Tommy Cole
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Tommy Cole (born December 20, 1941) is an American
make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...
, actor, and singer who appeared as a Mouseketeer on the '' Mickey Mouse Club'' television series.


Early life

Although born in
Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...
, Tommy Cole grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of La Cañada. He was self-motivated toward performing from an early age, despite some disapproval from his family.''Forever Hold Your Banner High'', by Jerry Bowles, 1976, p. 52; His father was an editor of the ''
Los Angeles Herald Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst Corporation, Hearst syndicate. It was formed w ...
''; his mother later worked part-time at movie studios as a welfare guardian for minor children. He has one older brother, John Cole.


Career


Performer

Cole started as a musician, playing the
accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...
as a young teenager with three other kids in a
western swing Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...
band. The band played in amateur contests and small clubs, and even managed to get a one-time gig on
Ray Bolger Raymond Wallace Bolger (; January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) was an American actor, dancer, singer, vaudevillian, and stage performer (particularly musical theater) who started his movie career in the silent-film era. Bolger was a major B ...
's mid-1950s television show ''
Where's Raymond? ''Where's Raymond?'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC, starring Ray Bolger. The series aired from October 1953 to April 22, 1955. The series' title was spurred by Bolger's Broadway stage hit ''Where's Charley?'' In the 1954–1955 sea ...
'' Besides playing the accordion, he was also the band's singer. When the ensemble auditioned together at the Disney Studio for ''
The Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and briefly returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first te ...
'' in the spring 1955, he was the only one selected to join the cast of Mouseketeers. Cole's singing ability earned him a transfer to ''The Mickey Mouse Club's'' first-string Red Team midway through the 1955–56 season. He remained with the show for its final two seasons (1956–1958) of original programming and, after filming stopped, attended
Hollywood Professional School Hollywood Professional School was a private school in Hollywood, California. Initially established as a music conservatory by pianist Gladys T. Littell in 1921 under the name Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts, the school quickly expanded it ...
and went on live-performance tours with other Mouseketeers to Australia in 1959 and 1960. For the next several years Tommy Cole's career was based on live-singing at teenage clubs, public events, and as an opening act for other performers. He attended
Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. It originally o ...
, did a hitch in the
Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
, and had guest star parts on a few television shows. By 1964, he had realized that his days as a performer were ending, and so looked around for some other way to stay in show business.


Make-up artist

While acting in an episode of ''
My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...
'' in 1963, Cole had started learning make-up technique from one of the show's regular artists. He soon joined the craft as an apprentice, working first for
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
, then later in the 1960s for
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. He began freelancing as a make-up artist in the early seventies, gathering
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
nominations in 1975 for '' Masquerade Party'' and 1978 for '' Once Upon a Brothers Grimm'', before winning, along with Mark Bussan and Ron Walters, in 1979 for ''
Backstairs at the White House ''Backstairs at the White House'' is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the 1961 book '' My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House'' by Lillian Rogers Parks (with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Producti ...
''. Cole has since been nominated for Emmy awards for the miniseries ''
Right to Die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...
'' (1988), the television series ''
Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...
'' (1996), and most recently for the TV special '' Gepetto'' (2000), for which he shared in winning the Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hairstylist Guild Award.


Personal life

Tommy's wife Aileen is a former dancer. They met in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
, on a
USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
tour in the mid-1960s, and married after they had both returned stateside. They have two children.


Select filmography


Select credits as makeup artist

* '' Masquerade Party'' TV series (1974) * '' Once Upon a Brothers Grimm'' TV Movie (1977) * ''
Backstairs at the White House ''Backstairs at the White House'' is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the 1961 book '' My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House'' by Lillian Rogers Parks (with Frances Spatz Leighton). The series, produced by Ed Friendly Producti ...
'' TV Miniseries (1979) * ''
Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. The film stars Molly Ringwald, alongside Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, a ...
'' (1986) ... ''makeup artist'' * ''
Right to Die The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...
'' TV Movie (1987) * ''
L.A. Confidential ''L.A. Confidential'' (1990) is a neo-noir novel by American writer James Ellroy, the third of his L.A. Quartet series. It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"— Steve Erickso ...
'' (1997) * '' Presence of Mind'' (1999) * '' Forever Fabulous'' (1999) * '' Gepetto'' TV special (2000) * '' Sorority Boys'' (2002; Head of makeup department)


Select credits as actor

* ''
The Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and briefly returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first te ...
'' series regular (1955–1958) * '' Disneyland: The Fourth Anniversary Show (1957) * ''
Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...
'' (episode: "Borrowed Boat"; 1959) * ''
My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...
'' (episode: "A Car of His Own"; 1963) * ''
The Wonderful World of Disney The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onward. The program mo ...
'' ("The Mouseketeer Reunion"; 1980) * '' The Mickey Mouse Club Story'' (1995 documentary)


References


External links

*
Tommy Cole profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Tommy Living people 1941 births Mouseketeers Musicians from Burbank, California Male actors from Burbank, California People from La Cañada Flintridge, California American male dancers