The Man Who Helped A Stranded Motorist Who Turned Out to Be Mrs. Nat King Cole-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
An African-American woman is stranded on an Alabama Highway in a rain storm. She flags down a motorist who turns out to be a white man who takes her to where she can get a cab. She’s in a big hurry, writes down his address, and leaves. A week later, there is a knock at the man’s door. It’s the delivery of a giant console color television with a note from the woman he had helped on the rainy highway. She thanks him and says that because of his kindness, she was able to make it to her dying husband’s bedside. It is signed Mrs. Nat King Cole.
The Truth:
This is an urban legend that has been around for quite a while, and is not true.
Nat King Cole was a successful singer who died in 1965. He was Natalie Cole’s father.
Roy Holmes, who hosts a Nat King Cole Website (www.highstreets.co.uk/kcc/index.htm) has spoken with Maria Cole, Nat King Cole’s widow, about the story. She told him that she did not drive to the hospital where Nat died, she doesn’t drive at night, and has never had the occasion of being helped by a man when a car broke down.
One note is that this story also places Mrs. Cole in Alabama, but Nat died at St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica, California, and his death was not a sudden one that would have caught her by surprise in some other part of the country. He succumbed to cancer and, according to newspaper accounts, she was at his bedside almost continuously until he died.
There are real stories of celebrities doing nice things for people they didn’t know (Elvis was famous for that), but there are also numerous urban legends about encounters between celebrities and strangers and some of the generous gifts that have resulted.
