Louise Watson obit

Louise Watson, Silent Era Child Star, Dies @ 98

 

She was not on the list.

Roberts, as Louise Watson, appeared in around 1,000 shorts and films in the Silent Era into the 1940s as one of the nine Watson siblings. With her death, only Billy, 94, and Garry, 89, survive.

She had been among the last dozen or so known survivors of the Silent Era.

In a 2017 interview for Express, Billy recalled:

    “We grew up in a small house just 500 yards from Mack Sennet’s Keystone Studios, where our father worked as an actor and horse-wrangler and played one of the original Keystone Kops,” says Billy, from his home in rural Colville, Washington.

    “My mother washed and ironed costumes from the movies.” When a director walked down their street in search of a kid for a picture, out of the house would troop Coy Jr, Vivian, Gloria, Louise, Harry, Billy, Delmar, Garry and Bobs. “My dad would line us up and say: ‘What size? Take your pick.’

    The director would choose a kid and my dad just handed us over the garden fence, and we’d go off and film a movie. Sometimes they’d take a bunch of us.” The kids joined the family business early.

Louise told the paper at the time she thought of her movie career as "great fun." She emerged from retirement to give several TV and movie performances from 1992-1997, with her swan song coming on an episode of the TV series Blue Heelers that aired 69 years after her debut.

Watson was out of the spotlight for decades, working as a Sunday school teacher, manager of a girls' sports team, and as an ESL teacher. She also worked for her husband's business, Joe Roberts Optical.

"I was the fourth ring around the bathtub," she used to say, referring to her place in the sequence of her siblings' births.

The other Watsons were Coy Watson Jr. (1912-2009), Vivan Watson (1915-1994), Gloria Watson (1917-1997), Harry Watson (1921-2001), Delmar Watson (1926-2008) and Bobs Watson (1930-1999).

Along with her brothers Billy and Garry, she is survived by one daughter and one son.

Actress (10 credits)

 1995-1997 Blue Heelers (TV Series)

Judy Wright / Tracey Hughes

- Off the Air (1997) ... Judy Wright

- Salutary Lessons (1995) ... Tracey Hughes

 1995 Angel Baby

Psych Nurse

 1994 Janus (TV Series)

Tania

- A Familiar Utterance (1994) ... Tania

 1993 Stark (TV Mini Series)

Girl in Cafe

- Episode #1.1 (1993) ... Girl in Cafe

 1992-1993 Bingles (TV Series)

Gerry

- The Holidays (1993) ... Gerry

- The TV Commercial (1993) ... Gerry

- The Odd Single (1993) ... Gerry

- Motivation (1993) ... Gerry

- The New Manager (1993) ... Gerry

 1993 Phoenix (TV Series)

Uniform Constable 2

- Shuffling the Deck (1993) ... Uniform Constable 2

 1992 Acropolis Now (TV Series)

Woman

- Dream Baby (1992) ... Woman

 1992 Round the Twist (TV Series)

Chemist Assistant

- Sloppy Jalopy (1992) ... Chemist Assistant

 1935 Life Begins at 40

Meriwhether Daughter (uncredited)

 1928 Taxi 13