Bob Carter, who either frightened or amused several generations of local, late-night TV watchers with his ghoulish “Sammy Terry” character, died Sunday, a spokesman for American Senior Communities confirmed.
Carter, 83, had been a resident of one of the retirement communities for several years.
For nearly three decades, from 1962 to 1989, Carter, decked out in a sort of Dracula getup, introduced Bela Lugosi-era horror movies on WTTV Channel 4’s “Nightmare Theater.” He began each show by climbing out of a coffin wearing a dark cape and skull cap and chuckling fiendishly.
Growing up, we used to watch Nightmare Theater whenever we could. I remember the last time I saw Sammy on TV was more than a decade ago when he was hosting a showing of Night of the Living Dead one Halloween as a special.
