Born: August 31, 1931
Died: January 17, 2004

Formerly a schoolteacher, Texas-born Noble Willingham has been essaying crusty character roles since 1969. Willingham's resumé includes a brace of location-filmed Peter_Bogdanovich films, The_Last_Picture_Show (1971) and Paper_Moon (1973), and the role of Clay Stone in both of Billy Crystal's City_Slickers comedies. Among his TV-movie credits is the part of President James Knox Polk in 1985's Dream_West. A regular on several TV series (The_Ann_Jillian_Show, Texas_Wheelers, Cutter to Houston, AfterMASH, When the Whistle Blows), Willingham is best known to 1990s viewers as Mr. Binford (of Binford Tools) in Home_Improvement and C. D. Parker in Walker,_Texas_Ranger. Noble Willingham's most recent film assignments include Ace_Ventura,_Pet_Detective (1994) Up Close and Personal (1996) and Space_Jam (1996).


In 2000, Willingham left Walker,_Texas_Ranger to run for Congress in Texas. After losing the election to his Democratic opponent, Max Sandlin, Willingham returned to acting with a supporting role in the Val_Kilmer thriller Blind_Horizon. Sadly, the part would be the actor's last. In early 2004, at the age of 72, Willingham passed away at home from natural causes. Hal Erickson, Rovi

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