John Noble appeared in this week’s episode of Severance in the role of Cecil Fields, the husband of retired Lumon worker Burt Goodman (played by Christopher Walken). The episode featured a dinner between Fields, Burt and Irving (John Turturro), who was invited over to discuss what had happened at Lumon.
Many Severance viewers are curious about actor Noble, 76, and his previous work. Hailing from Australia, Noble’s big international breakthrough came in The Lord of the Rings trilogy when he played the role of Denethor, the ruling steward of Gondor who met a tragic end when the dark forces of Mordor encircled the beleaguered city of Minas Tirith.
Prior to this Noble was grafting away and he appeared on stage throughout the 70s and 90s. He also served as an artistic director for the Stage Company of South Australia for a decade. According to IMDB, Noble was building up his screen credits steadily through the 80s and 90s. He made his film debut at the age of 40 in the 1988 horror flick The Dreaming.
However, it was after appearing in Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, Noble’s career really took off. He appeared in a string of films and landed a regular role in the medical drama All Saints as well as some guesting parts in Australian soap Home and Away.
He also appeared in The Unit, several episodes of 24, and The Last Airbender film, but it was to be his role as Dr Walter Bishop in Fringe that turned him into a household name. He appeared in a hundred episodes of the J.J. Abrams series. Following Fringe, he had roles in The Good Wife, Sleepy Hollow the TV series, Legends of Tomorrow, The Blacklist, Salvation and Elementary.
Most recently, he lent his voice to the TV series Star Trek: Prodigy. He will next be appearing in Stream, Nameless, Guardians of Luna, and Call Waiting. Away from the screen, Noble is married to wife Penny Noble with the couple having three children, including their daughter and actress Samantha Noble. Noble splits his time between New York, and Australia.
He also has a deep interest in theoretical physics and previously asked the writers on Fringe to try to make it as scientifically plausible as possible. In a 2015 interview with Red Carpet News TV, Noble said: “I’m not a scientist but I have a deep, abiding passion for it and particularly the theoretical side, the future. I’m just spellbound by the possibilities that I have been revealed all the time.
“I don’t have to be a scientist, there’s some fantastic literature around, which is quite dense but you don’t have to understand pure maths to do it, so that’s probably my main reading. Fascinating stuff.”. Severance season 2 airs weekly on Apple TV+ on Fridays.
