Harland Sanders

Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980), commonly known as Colonel Sanders, was an American entrepreneur and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). He later acted as the company's brand ambassador and symbol. His name and image are still symbols of the company today.

Sanders held a number of jobs in his early life, such as being a steam engine stoker, insurance salesman, and filling station operator. He began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. During that time, Sanders developed his "secret recipe" and his patented method of cooking chicken in a pressure fryer. Sanders recognized the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first KFC franchise opened in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952. When his original restaurant closed, he devoted himself full-time to franchising his fried chicken throughout the country.

The company's rapid expansion across the United States and overseas became overwhelming for the aging Sanders. In 1964, then 73 years old, he sold the company to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey for US$2 million (equivalent to $20.8 million in 2025). He retained control of operations in Canada, and he became a salaried brand ambassador for Kentucky Fried Chicken. In his later years, he became highly critical of the food served at KFC restaurants and the cost-cutting measures that he said reduced its quality, referring to the gravy they made as "God-damned slop" with a "wallpaper taste".

Harland David Sanders was born on September 9, 1890, in a four-room house located 3 miles (5 km) east of Henryville, Indiana. He was the oldest of three children born to Wilbur David and Margaret Ann (née Dunlevy) Sanders. His mother was of Irish and Dutch descent. The family attended the Advent Christian Church. His father was a mild and affectionate man who worked his 80-acre (32 ha) farm until he broke his leg in a fall. He then worked as a butcher in Henryville for two years. Sanders's mother was a devout Christian and strict parent, continually warning her children of "the evils of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and whistling on Sundays".

Sanders's father died in 1895. His mother got work in a tomato cannery, and the young Harland was left to look after and cook for his siblings. By the age of seven, in 1897, he was reportedly skilled with bread and vegetables, and improving with meat. The children foraged for food while their mother was away at work for days at a time. In 1899, his mother married Edward Park, but according to the 1900 census, his mother was widowed again. When he was 10, in 1900, Sanders began to work as a farmhand.

In 1902, Sanders's mother married William Broaddus and the family moved to Greenwood, Indiana. Sanders had a tumultuous relationship with his stepfather. In 1903, at age 12, he dropped out of seventh grade, later stating that "algebra's what drove [him] off", and went to live and work on a nearby farm. At age 13, he left home and took a job painting horse carriages in Indianapolis. When he was 14, he moved to southern Indiana to work as a farmhand again.

In 1906, with his mother's approval, Sanders left the area to live with his uncle in New Albany, Indiana. His uncle worked for the streetcar company, and secured Sanders a job as a conductor.

In October 1906, age 16, Sanders falsified his date of birth and enlisted in the United States Army. He served as a wagoner (see teamster) in Cuba, and was awarded the Cuban Pacification Medal (Army). In February 1907, he was honorably discharged and moved to Sheffield, Alabama, where his uncle lived. There, he met his brother Clarence, who had also moved there in order to escape their stepfather.

After being recommissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, growing a goatee and wearing a black frock coat (later switching to a white suit) and a black ribbon bow tie, and referring to himself as "Colonel". His associates went along with the title change, "jokingly at first and then in earnest", according to biographer Josh Ozersky.

He never wore anything else in public during the last 20 years of his life, using a heavy wool suit in the winter and a light cotton suit in the summer. He bleached his mustache and goatee to match his white hair.

Sanders was diagnosed with acute leukemia in June 1980. He died at Jewish Hospital in Louisville of pneumonia six months later, on December 16, at the age of 90. Sanders had remained active until the month before his death, appearing in his white suit to crowds.

His body was laid in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort after a funeral service at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Chapel, which was attended by more than 500 people. His body was also displayed in an open casket during a memorial service that was held at KFC's headquarters in Louisville; about 1,000 to 1,200 people attended the service. Sanders was buried in his characteristic white suit and black western string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

His wife, Claudia, died on December 31, 1996, at the age of 94.

By the time of Sanders's death, there were an estimated 6,000 KFC outlets in 48 countries worldwide, with $2 billion in sales annually.

A fictionalized Colonel Sanders has repeatedly appeared as a mascot in KFC's advertising and branding. Sanders has been voiced by impressionists in radio ads, and from 1998 to 2001 an animated version of him voiced by Randy Quaid appeared in television commercials.

In May 2015, KFC brought the Colonel Sanders character back in new television advertisements, played by comedian Darrell Hammond. Some commentators felt the new portrayal was distasteful and disrespectful of the actual man's legacy.

In August 2015, KFC launched a new campaign, this time with comedian Norm Macdonald portraying Sanders; the first ad of the campaign makes direct reference to the Hammond campaign, with a brief piece of footage of Hammond followed by Macdonald's Colonel declaring his predecessor an impostor.

In February 2016, yet another portrayal was introduced with Jim Gaffigan as the Colonel, shown bolting awake in bed and telling his wife about his recurring nightmare of Macdonald's Colonel "pretending to be me".

By July 2016, George Hamilton was playing Colonel Sanders, parlaying his famous tan into an advertisement for KFC's "extra crispy" chicken.