Career
He acted in a number of "A" and "B" pictures from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best known for his supporting performances as Gus Esmond, wealthy boyfriend of Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and as the musician Danny McGuire in A Star Is Born (1954). Noonan was the half-brother of actor John Ireland, and the two made their stage debuts with a New York-based experimental theater. They would later appear together in three films, including I Shot Jesse James (1949).
He teamed with Peter Marshall to form a comedy team in the late 1940s.
Working as Noonan and Marshall, they appeared on television, nightclubs, and in the films Starlift (1951), a brief appearance in Federal Bureau of Investigation Girl (1951), The Rookie (1959) and Swingin" Along (1962). The duo went their separate ways after the release of Swingin" Along.
In 1953 Noonan appeared in the movie, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" as Gus Esmond. In 1961 Noonan appeared on the Columbia Broadcasting System courtroom drama Perry Mason as the title character and defendant, comedian Charlie Hatch, in "The Case of the Crying Comedian."
In the early 1960s.
Noonan appeared in a few B movies including Promises! Promises! (1963) with Jayne Mansfield and Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964) with Mamie Van Doren, which he also directed, wrote and produced.
His last effort as a producer was Cottonpickin" Chickenpickers (1967), which was also Sonny Tufts" last movie. Not long after the release of the film, Noonan was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died just a few days shy of his 47th birthday.