Biography

Jack Watson

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Tall, rugged, red-haired character actor whose heavily lined face suggested a hard life. Started in show biz with his father, Nosmo King (real name Vernon Watson), as half of a music hall double act. Later worked as a monologuist and impersonator in radio. During the Second World War, he served as petty officer in the Royal Navy. An unlikely comedian during the first half of his career, he became a stalwart character actor in films of the 1960's and 70's, generally utilised as by-the-book police inspectors (Peeping Tom (1960), Konga (1961), or gruff, laconic soldiers (The Hill (1965), Tobruk (1967)). An avid sportsman in real life, he was effectively cast as Len Miller, captain of a Rugby League team, in Lindsay Anderson's This Sporting Life (1963). He also impressed in the villainous role of corrupt police officer Quince in The Strange Affair (1968).

Watson's career was rejuvenated in the 1970's, with strong parts in television, particularly as the star of The Rebellious Red Gauntlets (1970) and as Llud, right hand man to Oliver Tobias, in Arthur of the Britons (1972). He also made sporadic appearances on Coronation Street (1960) and Z Cars (1962). A man of few pretensions, Watson rejected offers from Hollywood, and remained firmly rooted to British screens.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

Son of British Music Hall comic Nosmo King who took his stage name from a pair of swing doors that had "No Smoking" written across them.
His father's real name was Vernon Watson and his mother, Barbara Hughes, was a Gaiety Girl.
He appeared in two different adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel "Kidnapped": Kidnapped (1971) and Kidnapped (1978).
When the Second World War broke out, his physical fitness led Watson to become a PT instructor with the Royal Navy. His variety experience, coupled with a talent for various regional accents, led to regular appearances on the Navy's radio variety show and, after the war, on BBC Radio comedy and children's drama programmes.
When he was 16, he appeared in a double act on the variety stage with his father. He played a precocious teenager named 'Hubert Hubert', which can be said to be his first film role, since the act was captured in several Pathé Pictorial shorts.

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