Teh One Who Knocks
03-30-2016, 03:10 PM
Maria Puente, USA TODAY
http://i.imgur.com/NqFZrK1.jpg
James Noble, the veteran TV, film and stage character actor who starred in the 1980s sitcom Benson, died Monday. He was 94.
The news was confirmed to the Associated Press by Noble's daughter, Jessica Katherine Noble Cowan. She said he died at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut after suffering a stroke.
Noble, whose career dated to the early 1950s, was best known for his role as Eugene Xavier Gatling, the scatterbrained-to-the-point-of-bumbling white governor of an unnamed state who is forever getting into scrapes only to be rescued by his sharp and sharp-tongued black "director of household affairs," Benson DuBois, played by Robert Guillaume.
As the series progressed, Benson eventually becomes the governor's budget director, then his lieutenant governor and a candidate for the executive mansion himself.
Rene Auberjonois, one of Noble's co-stars on Benson (as the governor's chief aide), paid tribute on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just learned of James Noble's passing at the venerable age of 94. A dear man, a superb actor...Safe passage James. Love to your family.</p>— Rene Auberjonois (@reneauberjonois) <a href="https://twitter.com/reneauberjonois/status/714823157643886592">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The show, which ran from 1979-1986 and was among the earliest sitcoms to feature a black actor in a lead role, was a spin-off from the soap-opera parody series Soap, where Guillaume played Benson the butler as the only level-headed person in a dysfunctional household.
But the shtick couldn't work in Benson without Noble to play the lovable but dim governor, and few wondered how such a clueless clot could get elected.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When I was a kid, the idea that anyone as dim as James Noble's governor on BENSON could get elected was strictly sitcom stuff.</p>— Franklin Harris (@FranklinH3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/FranklinH3000/status/714863567757946881">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
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The Dallas-born Noble had extensive credits before Benson, including roles in the soap opera The Doctors and in films like 10, Airplane II, and Being There. His Broadway credits include 1776, A Far Country, Strange Interlude, and The Runner Stumbles. He also appeared in the movie version of 1776 with Blythe Danner and John Cullum.
Nobel's other TV credits include most of the hits of the 1970s and 1980s, including Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Starsky and Hutch, and The Love Boat, according to his Internet Movie Database page.
He married actress Carolyn Coates, and the two appeared onstage together in a number of regional productions, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. His wife died in 2005.
http://i.imgur.com/XvJGIKN.jpg
After his years in Hollywood, Noble returned to Connecticut and his theatrical roots. He was an active member of the Theatre Artists Workshop since 1988.
At 85, he formed Open the Gate Pictures with his producing partner Colleen Murphy and made a short film Glacier Bay.
http://i.imgur.com/NqFZrK1.jpg
James Noble, the veteran TV, film and stage character actor who starred in the 1980s sitcom Benson, died Monday. He was 94.
The news was confirmed to the Associated Press by Noble's daughter, Jessica Katherine Noble Cowan. She said he died at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut after suffering a stroke.
Noble, whose career dated to the early 1950s, was best known for his role as Eugene Xavier Gatling, the scatterbrained-to-the-point-of-bumbling white governor of an unnamed state who is forever getting into scrapes only to be rescued by his sharp and sharp-tongued black "director of household affairs," Benson DuBois, played by Robert Guillaume.
As the series progressed, Benson eventually becomes the governor's budget director, then his lieutenant governor and a candidate for the executive mansion himself.
Rene Auberjonois, one of Noble's co-stars on Benson (as the governor's chief aide), paid tribute on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just learned of James Noble's passing at the venerable age of 94. A dear man, a superb actor...Safe passage James. Love to your family.</p>— Rene Auberjonois (@reneauberjonois) <a href="https://twitter.com/reneauberjonois/status/714823157643886592">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The show, which ran from 1979-1986 and was among the earliest sitcoms to feature a black actor in a lead role, was a spin-off from the soap-opera parody series Soap, where Guillaume played Benson the butler as the only level-headed person in a dysfunctional household.
But the shtick couldn't work in Benson without Noble to play the lovable but dim governor, and few wondered how such a clueless clot could get elected.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When I was a kid, the idea that anyone as dim as James Noble's governor on BENSON could get elected was strictly sitcom stuff.</p>— Franklin Harris (@FranklinH3000) <a href="https://twitter.com/FranklinH3000/status/714863567757946881">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Dallas-born Noble had extensive credits before Benson, including roles in the soap opera The Doctors and in films like 10, Airplane II, and Being There. His Broadway credits include 1776, A Far Country, Strange Interlude, and The Runner Stumbles. He also appeared in the movie version of 1776 with Blythe Danner and John Cullum.
Nobel's other TV credits include most of the hits of the 1970s and 1980s, including Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Starsky and Hutch, and The Love Boat, according to his Internet Movie Database page.
He married actress Carolyn Coates, and the two appeared onstage together in a number of regional productions, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. His wife died in 2005.
http://i.imgur.com/XvJGIKN.jpg
After his years in Hollywood, Noble returned to Connecticut and his theatrical roots. He was an active member of the Theatre Artists Workshop since 1988.
At 85, he formed Open the Gate Pictures with his producing partner Colleen Murphy and made a short film Glacier Bay.