James Wilkes Noble (March 5, 1922 – March 28, 2016) was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of sweet-natured, dense, naive Governor Eugene X. Gatling on ABC's 1979–1986

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' Benson''.

Life and career

Noble studied acting and engineering at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

before leaving to serve in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Returning from the war, Noble studied acting under

Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg (born Israel Strassberg; November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American acting coach and actor. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed ...

and made appearances in

Broadway theater Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...

. His television career started in soap operas such as '' The Brighter Day'', ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'', '' The Doctors'' as Dr. Bill Winters and '' A World Apart''. His big screen roles included Reverend John Witherspoon in the film version of the Broadway musical ''

1776 Events January–February * January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces. * January ...

'' (1972); assorted roles as doctors in films such as '' One Summer Love'' (1976), '' 10'' (1979) and '' Promises in the Dark'' (1979); Kaufman, the president's chief of staff, in ''

Being There ''Being There'' is a 1979 American satirical comedy-drama film starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, and Melvyn Douglas. Directed by Hal Ashby, it is based on the 1971 novel '' Being There'' by Jerzy Kosiński, and adapted for the scr ...

'' (1979); Father O'Flanagan in the comedy sequel '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' (1982); Sinclair in '' A Tiger's Tale'' (1987); Chief Wilkins in the comedy '' Paramedics'' (1988) and Dr. Bailey in '' Chances Are'' (1989). He was also the spokesman in various Pepto-Bismol commercials in the 1970s. Benson (1979-1986) as the governor Eugene Gatling. Noble played the father of Larry Appleton in the 1980s sitcom '' Perfect Strangers''. Noble played the live-action version of

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

character Hiram Lodge in the movie '' Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again'' (1990).

Personal life

Noble was married to actress Carolyn Coates from 1956 until her death in 2005. They had one child, a daughter. Noble had lived with his family in

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,304, an increase of 367 (+4.1%) from the 2010 United Sta ...

, before moving to California in 1980.

Death

Noble died on March 28, 2016, at the age of 94. A spokesman for Noble's family said that the actor had suffered a stroke the week before his death.

Filmography

References

External links

*
James Noble
at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

'
Actors Studio audio collectionJames Noble
(Aveleyman)
James Noble
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Find a Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noble, James 1922 births 2016 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male soap opera actors Southern Methodist University alumni 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Actors from Leonia, New Jersey Male actors from New Jersey