Known for:	Catch Me If You Can, As Good as It Gets, Groundhog Day
Birth name:	Nathaniel Adams Coles
Birthday:	17 March 1919, Montgomery, Alabama, USA
Height:	6' 1" (1.85 m)

Free Pictures of Nat 'King' Cole. Click here to see them >>>




Free Image Hosting - Upload your favorite celebrity pictures. Born at 9 am-CST. Brother of bandleader Eddie Cole. Children: daughters, Carol Cole, born October 17, 1944 (adopted) Natalie Cole, born February 6, 1950 Timolin & Casey (identical twins), born September 26, 1961; son, Nat Kelly Cole, born February 1959 - died 1995 (AIDS) (adopted). During the one season his show, "The Nat King Cole Show" (1956) was on the air, it had no sponsor, being run by NBC on a sustaining (network-sponsored) basis. The highly rated show had top-of-the-line production values, music by Nelson Riddle's orchestra, top-name guest stars and the personal endorsement of NBC chairman David Sarnoff (who ordered his network executives, "Find his show sponsors or heads will roll!"). Many of Cole's friends in the industry, such as Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr., out of respect for his talents and what he was trying to do, appeared for minimum salary, and often no salary at all. Bob Henry ("The Andy Williams Show" (1962), "Flip" (1970)) wrote, produced and directed. At the end of the season, even though no national sponsors could be found - many companies did not want to upset their customers in the South, who did not want to see blacks on television - NBC expressed its willingness to keep the show going on a sustaining basis. It was Nat who pulled the plug, remarking bitterly, "I guess Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark." Brother of singer Freddy Cole. Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. He and his second wife Maria Cole were married in Harlem's famous Abyssinian Baptist Church by the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr.. Winner of a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy award in 1989. Incredibly enough, he was nominated for a Grammy only once in his lifetime, in 1958, and lost. As a singer and recording artist, his contributions to American popular music are incalculable. Any list of his representative hits, all on Capitol records, has to include: "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66," "Sweet Lorraine," "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," "The Christmas Song," "Mona Lisa "(a signature song during his career), "Nature Boy," "Too Young," "Answer Me" , "Walkin' My Baby back Home", "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "Lush Life, " "Ramblin' Rose," "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, "People" , "That Sunday Yhat Summer" " "Dear Lonely Hearts," "L-O-V-E," and "Unforgettable.". He was paid only $5000 for acting in China Gate (1957), but he received $75,000 for singing "Three Coins in the Fountain" during the opening credits. Attended the Democratic National Convention in 1960. He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6229 Hollywood Boulevard and for Recording at 6659 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.