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 Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

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 Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

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

and adopted sister of

. Her biological mother, Carol Hawkins, was the sister of Nat King Cole's wife,

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

. Through her mother, Cole was a grandniece of educator

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Charlotte Hawkins Brown (June 11, 1883 – January 11, 1961) was an American author, educator, civil rights activist, and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina. Early life Charlotte Hawkins Brown was born in Hender ...

Career

Cole received an

associate's degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

Cazenovia College Cazenovia College is a private college in Cazenovia, New York. Founded as the Genesee Seminary in 1824 and sponsored by the Methodist Church, in 1894 the college adopted the name of Cazenovia Seminary. It was reorganized in 1942 after church sp ...

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 ''The Silencers'' is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm. Plot summary When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he f ...

'' (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 ''Promise at Dawn'' (french: La Promesse de l'aube) is a 1970 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin and starring Melina Mercouri, Dassin's wife. It is based on the 1960 novel ''Promise at Dawn'' (french: La Promesse de l'aube) by Romain ...

'' (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 Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

'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,

Bebel Gilberto Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira (born May 12, 1966), known as Bebel Gilberto, is an American-born Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle i ...

and

Brazilian Girls Brazilian Girls is a band from New York, United States, known for their eclectic blend of electronic dance music with musical styles as diverse as tango, chanson, house, reggae and lounge (but no Brazilian rhythms at all). None of the member ...

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 Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

at the age of 64. At the time, her sister Natalie was in another hospital undergoing

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantati ...

surgery.Natalie Cole's Sister Dies During Singer's Kidney Transplant
People.com

Filmography

*''

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

'' (1969) – Chris *''

'' (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