Posted on 07/21/2016 11:39:28 AM PDT by Wolfie
Bill Cardille, Channel 11 icon and host of 'Chiller Theater', has died
Bill Cardille, the host of 'Chiller Theater', has died after a battle with cancer, according to a Facebook post by his daughter.
Lori Cardille wrote, "Our dear father, William Cardille, peacefully passed away early this morning in his home, with his family, where he wanted to be. My sister Marea, was reading him some of the letters that you all wrote to him. It meant so much to him. I knew it would. From the bottom of our hearts, my sister Marea, my brother Billy and our beautiful mother Louise, thank you. We will miss him terribly but take comfort in the fact that as he said, 'I am at peace. I had a wonderful life.' As he signed off on Chiller Theater he always said, 'Good night and sleep warm.' Sleep warm daddy."
Cardille was a Pittsburgh icon, a fixture on Channel 11 back when the call letters were WIIC.
“He is the very first voice anyone ever heard on our air when we signed on September 1, 1957,” said Ray Carter, WPXI general manager. “He is the fabric through all these decades. Sixty years of our history.”
Pittsburgh knew him best as “Chilly Billy”, the late-night host of Chiller Theater, who got families to stay up late on Saturday nights.
He would scare them with horror flicks and color commentary, always having a good time.
Cardille had his hands in everything at the television station. Before Chiller Theater, it was studio wresting. Wrestler Bruno Sammartino was Cardille’s friend for more than 50 years.
“I’m going to tell you something,” said Sammartino. “Nobody was better than Bill. This guy could do everything. I love him like a brother. You can’t help it.”
For 37 years, Cardille did it all at Channel 11. He hosted the Muscular Dystrophy telethon for 24 straight hours, all live. He gave Pittsburghers their daily weather. Ron Jaye was on the anchor desk with Bill in the early 1990’s.
“He was a delight to be around,” said Jaye. “Anytime people were around him, they tended to be happy. He’d walk in a room and everyone was happy. That was Bill Cardille.”
The city of Pittsburgh named a day after him: September 10, 2010.
“I admire him as a husband, and father,” said Carter. “When he gave back to the community, volunteered more hours than anybody in the history of this city.”
Chilly Billy: a great man, husband, father and television legend. Pittsburgh will miss you!
Not the slender, kind of mousy guy who hosted Friday Night at the Frights? Who was that? Bob something...
The guy who would be sitting in a theater setting with these two characters on either side kibitzing about the movie?
Chilleeeeeeeer!
I remember him from the sixties. He was a class act. The guy with the two characters was someone else.
No that was Mystery 3000
Many a teenage boy concluded that the best part of Chiller Theater was Donna Rae (Terminal Stare). http://myweb.wvnet.edu/e-gor/pittsburghhorrorhosts/grafix/terminalstare1.jpg
I wonder what she's like now.
“from the depths of man’s imagination”...
RIP.
Man that brings back memories.
In L.A. we had Larry "Seymour" Vincent.
Here in SO CAL we have Elvira I always like her LOL!
My father and my broher like her too for obvious reason LOL!
“In L.A. we had Larry “Seymour” Vincent.”
In Philadelphia, they had Dr. Shock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Shock He died way too young - at age 42, heart attack.
My God. Chiller theatre,haven’t seen that since I was six. Saw the original night of the living dead. Scared the living crap out of me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.