{"id":400663,"date":"2026-01-11T07:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/400663\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T07:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T07:48:16","slug":"veteran-actor-t-k-carter-known-for-the-thing-and-punky-brewster-dies-at-69-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/400663\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran actor T.K. Carter, known for &#8216;The Thing&#8217; and &#8216;Punky Brewster,&#8217; dies at 69"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">DUARTE, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Veteran actor T.K. Carter, who appeared in the horror film \u201cThe Thing\u201d and \u201cPunky Brewster\u201d on television, has died at the age of 69.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Carter was declared dead Friday evening after deputies responded to a call regarding an unresponsive male in Duarte, California, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Police did not disclose a cause of death or other details, but said no foul play was suspected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thomas Kent \u201cT.K.\u201d Carter was born Dec. 18, 1956, in New York City and was raised in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He began his career in stand-up comedy and with acting roles. Carter had been acting for years before a breakthrough role as Nauls the cook in John Carpenter&#8217;s 1982 horror classic, \u201cThe Thing.\u201d He also had a recurring role in the 1980s sitcom \u201cPunky Brewster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Other big-screen roles include \u201cRunaway Train\u201d in 1985, \u201cSki Patrol\u201d in 1990 and \u201cSpace Jam\u201d in 1996.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cT.K. Carter was a consummate professional and a genuine soul whose talent transcended genres,\u201d his publicist, Tony Freeman, said in a statement. \u201cHe brought laughter, truth, and humanity to every role he touched. His legacy will continue to inspire generations of artists and fans alike.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUARTE, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Veteran actor T.K. Carter, who appeared in the horror film \u201cThe Thing\u201d and \u201cPunky&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,73302,56538,193167,193046,193366],"class_list":{"0":"post-400663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-john-carpenter","11":"tag-los-angeles-county-sheriffs-department","12":"tag-punky-brewster","13":"tag-t-k-carter","14":"tag-thomas-kent"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}