Michael Cole, who starred as one-third of “The Mod Squad,” has died. He was 84.
The actor played Pete Cochran in the hit ABC crime show that aired from 1968 to ’73. Cole died Tuesday, his Atlanta-based talent agent Christy Clark confirmed to The Times.
On the tail of a decade of civil unrest due to the Vietnam War and the midcentury civil rights movement, “The Mod Squad” made fighting crime cool to the younger generation’s counterculture.
Peggy Lipton, left, Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III and Tige Andrews in a scene from the 1960s TV series “The Mod Squad.”
(ABC)
With “one black, one white, one blonde,” as the show’s tagline, “the rabble on the wrong side of the law was now the law,” said television critic Lorraine Ali in 2018. That same year, Cole authored a memoir that referenced his undercover-cop role titled “I Played the White Guy.”
Cole’s nephew, who was named after him, announced his uncle’s death Monday in a post on Facebook. “He was my inspiration to the craft of acting and helped guide me my whole career. He taught me of his passion as an artist … as a story teller … as an actor. But first, he was my Uncle … who I loved deeply.”
Cole spoke of the role in a 1999 interview with The Times.
“I was like a rebel with a cause,” he said.
Cole’s Pete Cochran, Peggy Lipton’s Julie Barnes and Linc Hayes, played by Clarence Williams III, were all young people in trouble with the law. Police Capt. Adam Greer (Tige Andrews) worked with them so they could avoid jail time. The trio blended into the crime scenes — and among the suspects — they investigated.
Cole told The Times that he kept in touch with co-stars Lipton and Williams, who died in 2019 and 2021, respectively. He also said he was a fan of the 1979 TV-movie revival “The Return of the Mod Squad,” which he said captured “the bonding and caring” that was at the heart of the original.
One of his other notable roles was as Harlan Barrett, a 1991 heartthrob on daytime drama “General Hospital” who was a recurring character for several months. He also appeared in TV shows “ER,” “The Love Boat” and “Police Story,” as well as the 1990 Stephen King miniseries “It.”
Born in blue-collar Madison, Wis., in 1940, Cole moved to Los Angeles as a young, starving actor in 1963, he said in a 2018 podcast interview. There, he joined an acting workshop with coach Estelle Harmon and eventually got his big break with “The Mod Squad,” he said, by just being himself. After divorcing twice, he met his current wife in 1989, who helped him get sober — one of his greatest accomplishments, he said.
Cole is survived by his wife, Shelley Funes, daughter Jennifer and sisters Deborah and Colleen, his nephew wrote. “We are forever bound as family,” the post says. “I love you Uncle Mike.”
