“I didn’t really grow up with him but when I moved out to L.A. he let me live with him for a year and we got to know each other a little then,” Cole, 49, shared in an October 2021 interview with Cowboys & Indians magazine.
Cole’s parents divorced when he was young and at “about 9 or 10 years old,” the actor saw his father on TV.
“I didn’t know he was my dad. I waited for the finish of the film, and I saw Wings Hauser [in the credits],” he recalled. “So, I went into my mom’s room, and I said, ‘Hey mom. I just saw a guy on TV, his name’s Wings Hauser.’ And she looked at me and went: ‘Wow!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I saw this guy.’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, well, let’s talk about that.’ She explained to me who he was, and that’s how I found out about my dad.”
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Cole said his dad was a “huge fan” of Yellowstone. (Cole has played Rip Wheeler on the Paramount Network series from its debut in 2018.)
“[He’s] obviously very proud of what I’ve done in it,” Cole continued. “He’s an old cowboy, after all. Our family, the Hauser side of the family, are all Montanans. So, it’s very close to him. We have family in Helena and Livingstone and all over the state.”
Cole’s quotes are being shared on social media following the news that Wings died on Saturday, March 15, at age 78. His wife, Cali Lili Hauser, announced the news in a social media statement five days later.
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“Movie icon Wings Hauser took flight in the arms of his film & music partner, Cali Lili Hauser, at their studio this weekend,” she wrote at the time. “Wings Hauser’s one of a kind, legendary career spanned 58 years in movies, tv & music working alongside many of the greatest artists in the industry and earning their respect.”
He died from natural causes, Cali confirmed to Variety. (Cole has yet to publicly react to the news of his father’s death.)
Wings was known for his various television roles, including playing Greg Foster on The Young and the Restless in 1977 before returning in 2010. He had several film credits, including Ramrod in 1982’s Vice Squad, Tough Guys Don’t Dance and The Insider.