[3] Noel is best known for her appearances in beach party movies in the 1960s,[3] and for her work on the Armed Forces Radio And Television Service as the "Voice of Vietnam".

[4] A popular pin-up girl of the era,[5] Noel made frequent visits to troops, and was at risk many times, having twice been shot at in the helicopters she was riding.

[7][8][9] Noel's picture appeared on the cover of Good Housekeeping magazine when she was 16 years old, and she was painted as a pin-up model by Gil Elvgren.

[15] Noel was the DJ for her show and did interviews with artists including Ray Charles, Lawrence Welk, Robert Mitchum, Marvin Gaye, Nancy Sinatra and others.

Noel sang, danced, read poetry, signed autographs, talk to, kissed and hugged the troops in South Vietnam from 1966 to 1970.

[17][18][19] She is the only woman to travel through South Vietnam to remote bases in helicopters, riding with the door open, next to the gunner.

[21][22][23][24] In the early 1970s, Noel was in New York and was working with Paul Colby, impresario and owner of the famous Greenwich Village club, The Bitter End.

[25] Following his proposal in a helicopter, Noel wed soldier Green Beret captain Ty Herrington, who she later found out was diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic manic-depressive".

[36] Because of her lifelong work with troops and veterans, as well as for being shot at in an army helicopter twice over South Vietnam, which with surviving assault attacks in the war caused post-traumatic stress disorder, some groups and individuals have petitioned for Chris Noel to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[37] Noel began acting started in 1963 on stage in the Broadway play Mister Roberts with Hugh O'Brian, her boyfriend at the time.

Also in the Mister Roberts play was Will Hutchins, Vincent Gardenia, Tony Mordente, Alan Yorke, Vince O'Brien, Bill Fletcher, John J. Martin, directed by Billy Matthews.

Noel acting in film started with a role in Soldier in the Rain, with Steve McQueen and included working with Elvis Presley in Girl Happy.