Carole Cole

Carole "Cookie" Cole (October 17, 1944 – May 19, 2009) played the part of Ellie Wilson Marshall, Grady Wilson's daughter on the short-lived Sanford and Son NBC-TV spinoff series Grady. Carol also served as the CEO of King Cole Productions. She was sometimes credited as Carol Cole.

Personal life
Carol was born in Medford, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, and was the adopted daughter of legendary singer/entertainer Nat King Cole, and the adopted sister of Natalie Cole. Her biological mother, Carol Hawkins, was the sister of Nat King Cole's wife, Maria. Through her mother, Cole was related to educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. The eldest of Nat King Cole's children, she had three children, Caroline Clarke, Sage Zailm Cole, and Harleigh Maxim Cole.

Cole died on May 19, 2009. She was 64 and is survived by all three of her children. Carole died in one hospital, while her sister Natalie was in another hospital undergoing kidney transplant surgery.

Career
Carole received an associate's degree at Cazenovia College, 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. During her acting career she starred in the motion pictures The Silencers, (1967) The Mad Room, (1969) Promise at Dawn, (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. On stage Cole appeared in Gore Vidal's Weekend (1968), the Lincoln Center Public Theater production of Pericles (1974 New York Shakespeare Festival) 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 TV series Grady, (a spin-off of the highly successful Sanford and Son).

In 1991, Carole became the CEO of King Cole Productions, where she masterminded the use and licensing of the vast catalog which had belonged to her father, Nat King Cole, as well as his name and likeness. 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, Carole released "Re: Generations," a collaboration of international artists providing their artistic interpretations and tributes to specific works of Nat King Cole. Carole executive produced the album which included tracks performed by The Roots, will.i.am, Cee-Lo, Natalie Cole, Bebel Gilberto, Stephen & Damian Marley and Brazilian Girls.