James Noble (1922-2016)
Noble appeared in one episode of MSW.
Season 3, Episode 19:
- No Accounting for Murder (1987) ... Paul Carlisle
photo: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/03/29/arts/29NobleObit/29NobleObit-master675.jpg
James Noble, Absent-Minded Governor on ‘Benson,’ Dies at 94
James Noble, the actor best known for his role as the absent-minded governor on the hit 1980s sitcom “Benson,” died on Monday at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut. He was 94.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/arts/television/james-noble-absent-minded-governor-on-benson-dies-at-94.html?_r=1
His death was confirmed by Douglas Moser, a spokesman for the family, who said that Mr. Noble, who lived in Norwalk, had a stroke last week.
From 1979 to 1986, Mr. Noble played Eugene Gatling, the well-meaning but somewhat bumbling governor of an unnamed state, on the ABC series “Benson.”
The show starred Robert Guillaume, playing the same character he had played on the sitcom “Soap.” Benson was originally the governor’s “director of household affairs,” but over the course of the series he rose to state budget director and then to lieutenant governor.
The two men’s friendly if sometimes fraught working relationship was the focus of the series, which since its original run ended was seen in syndication on the Nick at Nite and TV Land cable channels.
James Wilkes Noble was born in Dallas on March 5, 1922. He studied drama and engineering at Southern Methodist University but left to join the Navy during World War II.
After the war he studied acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York.
Before rising to national fame on television, Mr. Noble was primarily known as a stage actor. He made his Broadway debut in a 1949 production of the comedy “The Velvet Glove” and went on to appear in four more Broadway shows, including the musical “1776,” in which he played John Hancock. He also had a small role in the 1972 film version.
His other movie and television work included the soap operas “One Life to Live” and “Another World” and the hit film “10.”
Mr. Noble’s wife, the actress Carolyn Coates, whom he met when they were both appearing in a production of “Pygmalion,” died in 2005. He is survived by his daughter, Jessica Katherine Noble Cowan.
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