James Wilkes^{[citation needed]} 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 Benson.^[1]

Noble studied acting and engineering at Southern Methodist University before leaving to serve in the United States Navy during World War II.^[2] Returning from the war, Noble studied acting under Lee Strasberg and made appearances in Broadway theater.^{[citation needed]}

His television career started in soap operas such as The Brighter Day, As the World Turns, 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 (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 (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.

Noble played the father of Larry Appleton in the 1980s sitcom Perfect Strangers. Noble played the live-action version of Archie Comics character Hiram Lodge in the movie Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again (1990).

Noble was married to actress Carolyn Coates from 1956 until her death in 2005.^[2] They had one child, a daughter.^{[citation needed]}

Noble had lived with his family in Leonia, New Jersey, before moving to California in 1980.^[3]

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.^[1][2]

• James Noble at IMDb
• James Noble at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
• James Noble Archived December 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine(Aveleyman)
• James Noble on Find a Grave