 |
|
Hip-hop entrepreneur Suge Knight
|
Terry Carter Worked in Troubled Boston in Late 1960s
The man whom Suge Knight is accused of running over with his truck Thursday in Los Angeles — killing him as Knight attempted to flee — was also the first black television anchor in Boston and one of the first in the nation. Terry Carter worked as an anchor at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1965 to 1968, interrupting a show- business career.
Carter, 86, was best known for his roles as Sgt. Joe Broadhurst on the seven-year TV series “McCloud” and as Colonel Tigh on the original “Battlestar Galactica.” He was also was “described by friends as a father figure in South Los Angeles who helped young men escape gang life” and a friend of Knight, according to Veronica Rocha, writing Friday in the Los Angeles Times.
” ‘Terry Carter was the founder and owner of Heavyweight Records and was devoted to steering young men away from a life of crime, said Darcell Carraway, who described himself as a longtime friend. He said Carter — known as ‘Pops’ to friends — even advised young people on how to invest money in legitimate businesses,” Rocha wrote.
While Carter spent most of his career in show business, he was also a television journalism pioneer. He reported during Boston’s school desegregation crisis of the 1960s, Sarah-Ann Shaw, a Boston broadcast legend who worked at WBZ from 1969 to 2000, told Journal-isms by telephone on Friday. “He was a nice guy. He did his job,” she said.
According to a biography on Carter’s website, “In 1965, walking up Broadway one day, Terry ran into a producer friend who suggested that he do a screen test for the position of TV newscaster. Although he had no journalistic background, he drew upon his 13 years of experience as an actor and landed the job: Terry Carter became world’s first black TV anchor newscaster, for WBZ-TV Eyewitness News in Boston, the Westinghouse flagship station, for the next 3 years. In addition to covering crime stories and ‘hard’ news, Terry became Boston TV’s first opening night drama and movie critic.
“Even though Terry was now a TV newscaster, he still maintained his relationship with the William Morris Agency.
“While summering in Rome in 1967, Terry was sent by the Morris Agency 
to meet Italian producer Dino deLaurentiis and avant-garde art film director Tinto Brass, who asked him to star in his movie, Nerosubianco (aka Black on White or Attraction), set in London. Since he was still a TV newscaster, Terry had to request of Westinghouse a 13-week leave of absence from his news anchor job, in order to work in the film. Although it was an unprecedented request for Westinghouse, he got it. Before long, he realized that his first love was acting. Once his three-year newsroom contract was up, he packed his bags and he and his wife moved to Hollywood, in search of greener pastures. . . .”
Rocha wrote, “Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials say Carter was struck and killed by Knight’s truck Thursday afternoon outside Tam’s Burgers near Central and East Rosecrans avenues in Compton.
“Authorities said the incident followed an argument on the set of a promo for the N.W.A. biopic ‘Straight Outta Compton.’ They said the argument might have spilled over to the popular burger stand.
“Witnesses told police the driver struck Carter and a second man with the truck, backed over them and drove off. Knight’s attorney James Blatt identified the second man as Cle ‘Bone’ Sloan. Sloan, an actor who appeared in ‘Training Day’ with Denzel Washington, was injured but survived.
“As the investigation unfolded, detectives named Knight, 49, as a person of interest and asked to speak with him. Alongside his attorneys, Knight surrendered early Friday.
“His attorney said Carter was trying to break up a fight, and his client fled because he feared for his life.
“Carter had been at the film shoot to support his friend, rapper Ice Cube, friends said.
“Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, and Carter worked on a soundtrack for the film ‘The Players Club. . . .’ ”
Carter was born John Everett DeCoste. His mother, Mercedes, was a native of the Dominican Republic, and his father, William DeCoste, was of Argentinian and African American descent. His television employer, WBZ, became “the first to have put a newswoman (Betty Adams) full-time on air and first to put a black reporter (Terry Carter, later to star in a network television series) full-time on air,” Bruce McCabe wrote for the Boston Globe in 1988, commemorating WBZ’s 40th anniversary.
Carter apparently worked as weekend anchor, according to a 1993 Globe story by Nathan Cobb about Jimmy Myers, who walked off the WBZ air in 1979. “Myers believes the station wasn’t willing to have a full-time black anchor (Terry Carter, a black news anchor at Channel 4 during the 1960s, also worked weekends), and his angry memories of the experience haven’t faded,” Myers wrote.
In 1983, the Globe’s Ed Siegel asked Carter whether he would return to Boston on a regular basis. “If the situation were right and I had the opportunity to produce some programming and be on the air,” Carter replied.
