).
  2. ↑ Stephen Whitty: The Alfred Hitchcock Encyclopedia . Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4422-5160-1 ( google.de [accessed October 28, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Stephen Whitty: The Alfred Hitchcock Encyclopedia . Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4422-5160-1 ( google.de [accessed October 28, 2017]).
  4. ^ Brian McFarlane: The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition . Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-5261-1197-5 ( google.de [accessed October 28, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Wylie Watson at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 28, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Watson, Wylie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robertson, John Wylie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Lanarkshire , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1966