{{Short description|American actor (born 1892)}} {{Infobox person | name = Slim Cole | birth_name = Nathan Cole Hebert | birth_date = {{birth date|1892|05|06}} | birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Actor, stuntman | years_active = 1915–1932 | spouse = Katherine Fay (m. 1915-1921) | other_names = King Cole | family = Nathan Cole (grandfather) }}
'''Nathan Cole Hebert''' (born May 6, 1892, date of death unknown), known as '''Slim Cole''' and sometimes credited as '''King Cole''',<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/138636171/?terms=%22slim+cole%22|title=St. Louisan Quitting a Career in Which a Man Is Old at 29|date=5 Nov 1922|website=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> was an American actor and stuntman who appeared in a string of B-movie westerns during Hollywood's silent era.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Katchmer|first=George A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnGeCQAAQBAJ&dq=charles+slim+cole&pg=PA67|title=A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses|date=2015-05-20|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0905-8|language=en}}</ref>
== Biography ==
=== Early years === Slim was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Joseph Hebert and Hallie Cole.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/137700365/?terms=%22hallie+cole%22|title=Rotogravure Picture Section|date=18 Apr 1920|website=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> His mother's father, Nathan Cole, was once mayor of St. Louis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/572583807/?terms=%22nathan+cole+hebert%22|title=St. Louisan Star in 'The Shiek' Movie Play|date=29 Nov 1921|website=St. Louis Globe-Democrat|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> Joseph Hebert, Slim's father, died when Slim was a toddler, and he was raised by his mother in the Los Angeles area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/204565635/?terms=%22hallie+cole%22|title=Cole Heir in Need, Heart Is Broken|date=16 May 1913|website=The St. Louis Star and Times|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/619166537/?terms=%22slim+cole%22|title=Screen Life in Hollywood|date=27 Sep 1932|website=The Morning Union|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/380293756/?terms=%22slim+cole%22|title=Adventurer of Films Added to Gish Cast|date=18 Jul 1926|website=The Los Angeles Times|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref>
=== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/517445646/?terms=%22slim+cole%22|title='The Texas Bad Man' Now Showing at Seltzer Theatre|date=12 Nov 1932|website=The Daily News|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> "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."<ref name=":0" />
=== 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. Early on, he was employed by Charlie Chaplin's studio.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/380559095/?terms=%22slim+cole%22|title=Out of Luck|date=13 Jan 1918|website=The Los Angeles Times|language=en|access-date=2020-03-17}}</ref>
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.<ref name=":1" />
=== Personal life === Cole married Katherine Fay in 1915; the couple divorced in 1921.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23326944/nathancolehebertdivorce1921/|title=Says Husband Spurned Meal; Divorces Him|date=May 21, 1921|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2020-03-17|pages=15}}</ref> After his last film was released in 1932, it's unknown what happened to Cole.
== Partial filmography == {{div col}} *''His Day Out'' (1918) *''A Dog's Life'' (1918) *''Shoulder Arms'' (1918) *''Smashing Barriers'' (1919) *''Where Is This West?'' (1923) *''Beasts of Paradise'' (1923) *''The Ghost City'' (1923) *''Reckless Speed'' (1924) *''Ridin' Pretty'' (1925) *''The Great Circus Mystery'' (1925) *''The Fighting Ranger'' (1925) *''Prowlers of the Night'' (1926) *''Desert Dust'' (1927) *''The Texas Bad Man'' (1932) *''The Last Frontier'' (1932) *''Gold'' (1932) {{div col end}}
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Slim}} Category:1892 births Category:Year of death missing Category:American male film actors Category:American male silent film actors Category:20th-century American male actors Category:American stunt performers Category:Male actors from St. Louis