‘My Three Sons’ actress Tina Cole says her co-star ‘wasn’t ready’ to marry her despite her ‘falling in love’

Tina Cole vividly remembers the last time she saw her former co-star and true love, Don Grady.

It was 2008 and the couple had reunited under grim circumstances. Beverly Garland, who played Fred MacMurray’s second wife on their CBS television series ‘My Three Sons’, has died aged 82.

“The last time I saw him was at Beverly’s funeral, his memorial,” Cole told Fox News Digital. “I don’t know if he knew he had cancer at the time. He looked gorgeous. It was a bit awkward. We had a big hug. And then I found out through one of his writing partners, through my sister actually, that he had cancer and it was hard because I didn’t know if I should say anything because he didn’t tell me He didn’t say it personally. But I wrote to him. And he wrote back. He said, ‘Anything I have to say wouldn’t do any of us any good. And he said, ‘I will always love you.'”

“We had both moved on,” the actress explained. “He was very much in love with his wife and [had] two grown children. But he said something really nice to me. He said, “You have set the bar very high. It was a nice thing to say. And three weeks later he was gone.”

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Grady, a musician and actor who got his start as a Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” died in 2012 at the age of 68. Cole, now 79, recently penned a memoir about her life and career called “My Three Lives.” In it, the daughter of musician Buddy Cole and Yvonne King of the King Sisters singers claimed that she and Grady fell in love on the set of ‘My Three Sons,’ but that a lasting romance was not. supposed to exist.

“He was a wonderful man,” Cole said, fighting back tears. “He was a wonderful husband and father and incredibly talented. His music was just wonderful. He could play anything. He could fix anything. He was just a real Renaissance man.”

The cast of ‘My Three Sons’, from left, Stanley Livingston, Barry Livingston and Don Grady pose backstage at the TV Land Awards at the Hollywood Palladium March 2, 2003 in Hollywood. Gradi died in 2012. (Robert Mora/Getty Images)

But it wasn’t love at first sight for the stars. While “My Three Sons” first premiered in 1960, Cole joined the cast in 1964. The sitcom tells the story of widower Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray), who raises three sons with the help of his stepfather and boys. great-uncle. Cole said Grady was disappointed that she was his on-screen love interest.

“He didn’t think I was right,” Cole chuckled. “He wanted Ronne Troup, Peggy Lipton – you know, [a] a tall, thin, long-haired female surfer. And here I am, this bouncy, round, bubbly little thing. Luckily, I didn’t know because that would have been really inconvenient. But the first week of shooting… we had to do a lot of kissing, a lot of hugging. We kept bumping noses and not knowing which way to turn. It was just awkward. Of course, I didn’t know that Don wasn’t crazy about me for his character.”

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Director Frederick De Cordova shouted “cut” and sent everyone away – except for Grady and Cole.

Tina Cole says she didn’t know Don Grady didn’t want her as a lover on “My Three Sons.” (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“He said, ‘You have to look alike, so go back to the corner of the soundstage and practice kissing,'” she recalled. “And that’s what we did… For about half an hour we had to learn how to kiss… I think the scene went really well, actually. And then two years later, when Don and I fell in love for real, he said, ‘I almost wanted to quit because they were casting you. That would have been awful!’

Cole claimed she first noticed sparks with Grady as the two grew closer. She often went to his house where they rehearsed for the telethons. At the time, her marriage to television producer Volney Howard III was deteriorating.

“It was a moment where we were both like, ‘Oh my God, this is different from what we’ve been playing for two years,'” Cole said. “I was separated, but I wasn’t really ready to give up on the wedding. We just realized, ‘Well, we can’t do that.’ And then over the next two months, I realized my marriage was over and I was falling in love with him.”

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According to Tina Cole, it didn’t take long for a romance to blossom with her co-star Don Grady. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Cole’s relationship with Howard officially ended in 1970. However, Cole claimed that she turned down Grady’s marriage proposal.

“I wasn’t ready,” she admitted. “I was always attached to the idea that marriage is meant to be forever. There were times when my ex-husband and I met again because of our son. We got together for the holidays and things like that. I just wasn’t ready… [And Don] had moved an hour and a half, two hours away. I wasn’t ready to leave my home, my family, my career – all of it. It was just very scary for me. And yet I loved him with all my heart. Isn’t that sad?”

It wasn’t the only loss Cole suffered at the time. “My Three Sons” came to an abrupt end in 1972.

In Don Grady’s case, it was “the right person, the wrong time” for Tina Cole. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“Fred Silverman had taken 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 another time slot on another day. And finally, he said, “I don’t care if people like them – they’re gone. »… We finished all our scenes and we said to ourselves: « See you next year!

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“My Three Sons” ended in 1972. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“But then we got a notice that the show wasn’t picked up,” Cole continued. “We still had ideas for the show, but it was cancelled. We never had a farewell party. We didn’t do a closing show or a series finale. We were just gone. – evaporated. It was really sad because the cast had become my family… Everyone was just wonderful. I loved it.

Cole claimed that after turning down Grady’s marriage proposal, he asked her to move in with him. She refused. Ready to settle down, Grady married Julie Boonisar in 1976. It wasn’t until 1977 that Cole and Grady found themselves filming a reunion special for “My Three Sons” and “The Partridge Family.”

“He was always 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 free.’ And he did. I was thrilled. And then I asked him to marry me. And he wasn’t ready.

Don Grady and Tina Cole filmed a reunion special on November 25, 1977. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Cole thought there were several reasons why Grady was not ready to commit after his marriage ended in 1979. To begin with, she thought Grady felt uncomfortable with his showbiz family.

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“There are a lot of us and they all loved him,” she said. “He fitted in, but he didn’t feel as comfortable as I thought he would.”

And there was another factor, she noted.

There were several reasons why a relationship with Don Grady wouldn’t have worked out for Tina Cole. However, she still loved him. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“He was against organized religion,” Cole alleged. “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 also a time when I just said, “I love this man.” I can take care of other things.'”

“He was moving to New York again – even further away than he had been,” Cole recalled. “He said, ‘Come with me.’ I said, ‘Yes, as your wife I will.’ And he said, ‘No, as a friend.’ And I said, ‘I can’t.’ He wasn’t very happy when I started dating Beverly Garland’s stepson. He was pretty angry about it. But he was gone.”

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Grady once again said “yes” to Virginia Lewsader in 1985. This union lasted until her death.

Don Grady’s second marriage lasted from 1985 until his death. (CBS via Getty Images)

Today, Cole is a proud “girl” who dedicates her time to her family. She was previously the director of the Sacramento Children’s Theater. But she hasn’t ruled out the idea of ​​performing on screen again.

“I watch these Hallmark and Lifetime [movies]”, she said. “I think, ‘They need a grandma. They need a store owner or a mayor or whatever. I could do that. I’d like to come back to that.”

She also did not give up the possibility of finding love again.

Tina Cole said she was ready to perform again. (ABC Photo Archive/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“I would like a partner,” she said. “I keep joking, ‘I haven’t met a man I’d trade a good book for.’ And I agree with that. It’s an attitude. Happiness is a choice. And I hope that’s the takeaway from my story.”