Slim Cole (born Nathan Cole Hebert, and sometimes credited as King Cole) was an American actor and stuntman who appeared in a string of B-movie

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

during Hollywood's silent era.

Biography

Early years

Slim was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, to Joseph Hebert and Hallie Cole. His mother's father, Nathan Cole, was once mayor of St. Louis. Joseph Hebert, Slim's father, died when Slim was a toddler, and he was raised by his mother in the Los Angeles area.

Career as a forest ranger

While working as a forest ranger in the San Bernardino Mountains, he learned how to ride a motorcycle, a skill that would serve him well when he entered the motion picture industry around 1915. "They laughed at me when I started patrolling the forests on motorcycle, but after I got the knack for following old trails and making new ones, I showed them that I could cover as much territory as four rangers on mounted horses."

Career in Hollywood

After being spotted by a motion picture director, Slim was soon in demand for his willingness to perform all sorts of death-defying stunts. He often worked with fellow stunt performer and actress

Grace Cunard Grace Cunard (born Harriet Mildred Jeffries; April 8, 1893 – January 19, 1967) was an American actress, screenwriter and film director. During the silent era, she starred in over 100 films, wrote or co-wrote at least 44 of those production ...

. Early on, he was employed by Charlie Chaplin's studio. In 1922, he briefly returned to St. Louis with the ambition of starting a motion picture industry in his hometown. He also aimed to give his body a rest after years of being roughed up on the job. "I'm getting too old for the business," he told a reporter with '' The St. Louis Post Dispatch''. "I'm only 29, but I've been through a lot, and I don't have to wait for a psychic hunch." He did continue to act, but his roles got smaller and smaller until he was pretty much only landing bit parts.

Personal life

Cole married Katherine Fay in 1915; the couple divorced in 1921. After his last film was released in 1932, it's unknown what happened to Cole.

Partial filmography

*'' His Day Out'' (1918) *''

A Dog's Life ''A Dog's Life'' is a 1918 American Comedy short silent film written, produced and directed by Charlie Chaplin. This was Chaplin's first film for First National Films. Chaplin plays opposite an animal as "co-star". "Scraps" (the dog) was the ...

'' (1918) *''

Shoulder Arms ''Shoulder Arms'' is Charlie Chaplin's second film for First National Pictures. Released in 1918, it is a silent comedy film set in France during World War I, the first of three films he made on the subject of war. It co-starred Edna Purviance ...

'' (1918) *'' Smashing Barriers'' (1919) *''

Where Is This West? ''Where is This West?'' is a 1923 American silent comedy Western film directed by George Marshall and written by George Hively and George C. Hull. The film stars Jack Hoxie, Mary Philbin, and Bob McKenzie. Plot As described in a film maga ...

'' (1923) *'' Beasts of Paradise'' (1923) *''

The Ghost City ''The Ghost City'' is a 1923 American silent Western film serial directed by Jay Marchant. It is considered to be a lost film. Plot As described in a film magazine, in Sunshine Valley, California, there is trouble aplenty brewing. Laughing La ...

'' (1923) *'' Reckless Speed'' (1924) *'' Ridin' Pretty'' (1925) *'' The Great Circus Mystery'' (1925) *'' The Fighting Ranger'' (1925) *''

Prowlers of the Night ''Prowlers of the Night'' is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by Ernst Laemmle and starring Fred Humes, Barbara Kent and Slim Cole.Langman, p. 342 Cast * Fred Humes as Jack Morton * Barbara Kent as Anita Parsons * Slim Cole as A ...

'' (1926) *'' Desert Dust'' (1927) *''

The Texas Bad Man ''The Texas Bad Man'' is a 1932 American Western film directed by Edward Laemmle, written by Jack Cunningham and Richard Schayer, and starring Tom Mix, Lucille Powers, Willard Robertson, Fred Kohler, Joseph W. Girard and Tetsu Komai. It was ...

'' (1932) *'' The Last Frontier'' (1932) *''

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

'' (1932)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Slim American male film actors American male silent film actors 20th-century American male actors American stunt performers 1892 births Male actors from St. Louis Year of death missing