Slim Cole

born: 06 May 1892
St. Louis, Missouri,
United States of America		 died:


(age ?)

from Jim Jarvis:
 Very tall American actor. Don't know his date of death but his final film was released in 1932 (ex-wife died 1932 LA County) and no record of him can be found in the WWII Draft (under various names) so I have a "hunch" he died between 1931-1942. His Mom and older brother eventually lived in NYC and CT and she died in 1929 in CT. His 3 sons all lived to adulthood, the youngest b 1919 CA.
Slim's Dad (Joseph Louis Hebert) and Mom (Hallie Cole) were married in their hometown, St. Louis, MO in 1888. They moved to San Francisco, CA where their first son was born in 1889. The Dad was a successful book and newspaper publisher (St. Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Slim was born in 1892. His Dad died in Los Angeles in 1896 of lumbar tuberculosis aged 31. By the 1900 Census, the Mom and 2 sons are back in St. Louis living with her wealthy family. This record says Slim was born in "Nebraska" in June of 1892! His 1917 WWI Draft Card says "May 06, 1892 St. Louis". Interestingly, on the section of the Draft Card that asks about health and physical condition, Slim wrote "PERFECT"!
Slim's Grandfather (Mom's Dad) died aged 79 in St. Louis in 1904, leaving a $1,000,000 estate. It was to be divided between his widow and 7 children. He had been the mayor of St. Louis, a congressman, financier, and entrepreneur. A squabble over the estate began in court which lasted over 9 years. The parents had lived with the oldest son who was a physician. One of the daughters claimed in court that he hypnotised them to alter the will to his benefit! In 1917, the Cole Estate was in a partnership that was supposed to build a $1,700,000 hotel in St. Louis. I don't know the final outcome of that and all the lawsuits but my guess is that Slim's Mom, Hallie Cole Hebert, received a substantial sum. By 1910 she was living in Pasadena, CA raising Slim and his brother.
Slim became a motorcycle "daredevil", probably the Evel Knievel of the 1910's and 1920's. Before he "got" into movies he was working for the US Forest Service as a ranger in the San Bernardino Mountains. He had had a job as a motorcycle messenger and found he could patrol 4 times as much area on his cycle as the other rangers on horses. One day, a movie crew was filming in the mountains and the director spotted his wild riding and signed him to a contract. (His December 1912 Marriage License (CA) says he was a motion picture actor). His wife was an 18 year-old local girl, Katherine L. Fay and they resided in Pasadena and had 3 sons, the youngest born there in 1919. Slim tried gold mining in Acton, CA (50 miles away) on his own for a couple of years and eventually went back to movies. He used the names "Slim Cole" and "Cole Hebert".
One day in May of 1921, he came home after work and his wife Katherine asked him if he wanted supper and he refused with a "HELL NO" and stormed out of the house. She divorced him! The story made newspapers nationally. Later, he spent some time in the Hollywood jail when she had him arrested for lack of child support. She remarried and died in Altadena, CA in 1932 aged 37 from acute alcoholism and bronchial asthma.
In November of 1922 in St. Louis at age 29, he announced his retirement from motorcycle stunt riding---too many broken bones over 7 years. He and several investors opened a movie studio vowing to make the city attractive to filmmakers. The venture failed and Slim went back to Hollywood and acted in films again. The last one was released in 1932.

 from Katrina Prater (Slim Cole's granddaughter) [submitted to the site, May 2025]:
 The newspaper man in the family was Nathan Cole (yes another one), Hallie Hebert's brother. Nathan moved to L.A. and co-founded the L.A. Times, and was the first editor. We have no family information about Joseph Louis Hebert publishing books or newspapers. He was going into business with his Uncle Joseph and was set to attend the Chicago World's Fair to show there goods, but he became ill and was told by his doctor to go to Southern California as soon as possible in an effort to help his health.
Dr. Ernest Cole, one of Hallie's brothers did take over the estate after their father passed away. It became a multi national scandal of the day.
There weren't any family plans to build a hotel in St. Louis, but Hallie had to live in a hotel for a while due to her financial circumstances. She was only given $20.00 a month from Ernest, and he reduced it further to $2.00 a month before stopping it all together. She, Nathan (Slim) and his brother Thomas went from living an affluent life to being destitute.
After his last serial in which he played Uncle Happy, the family (maybe no one) didn't see him again. After years of exhaustive searching, there is no death record, obit, etc.
He had a cabin (more like a shack) in his beloved mountains. While we don't know what happened to him, I like the idea that he went back and never left the mountain again.
He didn't have much to do with his kids and didn't pay child support, but a couple of times he would bring them each a new pair of shoes arriving in a studio limousine. I can only imagine how that went over.
He rode the Blue Streak wooden roller coaster on his motorcycle (Santa Monica Pier) and it was filmed, later played on 'You Asked For It' in the 1950s.
He loved southern Missouri and thought it very beautiful.
Real name: Nathan Cole Hebert
 Films listed on this page: all films with Babe Hardy.

0

▼ NON-HAL ROACH FILMS

1918		 His Day Out
Tall barber's customer

Acknowledgements:
https://theinfolist.com/php/ListGet.php?FindGo=Slim_Cole (bio)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Cole
https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Biographical_Dictionary_of_Silent_Film/VnGeCQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=charles+slim+cole&pg=PA67&printsec=frontcover
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-998M-1W74?view=index&action=view (1888 Mar STL: parents marry)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT3F-54M (1889 Jun SFO: brother Thomas R. Hebert born)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9SX-9QWN?view=index&action=view (1896 Dec LA: Dad dies : TB & pneumonia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Cole (1904 Mar STL: grandDad Nathan Cole dies: Slim's Mom's Dad: $ million estate)
Laurel Or Hardy by Rob Stone (book)
Jim Jarvis (research and bio notes)
Katrina Prater (Slim Cole's great granddaughter) (extra bio information)

This page was last updated on: 18 May 2025