Colonel Sanders' Crazy Real-Life Story

Every fast food restaurant needs a colorful mascot to help sell their food, but Kentucky Fried Chicken is rare in that their mascot was a real person.

Harland Sanders was born in Indiana in 1890, even though the Colonel Sanders persona was still a character he played. Sanders wasn’t a colonel in the military, but he was an honorary Kentucky colonel, and his iconic look of a white suit with a string tie and a white mustache and goatee only came near the end of his life. Let’s take a look at the crazy real-life story of Colonel Harland Sanders.

#ColonelSanders #KFC #Truth

A poor, rural, Southern early life | 0:00
A gas station shoot-out | 1:08
The origins of the Colonel | 2:01
Famous because of Duncan Hines | 2:55
The first KFC...in Utah | 3:49
Brand ambassador at age 73 | 4:53
20 years of the white suit | 6:02
He came to hate KFC food | 7:01
He got sued by KFC and lost | 8:17
Curse of the Colonel | 9:16

[GrungeHQ]

Which detail about Colonel Sander's life did you find the most interesting?

[RatRod]

In the mid 1970's The Col. visited his restaurant in Lake Isabella Ca. His image was so familiar to me that upon reading in the local paper that he was doing a meet and greet, As a young boy of around 10, I wanted to go meet him. My mother and I were the only people to show up. He invited me to sit and have lunch with him. I guess my mom had sat at another table, so it was just he and I. I ate and just asked him questions about his life. I only remember being thrilled by sitting with "The Colonel" I wish I remembered the conversation even a little.

[LVSkinny]

Never give up! He aint get success til his 70s 💯

[brandonbushnell-smith]

Colonel sanders shot a guy impeding on his legend

[jonahmayo]

I’m proud to be from Kentucky. The colonel finally getting much love for his enormous brand. One of the biggest there is. Rest In Peace. I’ve always loved the popcorn chicken Harland. Have since I was little.

[kevinandyogeeta]

You didn’t mention that he lived in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada from 1965 to 1980. We even have a hospital wing named after him

[maryclark]

My Mom was manager at a KFC in the late 70's our house was very popular with the neighborhood kids as she would bring home buckets often. Lol

[maryrafuse]

A not bad story but missing his whole connection to Canada and the fact that he lived for a while in the Great White North. Harlan Sanders was our very popular adopted Canadian son. Like a lot of folks from the US he loved Canada and was in turn deeply loved by Canadians. In Canada he was a huge celebrity visiting grand openings of his locations from coast to coast. Same as the USA. He just fit in with his southern glamour and love for the maple leaf. I doubt if we will ever see someone like him again. The Colonel was a dear caring person the world needs so many more like him. All the best to everyone from Nova Scotia.

[kevinandyogeeta]

KFC today is not the same as it was years ago

[elainesetzler]

Even though he sold the business for over a million dollars he gave much of his money away. The KFC stores in Canada used to give profits to charity. He was never a rich man just a man who gave richly! I worked for KFC for over 25 years and he was much loved. The Colonels gravy was made with dried milk, cracklens from the fryers and boiling water. Cracklens were the flour that was was left in the fryers at night. Boy was that good gravy! My boss made a promise to the Colonel to always make it his way, when KFC went to just bag gravy the boss sold the business because he couldn’t keep his promise. This was done very well.

[HaightTheGreat]

Mario Lopez is playing Col. Sanders on Lifetime. Crazy.

[thomasaquinas]

My instructor for restaurant management had known the Colonel. He was very similar to Gordon Ramsay. Absolutely relentless about food quality and cleanliness. Also like GR, he never backed away from a fight, even with his franchisees. Finally, again like Gordon, he had a 'rich vocabulary' that would make a sailor blush. When he was displeased, you knew it until it was fixed or until he grabbed the special fryer and put it on the back of his car, taking away your franchise...

[lawrencemunroe]

As a kid I knew I spotted him on a BC ferry, the only thing that was different was he was wearing a blue suit and he told me after asking him for an autograph I had the wrong guy. I will never forget our interaction in the stairwell of the vessel unless of course, he had a twin. Remember seeing Bruno Gerussi driving a Honda prelude over the second narrows bridge, you don't easily forget this kind of stuff.

[jimbrewer]

Those Japanese are so quirky! I was stationed there for a few years in the air force and they also celebrate Christmas (or their version of it) by mackin' out with the colonel. I mean they preorder their KFC months ahead! I think that their two favorite American imports are baseball and KFC!

[rjlong]

Why did the colonel walk into KFC? To see the chicken strip

[Digitalhunny]

Really, _really_ miss the original gravy & coleslaw. ☹

[batman]

Wonderful story. Totally forgot the Canadian connection. 🇨🇦 He kept his Canadian restaurants near Toronto airport in the city named Mississauga where he lived in a modest home and died. He loved his Canadian operations he would just come in at talk to people. He donated some of his money into the local hospital expansion and is referred by staff as The Chicken Wing . Colonel Harland Sanders Family Care Centre, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics for his love for children. ❤ 😢🍗🍗

[dirtcop]

I used to cut up the chicken for the KFC in my home town. I used a meat bandsaw and was very efficient at it. The meat store I worked at would sell about 20 boxes of cut-up chicken to them every day.

[bobthetvfan]

KFC came to Raleigh in 1963; Pete Rinaldi had the franchise for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area and he had the best KFC I've ever eaten. He was a stickler for following the Colonel's recipes. A few years later, when KFC bought out practically all the franchises, Rinaldi opened a new place in Durham and the Colonel actually came down for the grand opening! Coincidentally, his Raleigh franchise opened at around the same time the Colonel appeared on "What's My Line?" and became nationally famous. BTW, I've eaten at Claudia Sanders' Dinner House twice and I can assure you that the chicken tastes the way the Colonel meant for it to taste. If you''re ever in Kentucky and have never eaten there, it's located just off I-64 in Shelbyville; the house he lived in is next door to the restaurant but is not open to the public since someone else lives there.

[deboralee]

the highway was moved, affecting Sanders' business. shades of the Bates Motel's history.