Michael Cole (July 3, 1940 – December 10, 2024) was an American actor best known for his role as Pete Cochran on the television crime drama The Mod Squad (1968–1973).

His other film credits include the role of Mark in the 1966 science fiction film The Bubble, later re-titled Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth; Spivey in the western Chuka (1967); Alan Miller in The Last Child (1971),[3] that was nominated for the Best Movie Made for TV Golden Globe Award in 1972; and as Cliff Norris in Beg, Borrow or Steal (1973).

He did a great deal of stage work after The Mod Squad went off the air, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

But it was his role as Pete Cochran, a troubled youth turned crime fighter in The Mod Squad (1968–1973), that made Cole an international celebrity.

Cole's boyish good looks and brooding, deep-voiced personality meshed perfectly with his character's backstory—a ne'er-do-well son of wealthy parents who had evicted him from their home after he had stolen a car.

Cole later made an appearance in the 2007 thriller Mr. Brooks as the attorney for Demi Moore's character of Detective Tracy Atwood.