Noble, the son of a Dallas wholesale coal dealer, spent his formative years frequenting pool halls and movie houses, honing his skills with a pool cue, which remained a lifelong passion. Meanwhile, his fascination with acting, sparked by movies, led him to participate in local stage productions and drama studies at Southern Methodist University.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, Noble pursued his passion for acting by studying at the Actors Studio in New York. It was during this time that he met his future wife, actress Carolyn Coates, in a stage revival of Pygmalion.
Noble's early career in television saw him appear in soap operas such as As the World Turns (1956) and A World Apart (1970),as well as Broadway productions like "1776", which he later reprised in the 1972 film adaptation. During this period, he also spent time in psychotherapy to cope with ongoing feelings of self-doubt.
In the mid-1970s, Noble primarily took on small roles as authority figures and politicians in films, with occasional larger parts, such as playing Bo Derek's father in 10 (1979). In 1979, he landed the role of the affable yet absent-minded "Governor Gene Gatling" on the sitcom Benson, a part he remained in until the show's cancellation in 1986.
Two years later, Noble resurfaced on television in the short-lived sitcom First Impressions (1988),playing a Nebraska-based recording engineer.
