PITTSBURGH – Bill Cardille, known to a generation of the region’s television watchers as “Chilly Billy,” has died, according to a post on his daughter’s Facebook page.

Lori Cardille reported her father died at home, peacefully, at the age of 87 after a battle with cancer. Thousands of responses were sent to Cardille in his final days after his daughter asked fans to consider sending him cards telling him what he meant to them.

Cardille, according to a comment from WPXI-TV’s general manager Ray Carter on the station’s website today, was the first voice viewers heard when WPXI signed on the air as WIIC-TV, Channel 11, on Sept. 1, 1957.

Cardille worked in those early days with Steubenville’s Charles “Red” Donley, and reports say it was Donley’s son who tagged Cardille with the “Chilly Billy” moniker.

From the opening strains of the theme song, “Experiment in Terror, ” written by Henry Mancini and played by Al Caiola, viewers knew it was 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, “Chiller Theater” time, when a cast of characters, including Steubenville’s “Stormin'” Norman Elder, would take to the studio with comic bits between segments of campy, scary movies until late in the night.

From the Pittsburgh Midget to Terminal Stare, the characters would keep viewers entertained and tuned in, week after week. Cardille’s show spawned an ultimate imitator when Pittsburgh native Joe Flaherty played his “Monster Chiller Horror Theater” sketches on Second City TV’s popular 1970s comedy show.

“Chiller Theater” aired from Sept. 14, 1963, to Jan. 1, 1984. Celebrities who made their way to Pittsburgh would appear on the show, including Barbara Feldon (who was born in Butler, Pa., and portrayed Agent 99 on the “Get Smart” TV series), to poet Rod McKuen, Lorne Greene, Vincent Price and local hero and pro wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino.

Cardille also was known as the host of “Studio Wrestling,” which aired earlier on Saturday evenings, providing the roots of what eventually became today’s WWE.

WPXI said Sammartino was Cardille’s friend for more than 50 years and quoted him as saying, “Nobody was better than Bill. This guy could do everything. I love him like a brother. You can’t help it.”

Cardille indeed showed he could do anything, hosting the WPXI segments of the annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon for 37 years, all 24 hours without relief.

He was the station’s weather reporter, had a cameo role in George Romero’s horror classic, “Night of the Living Dead” and radio announcer.