Tina Cole can clearly remember the last time she saw her former co-star and great love Don Grady.
It was 2008 and the couple reunited under the most critical circumstances. Beverly Garland, who played Fred McMurray’s second wife on his CBS TV series “My Three Sons,” has died at age 82.
“The last time I saw him was at Beverly’s funeral, his memorial,” Cole said. “I don’t know if he knew at the time that he had cancer. He looked great. It was a little awkward. We gave each other a big hug. And then I got to know one of his writing partners, actually. Found out through the sister. And it was hard because I didn’t know what to say because he didn’t tell me personally. But I wrote him. And he wrote me back. He said, ‘I Anything to do. Says it won’t do either of us any good. And he said, ‘I’ll always love you.’
Tina Cole recently wrote a memoir titled “My Three Lives.” (Beer Manor Media)
“We had both moved on,” the actress shared. “He loved his wife very much and [had] Two great kids. But he said something very sweet to me. “You set the bar too high,” he said. That was a very sweet thing to say. And three weeks later, he was gone.”
‘My Three Sons’ star Tina Cole ditches twin beds with on-screen husband Don Grady
Grady, a musician and actor who first made his debut as the Mouseketeer in “The Mickey Mouse Club,” died in 2012 at age 68. Cole, now 79, recently wrote a memoir about his life and career titled “My Three Lives.” In it, Yvonne King, daughter of musician Buddy Cole and the singing King Sisters, claimed that she and Grady fell in love on the set of “My Three Sons,” but that a lasting romance was not meant to be.
“He was a wonderful man,” Cole said, fighting back tears. “He was an amazing husband and father and an amazing talent. His music was just amazing. He could play anything. He could fix anything. He was just a real renaissance man.”
“My Three Sons” cast members, from left, Stanley Livingston, Barry Livingston and Don Grady pose backstage at the TV Land Awards at the Hollywood Palladium on March 2, 2003 in Hollywood. Grady died in 2012. (Robert Mora/Getty Images)
But it wasn’t love at first sight for the stars. When “My Three Sons” first premiered in 1960, Cole joined the cast in 1964. The sitcom tells the story of widower Steve Douglas (Fred McMurray), who raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law and boys. great uncle Cole said that Grady was disappointed that she was his on-screen love interest.
“He didn’t think I was all right,” laughed Cole. “He wanted Ron Troup, Peggy Lipton—you know, [a] A tall, thin, long-haired surfer girl type. And here I am, this bouncy, round little bubbly thing. Fortunately, I didn’t know that because that would have been really weird. But the first week of shooting… we had to do a lot, a lot of turns. We bumped our noses and didn’t know which way to turn. It was just weird. Of course, I didn’t know that Don wasn’t mad at me for his role.”
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Director Frederick de Córdova yells “cut” and sends everyone away – except Grady and Cole.
Tina Cole said she didn’t know Don Grady didn’t want her as his love interest in “My Three Sons.” (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“He said, ‘You guys need to look like each other, so go back to the corner of the sound stage and practice kissing,'” she recalled. “And so we did… for half an hour we had to learn to kiss… I think the scene turned out really well, actually. And then two years later when Don and I actually fell in love, she said, ‘I almost wanted to leave because they were casting you.’ That would have been terrible!”
Cole claimed that he first felt sparks with Grady as the two grew closer. She often visited his house where they practiced telethons. At the time, her marriage to TV producer Wally Howard III was falling apart.
“It was a moment where we both went, ‘Oh my gosh, this is different than what we’ve been playing for two years,'” Cole said. “I was separated, but not really ready to give up on the marriage. We just realized, ‘OK, we can’t do this.’ And then in the next month or two, I realized that my marriage was over, and I was loving it.”
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According to Tina Cole, it didn’t take long for her romance with co-star Don Grady to blossom. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Cole’s relationship with Howard officially ended in 1970. However, Cole claimed that he turned down Grady’s marriage proposal.
“I wasn’t ready,” he admitted. “I was still attached to the idea that marriage should last forever. There were moments when my ex-husband and I got together because of our son. We got together for vacations and things like that. Ready… [And Don] An hour and a half, two hours away. I was not ready to leave my home, my family, my career – all of it. It was very scary for me. And yet I loved him dearly. Isn’t it sad?”
This was not Cole’s only loss at the time. “My Three Sons” came to an abrupt end in 1972.
In Don Grady’s case, it was “right person, wrong time” for Tina Cole. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“Fred Silverman took over the programming,” Cole explained. “And very loudly he said, ‘I don’t like all these little family shows.’ You know, ‘My Three Sons,’ ‘Petticoat Junction’ – those kinds of shows. He did everything he could to get rid of us. Our ratings were still good, but he moved us to a different time on a different day. moved to the slot. And finally, he said, ‘I don’t care if people like them – they’re gone.’… We wrapped up all our scenes and we left. , ‘See you next year!’
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“My Three Sons” ended in 1972. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“But then we got a notice that the show wasn’t being picked up,” Cole continued. “We still had ideas for the show, but then it got cancelled. We never had a goodbye party. We didn’t have a final show or any kind of series finale. We were just gone—evaporated. became. It was really sad because the cast had become my family… everyone was so nice. I loved it.”
Cole claimed that when she turned down Grady’s marriage proposal, he asked her to move in with him. He refused. Ready to settle down, Grady married Julie Bonneser in 1976. It wouldn’t be until 1977 that Cole and Grady found themselves filming a reunion special for “My Three Sons” and “The Partridge Family.”
“It was still there,” Cole said of their feelings for each other. “He looked at me after the shoot and said, ‘I made a mistake. I’ll call you when I’m done.’ And he did. I was so happy. And then I asked him to marry me. And he wasn’t ready. It was really far, you know?”
Don Grady and Tina Cole filmed a reunion special on November 25, 1977. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Cole believed there were several reasons why he was unwilling to graduate after his marriage ended in 1979. Initially, he believed that Grady felt uncomfortable around her showbiz family.
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“There are so many of us, and they all loved him,” she said. “He’s fit, but he didn’t feel as comfortable as I thought he did.”
And there was another factor, he noted.
There were several reasons why a relationship with Don Grady didn’t work out for Tina Cole. However, he still loved her. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“He was against organized religion,” Cole charged. “He was very spiritual, but I’m a devout Latter-day Saint. [follower]… I think that foundation was missing. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I was hesitant, but there was a point where I just said, ‘I love this guy. I can deal with other things.”
“He was going to New York again — even further than he was,” Cole recalled. “He said, ‘Come with me.’ I said, ‘Yes, as your wife I will.’ And he said, ‘No, like my friend.’ And I said, ‘I can’t.’ “He wasn’t too happy when I started dating Beverly Garland’s stepson. He was pretty upset about it. But he left.”
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Grady said “I do” to Virginia Leosader again in 1985. This union lasted till his death.
Don Grady’s second marriage lasted from 1985 until his death. (CBS via Getty Images)
Today, Cole is a proud “grandpa” who devotes his time to family. She was previously the director of the Sacramento Children’s Theater. But she has not ruled out the idea of acting on screen again.
“I look at these Hallmark and Lifetime. [movies]”he said.” I think, ‘They need a grandma. They need a shop owner, mayor or whatever.’ I could do that. I’d like to get back to it.”
He hasn’t given up on the possibility of finding love again either.
Tina Cole said that she is ready to act again. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“I’d love a partner,” he said. “I keep joking, ‘I’ve never met a man I’d buy a good book for.’ And I’m fine with that. It’s an attitude. Happiness is a choice. And I hope that comes out of my story.
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