American Actress. Coates, who grew up in Santa Monica, California, where she acted in children’s theater, went on to major in acting at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1951, she met her future husband, actor James Noble, in Worchester, Mass., while playing Eliza Doolittle in ‘Pygmalion’. The couple, who married five years later, appeared in many plays together, among them ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’, ‘The Night of the Iguana’, ‘The Three Sisters’, ‘A Delicate Balance’ and ‘A Scent of Flowers’. In 1961, she made her first appearance on film in ‘The Hustler’ and would go on to have roles in such films as ‘The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds’ (1972), ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’, ‘Mommie Dearest’ (both 1981) and ‘The Buddy System’ (1984). On television she appeared in series and made-for-TV movies such as ‘The Catholic Hour’, ‘Dallas’, ‘Knots Landing’, ‘Lou Grant’, ‘The Waltons’, ‘Blood Feud’, ‘Remington Steele’, ‘Benson’, ‘St. Elsewhere’ and ‘The Child is Mine’. She retired from acting in 1986 to become a full-time hospital volunteer and activist for AIDS Project Los Angeles as well as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York. Coates died of cancer-related illnesses. (bio by: Louis M.)  Family links:  Spouse:  James Noble (1922 – 2016)* *Calculated relationship Inscription:According to an online obituary, she is buried “at the family plot in Muskogee, Oklahoma”.  Can this information be added?