Career
His career includes a leading role as Pete Cochrane on the television crime drama The Mod Squad, which ran 1968 to 1973. Cole has appeared in numerous films and television shows, beginning in 1961 with a role in the film drama, Forbid Them Not. He did a great deal of stage work after The Mod Squad went off the air, such as Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
Cole has also appeared on Gunsmoke, in 1966, as Kipp.
During the "70s, he had many guest appearances on Wonder Woman, The Love Boat and CHiPs, and appeared in the made-for-television thriller Evening in Byzantium in 1978. In the 1980s and 1990s, he worked on a piece for Home Box Office called Nickel Mountain.
He also worked on shows such as The Eddie Capra Mysteries, Murder, She Wrote, Fantasy Island, and Diagnosis Murder. Later, Cole appeared in Stephen King"s two-part made-for-television movie lieutenant, which aired in 1990, as the older version of the disturbed Henry Bowers.
In 1991, he joined the cast of American Broadcasting Company"s General Hospital in the role of Harlan Barrett.
But it was his role as Pete Cochrane, a troubled youth turned crime fighter in The Mod Squad (1968–1973), that made Cole an international celebrity. Cole"s boyish good looks and brooding, deep-voiced personality meshed perfectly with his character"s backstory—a ne"er-do-well son of wealthy parents who had evicted him from their home after he had stolen a car. Produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, The Mod Squad resonated with counterculture-era viewers and ran for five seasons, during which a total of 123 episodes were produced.
Cole is also known for an embarrassing incident in 1973 which was broadcast live on Australian television during the annual television Week Logie awards.
Stepping on stage to accept an award, Cole – described in subsequent news articles as either drunk or "in a tired and emotional state" – gave a barely coherent "thank you" speech that ended with the actor saying, "Oh, shit." This was the first time this profanity had been heard on Australian television Cole went through treatment in the Betty Ford Clinic in the early 1990s to get his drinking problem under control.
Cole continues to act in various film and television projects, and played the character Charles Hadley in a 2006 episode of the National Broadcasting Company television series Emergency. Cole most recently made an appearance in the 2007 thriller Mr. Brooks as the attorney for Demi Moore"s character of Atwood.