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IMDbPro

Nat 'King' Cole(1919-1965)

  • Music Artist
  • Actor
  • Music Department
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Nat King Cole circa 1958
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:56
St. Louis Blues (1958)
1 Video
32 Photos
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and later Pastor of the First Baptist Church. At 12, he was playing the church organ. At age 14, he formed a 14 piece band called the Royal Dukes. Nat was a top flight sandlot baseball player at Wendell Phillips high school in Chicago.

His three brothers, Ike, Frankie, and Eddie Cole, also played the piano and sang professionally. Nat was an above-average football player in high school. His sister, Evelyn Cole, was a beautician in nearby Waukegan, Illinois. In 1939 he formed the King Cole Trio after his publicist put a silver tin-foiled crown on his head and proclaimed him "King". He later toured Europe and made a command performance before Queen Elizabeth II.

He had a highly-rated TV show in the 1950s but it was canceled (by Cole himself) as no companies could be found that were willing to sponsor the show. He was a big baseball fan and had a permanent box seat at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He met his wife Maria Cole (a big-band singer) at the Zanzibar nightclub in Los Angeles through Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson show. Her parents opposed her decision to marry Cole, claiming he was "too black". They married, nonetheless, in 1948, and had two daughters, Caroline and Natalie Cole. On April 10, 1956, at Birmingham, Alabama, he was attacked by six white men from a white supremacist group called the White Cizizens Council during a concert and sustained minor injuries to his back. Cole appeared in several movies, the last of which was Paukkurauta-Kati (1965), starring Lee Marvin.

Cole received 28 gold record awards for such hits as "Sweet Lorraine", "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962, "Too Young" in 1951, "Mona Lisa" in 1949 and Mel Tormé's "Christmas Song". His first recordings of the Christmas Song included the lyrics, "Reindeers really know how to fly" instead of "reindeer really know how to fly", a mistake later corrected by Capitol Records. He was also a composer and his song "Straighten Up and Fly Right" was sold for $50.00. A heavy smoker, he died of lung cancer.
BornMarch 17, 1919
DiedFebruary 15, 1965(45)
BornMarch 17, 1919
DiedFebruary 15, 1965(45)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 5 wins & 7 nominations

Photos32

Nat 'King' Cole
Harry Belafonte and Nat 'King' Cole in The Nat King Cole Show (1956)
Nat 'King' Cole, Nat Kelly Cole, and Maria Cole
Nat 'King' Cole in Toast of the Town (1948)
Nat 'King' Cole
Nat 'King' Cole in Kuunsirpin yö (1959)
Errol Flynn, Cornell Borchers, and Nat 'King' Cole in Istanbul (1957)
Nat 'King' Cole
Nat 'King' Cole
Nat 'King' Cole chatting with Frank Sinatra at an event surrounding the Democratic National Convention
Nat 'King' Cole at a Capitol Records recording session circa 1957
Nat King Cole, c. 1960.

Known for:

Nat 'King' Cole in The Nat King Cole Show (1956)
The Nat King Cole Show
8.5
TV Series
  • Self - Host
Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson in Watchmen (2009)
Watchmen
7.6
  • Soundtrack(as Nat King Cole, "Unforgettable")
  • 2009
Ann-Margret, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau in Äksyt vanhat herrat (1993)
Äksyt vanhat herrat
7.0
  • Soundtrack("O Holy Night", "Joy to the World")
  • 1993
Captive State (2019)
Captive State
6.0
  • Soundtrack(as Nat King Cole, "Stardust")
  • 2019

