Scottish actor John Wylie Robertson (1889-1966) has a secure place in cinema history thanks to his playing of Mr Memory in Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935), the character who holds the secret to the film’s MacGuffin.
Watson’s whole career was in the British stage and film industries. He was in a host of notable pictures, including Jamaica Inn (1939), Tawny Pipit (1944), Waterloo Road (1945), Brighton Rock (1948) and Whisky Galore! (1949). He emigrated to Australia in 1952 and his final role was in The Sundowners (1960).
All of which makes it puzzling that online sources cite him as playing an uncredited bit in It’s a Great Life. Wylie Watson is an unusual name, so it is difficult to see him being confused with another actor. But it is even more difficult to understand why he would be in Hollywood in 1929, playing uncredited in a Duncan Sisters’ flop.
