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Robert ("Bob") Carter (born 1929) is a television personality who appeared mostly on local television affiliate WTTV in Indianapolis, Indiana, regularly during the 1960s and 1970s, and sporadically after that. Carter was best known for his portrayal of horror host Sammy Terry, which is a play on the word "cemetery." The format of Carter's Nightmare Theater usually involved the showing of two films. During the commercial breaks, Carter, as "Sammy Terry," would engage in camp banter with the audience and his floating rubber spider, "George." This banter often included some commentary on the films being shown, which included classic films as well as many less-than-stellar productions common to the horror film era of the 1930s through the early 1960s.
Carter is a native of Decatur, Illinois and a graduate of Decatur University; he majored in radio communications. After receiving a master's degree from Syracuse University, Carter worked as a disc jockey at a Fort Wayne, Indiana radio station owned by Sarkes Tarzian. In 1961 he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and filled a number of positions at Tarzian's WTTV as producer, director and performer, including the hosting, for a time, of a three-hour morning talk show called Coffee with Carter.
The still relatively new medium of television provided a means for classic films to generate revenue, and as part of that, Universal Studios packaged a set of more than fifty films as part of a "shock theater" package that was shown by many television stations across the country, usually as late-night fare. When WTTV purchased the set of films, which had been rejected by local CBS affiliate WISH-TV, Carter was chosen as the host of the new program. Carter's Shock Theater originally included only still photographs punctuated by voice-over narration during the commercial breaks. Over time, the popularity of the voice-overs with viewers and sponsors inspired Carter and his producers to develop the character of "Sammy Terry" as an on-air personality—a cloaked, pale-faced ghoul who rose from his coffin on Friday nights, laughed ominously, introduced and occasionally berated the films, and provided commercial-break entertainment. Renamed Nightmare Theater and with the banter mostly ad-libbed, the show and Carter's portrayal of "Sammy Terry" won him a large-scale following in the region, which allowed him to be ranked with other horror hosts of the era who operated out of much larger broadcast markets.
During the 1980s, the old shows were rebroadcast at mid-day.
Carter's son. Mark Carter, continues to make frequent appearances as "Sammy Terry" and remains a popular figure in the central Indiana region. Mark Carter, as the character Sammy Terry, made a cameo appearance in the upcoming comedy-horror feature length movie Creeporia.[1]
Sammy Terry made a return for a Halloween special that aired on October 31, 2011 on WTTV.[2]
Anonymous. (1961). Profile: Bob Carter, he chatters continuously on WTTV. The Indianapolis Times, November 24, 1961.
Watson, E. (1991). Television Horror Movie Hosts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.