In Remembrance: Noble Willingham

     Character actor Noble Willingham died of natural causes January 17, 2004 at age 72.

     Willingham pursued his dream of acting after earning a master's degree at Baylor University and working as a teacher.

     Peter Bogdanovich discovered Willingham in 1971 when he was casting The Last Picture Show.  He also had a role in Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon (1973). He appeared as a councilman in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974), starring Jack Nicholson and in Martin Ritt’s 1979 drama Norma Rae.  Willingham also appeared in a number of B-movies during the 1970s including Big Bad Mama (1974) with Angie Dickinson, Aloha Bobby and Rose (1975) with Paul LeMat and Dianne Hull, and Greased Lightning (1977) with Richard Pryor.

     In 1981 Willingham landed a role in Joe Dante’s horror classic The Howling. He had small roles in 1987’s Born in East L.A. and La Bamba. Willingham appeared in Good Morning, Vietnam, starring Robin Williams, as Brig. Gen. Taylor. He was Clay Stone in the Billy Crystal comedies City Slickers (1991) and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994) and was cast by the Coen brothers for their 1994 comedy The Hudsucker Proxy, starring Tim Robbins. Willingham also appeared in director Jon Avnet’s 1996 romantic drama Up Close and Personal starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

     He made appearances of TV including Hart To Hart, CHiPs, Airwolf, Highway to Heaven, and Quantum Leap. He was best known for playing bar owner C.D. Parker on the Chuck Norris TV series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993-1999.

     Willingham left Walker, Texas Ranger to pursue a career in politics. Willingham was the 2000 Republican nominee for a congressional seat in eastern Texas, but lost to Democrat Max Sandlin. He returned to acting after his failed congressional campaign, filming Blind Horizon with star Val Kilmer in 2002. The movie is scheduled to be released this year.

-John Gibbon