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Ed Sullivan in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show (1992)
    The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show
    TV Series
    • 1992
  • Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan, Nat 'King' Cole, Dwayne Hickman, Stubby Kaye, and Tom Nardini in Paukkurauta-Kati (1965)
    Paukkurauta-Kati
    6.7
    • Shouter (as Nat King Cole)
    • 1965
  • Jack Benny in The Jack Benny Program (1950)
    The Jack Benny Program
    8.5
    TV Series
    • Nat
    • 1964
  • John Drew Barrymore and Julie London in Kuunsirpin yö (1959)
    Kuunsirpin yö
    6.3
    • Cy Robbin
    • 1959
  • St. Louis Blues (1958)
    St. Louis Blues
    7.1
    • W.C. Handy
    • 1958
  • Angie Dickinson, Gene Barry, Nat 'King' Cole, and Warren Hsieh in Sissipartio (1957)
    Sissipartio
    6.2
    • Goldie
    • 1957
  • Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers in Istanbul (1957)
    Istanbul
    6.1
    • Danny Rice
    • 1957
  • Tulipunainen hetki (1956)
    Tulipunainen hetki
    6.9
    • Nat 'King' Cole - Nightclub Vocalist (singing 'Never Let Me Go')
    • 1956
  • Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller, and Bobby Van in Nuorta lempeä (1953)
    Nuorta lempeä
    6.3
    • Nat King Cole (as Nat King Cole)
    • 1953
  • Anne Baxter and Raymond Burr in Sininen gardenia (1953)
    Sininen gardenia
    6.9
    • Nat 'King' Cole
    • 1953
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950)
    Lux Video Theatre
    7.6
    TV Series
    • Horace Hambleton
    • 1952
  • You Call It Madness
    Short
    • King Cole
    • 1951
  • Teresa Brewer in Snader Telescriptions (1950)
    Snader Telescriptions
    TV Series
    • Vocalist
    • 1950
  • Hollywood on Television
    4.0
    TV Series
    • Guest (1949)
    • 1949
  • Nat 'King' Cole, Jerome Courtland, Al Jarvis, Frankie Laine, Jack Smith, Kay Starr, Ruth Warrick, and The King Cole Trio in Make Believe Ballroom (1949)
    Make Believe Ballroom
    6.7
    • Trio Leader (as King Cole Trio)
    • 1949

Music Department

  • Love TM (2013)
    Love TM
    Short
    • music performer (as Nat King Cole)
    • 2013
  • Christmas with Rupert
    Video
    • music performer
    • 2013
  • Ein Tag, eine Nacht und ein bisschen Morgen (2011)
    Ein Tag, eine Nacht und ein bisschen Morgen
    • singer
    • 2011
  • Haapalan pojat, USA
    TV Movie
    • music (as Nat King Cole)
    • 2006
  • John Drew Barrymore and Julie London in Kuunsirpin yö (1959)
    Kuunsirpin yö
    6.3
    • composer: song "To Whom it May Concern"
    • 1959
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

St. Louis Blues
Trailer 1:56
St. Louis Blues

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Nat King Cole
  • Height
    • 1.84 m
  • Born
    • March 17, 1919
    • Montgomery, Alabama, USA
  • Died
    • February 15, 1965
    • Santa Monica, California, USA(lung cancer)
  • Spouses
      Maria ColeMarch 28, 1948 - February 15, 1965 (his death, 5 children)
  • Children
      Carol Cole
  • Parents
      Perlina Coles
  • Relatives
      Ike Cole(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Album: "The Touch of Your Lips"
  • Publicity listings
    • 13 Biographical Movies
    • 5 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 2 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    When he and his family moved to the upscale Hancock Park area of Los Angeles in the late 1940s, they were met with considerable opposition from the residents of the previously all-white neighborhood. When sent a letter informing him that the local residents were opposed to "undesirables" in the neighborhood, he responded with a letter that said that he and his family were also opposed to undesirables, and that, if he ever saw any, his neighbors would be the first ones to know. When the neighbors finally realized - after several attempts, including legal action - that the Coles were not going to be intimidated, they accepted defeat and, ultimately, the Coles as well. Several years after his death, his widow, Maria, sold the home to a family of wealthy African-Americans. As Maria herself said, "Anyone who thought Nat was an Uncle Tom clearly did not know the man".
  • Quotes
    [after his TV show was canceled due to lack of sponsors] Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.
  • Trademark
    Smooth baritone voice
  • Nickname
    • King Cole
  • Salaries
      Sissipartio
      (1957)
      $5,000

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