Solihul-born Cole, who trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, enjoyed a lengthy career that spanned TV, radio and film.
She was perhaps best known for playing the character Dr Beatrice Mason in the 1980s BBC wartime TV drama Tenko.
The series chronicled the lives of British women in Singapore after the Japanese invasion and their consequent confinement in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Cole, in her breakout role, played a doctor who struggled to look after the health of the women, opposite Ann Bell and Claire Oberman.
During this same period, Cole also played the moody Mrs Delphine Featherstone, aka “The Black Widow”, opposite Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours.
She would go on to win the award for best TV comedy actress for her part as the sharp-tongued photojournalist Diana Trent in Waiting For God.
But she cited her earlier performance as Muriel in Alan Bennett’s monologue Soldiering On, alongside Maggie Smith and Julie Walters, as one of her proudest moments.
Her stage highlight, by her account, was in a West End production of A Passionate Woman.
