Known For
Acting
Born
Mar 05, 1922
Died
Mar 28, 2016
Place of Birth
Dallas, Texas, USA
Credits
56 titles
James Noble
Biography
The son of a Dallas wholesale coal dealer, Noble spent much of his youth attending pool halls and movie houses. He retained his expertise with a pool cue throughout his life, while his stronger interest in acting (fueled by movies) manifested itself in local stage productions and drama studies at Southern Methodist University. Following Navy service in World War II, Noble went to New York to study at the Actors Studio, then went on to a stage revival of Pygmalion wherein he met his future wife, actress Carolyn Coates. The actor appeared on such TV soap operas as As the World Turns (1956), A World Apart (1970) and such Broadway productions as "1776" (a role he took to the movie 1776 (1972)), spending much of his spare time in psychotherapy to handle his ongoing feelings of self-doubt. In films from the mid '70s, Noble principally played small roles as authority figures and politicians (Being There (1979), The Nude Bomb (1980)), with occasional larger roles. such as Bo Derek's father in 10 (1979). In 1979, Noble was cast as the genially absent-minded "Governor Gene Gatling" on the sitcom, Benson (1979), a role in which he remained until the series' 1986 cancellation. Two years later, he resurfaced on TV in the role of a Nebraska-based recording engineer on the very short-lived sitcom, First Impressions (1988).
Known For
Filmography
Fake
Mr. Rousseau
Glacier Bay
Artie
Beech is Back
They Bite
Scientist #1
Bang
Rooftop Dealer
Peak Practice
Mr. Naughton
Born Kicking
Hudson
Law & Order
Judge Nelson Kurland
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again
Mr. Hyrum Lodge
Chances Are
Dr. Bailey
The Absent-Minded Professor: Trading Places
Dr. Gilmore Blount
Father Dowling Mysteries
Judge Karnes
First Impressions
Raymond Voss
Paramedics
Chief Wilkins
A Tiger's Tale
Sinclair
The Day My Kid Went Punk
Max Smiley
Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam
Leonard Weeks
You Talkin' to Me?
Peter Archer
Deadly Deception
Ed Shoat
When the Bough Breaks
Dr. Warren Towle
Perfect Strangers
Cinderella
King Rupert III
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
The Bill
Murder, She Wrote
Paul Carlisle
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Dempsey
Gavin McNab
The Woman Who Willed a Miracle
Dr. Edwards
Airplane II: The Sequel
Father O'Flanagan
Faerie Tale Theatre
King Rupert III
This Is Kate Bennett...
Tom Fairmont
Baby Comes Home
Dr. Elliott Olsen
Being There
Kaufman
Promises in the Dark
Dr. Blankenship
10
Dr. Miles
Benson
Eugene Gatling
Hart to Hart
Dr. Metz
Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II
Ed
Summer of My German Soldier
Pierce
Breaking Up
Haberle
The Love Boat
Dr. Elliot Norton
The Andros Targets
Tierney
Death Play
Norman
Dragonfly
Dr. Lee
The Adams Chronicles
Jonathan Sewall
Starsky & Hutch
Treasury Agent Kendall
Who?
General Deptford
1776
Rev. John Witherspoon (NJ)
ABC Afterschool Special
Max Smiley
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me
Father Pettis