Carole Cole (October 17, 1944 – May 19, 2009) was an American actress, music producer, and the CEO of King Cole Productions. She was the daughter of singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole and jazz singer

Maria Cole Maria Cole ( Hawkins; August 1, 1922 – July 10, 2012) was an American jazz singer and the wife of singer Nat King Cole; mother of the singer Natalie Cole. Early life Cole was born in Boston and was the niece of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Her ...

, and the older sister of singer Natalie Cole.

Early life

Cole was born in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

, and was the adopted daughter of Nat King Cole and adopted sister of Natalie Cole. Her biological mother, Carol Hawkins, was the sister of Nat King Cole's wife, Maria. Through her mother, Cole was a grandniece of educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown.

Career

Cole received an associate's degree at Cazenovia College and pursued a vital acting career that spanned theater, television and film. In 1964, she signed a contract with Columbia Pictures New Talent program, along with friend and colleague

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

. During her acting career she starred in the films '' The Silencers'' (1966), ''

The Mad Room ''The Mad Room'' is a 1969 American horror and drama film directed by Bernard Girard, and starring Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Skip Ward, Carole Cole, Severn Darden, Beverly Garland, Michael Burns, and Barbara Sammeth. It is a loose remake ...

'', (1969), '' Promise at Dawn'' (1970), and '' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' (1974). She appeared on television in ''Positively Black'' (1975) and was a series costar on the NBC sitcom ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the United ...

''. On stage, Cole appeared in Gore Vidal's '' Weekend'' (1968), "Pericles," (1974 New York Shakespeare Festival ow known as The Public Delacorte Theatre Shakespeare in the Park), and '' What If It Had Turned Up Heads'' (1972). She also appeared as a series regular in the role of Ellie, the daughter of Grady Wilson, in the 1970s TV series ''Grady'' (a spin-off of the highly successful ''

''). In 1991, Cole became the CEO of King Cole Productions, where she managed the licensing of the Nat King Cole estate. She produced such albums as ''Christmas for Kids: From One to Ninety Two'', ''The World of Nat King Cole'', ''Transcriptions: Nat King Cole Trio'', amongst many others. For 20 years under her supervision, Nat King Cole posthumously released an album nearly every year. In 2009, shortly before her death from lung cancer, Cole released "Re: Generations," a collaboration of international artists providing their artistic interpretations and tributes to specific works of Nat King Cole. She funded the album which included tracks performed by

the Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy F ...

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

Cee Lo Green Cee or CEE may refer to: * C, third letter of the Latin alphabet * Cee, Spain, A Coruña, Galicia * Center for Excellence in Education, US * Central and Eastern Europe * Centre for Environment Education * Centre for the Economics of Education, Lon ...

, Natalie Cole, Bebel Gilberto and Brazilian Girls.

Personal life and death

The eldest of Nat King Cole's children, she had three children, Caroline Clarke, Sage Zailm Cole, and Harleigh Maxim Cole. Her eldest daughter, Caroline, was placed for adoption immediately after birth (against Cole's wishes) but the two met in 2002 and subsequently developed a close bond. Cole died on May 19, 2009, from lung cancer at the age of 64. At the time, her sister Natalie was in another hospital undergoing kidney transplant surgery.Natalie Cole's Sister Dies During Singer's Kidney Transplant
People.com

Filmography

*'' The Silencers'' (1966) – Waitress (uncredited) *'' Model Shop'' (1969) – Barbara *''

'' (1969) – Chris *'' Promise at Dawn'' (1970) – Louison – a nurse *'' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' (1974) – The Secretary (Hostage)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Carole 1944 births 2009 deaths American adoptees American film actresses Record producers from Massachusetts American stage actresses American television actresses Deaths from lung cancer in California People from Medford, Massachusetts 20th-century American actresses American women record producers 21st-century American women