Zacherley “The Cool” Ghoul

Interview by Corpsy

Photos courtesy of Zacherley

G&C: Zacherley, you’ve led an incredibly varied life: you were an actor in films and television, a recording star, a disc jockey and you were the most indelible horror host in television history as both Roland and Zacherley “The Cool” Ghoul. So do you ever dust off Zacherley and scare the neighbors?

Z: I don’t scare people anymore. I don’t know that I ever scared... yeah, I guess I did. [laughter]

G&C: Shock Theater started in 1957, the beginning of TV horror hosts. You played a deliciously ghoulish character pronounced Ro-LAND, who resided in a crypt with your corpse wife and your son Gasport whom you kept in a burlap bag. What a great concept! Were you the first TV horror host?

Z:  Oh no, no, this happened all over the country. A lot of people had the idea of showing the films and having a host.

G&C: But none as magnificently as you. How did you come up with the look for Roland? He reminded me a bit of the Phantom of The Opera.

Z:  The makeup people were trying to make Roland look like Dracula. And I was not aware of what Dracula, Bela Lugosi, looked like.

Read the rest of this horrifying interview in Girls and Corpses Magazine. Order now here.