TRANSYLVANIA TONIGHT

BASIL GRIMSBY (ROBERT KOKAI) - "DRAC"
STEPHANIE KOKAI (NEE YATES) - "COUNTESS CARITA"
MARK NASTOLD - "RENFIELD"
STEVEN MOORE - "JERRY VAN HELSING"

"Transylvania Tonight" is a hosted horror movie show with "Drac" and "Countess Carita" presenting movies on "The Monster Channel" from September 2019. They are assisted by Mark Nastold as "Renfield", and Steven Moore as "Jerry Van Helsing". Robert Kokai Robert is an established actor, having worked at Mammoth Pictures, Arkco Studios, Fulton Theatre, Playwrights Theater and Provincetown Players. He was also the host/narrator/voice actor at Mutual Radio Network. From 1987 until 1998, Robert was "Drac" on "The Frank and Drac Show" with Allen Christopher, who played "Frank". For more information on "The Frank and Drac Show" use the below link: For his work on the show, Robert was inducted into the "Horror Host Hall of Fame" in 2019, which lead to Robert being invited to produce and star in a new show on The Monster Channel - "Transylvania Tonight", appearing with Stefanie Yates. Stefanie Kokai (nee Yates) Stephanie enjoys old Hollywood and classic Hollywood films. When she is not watching them, she is writing or reading about them. On 22 March 2022, Robert and Stephanie married. In 2022, Robert and Stephanie - "Drac & Countess Carita" received an honorable mention in the 2021 category of Favorite Horror Host of the 20th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.

Steven Moore as Jerry Van Helsing Portraits of "Drac" and "Drac & Countess Carita" by Dave Dunlap. Portraits of "Countess Carita" and "Renfield" by Dave Dunlap.

Portrait of "Drac" by Bradley Beard.
"Drac" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)

He once landed a job as a Chippendale dancer. Tonight I present Drac, host of Transylvania tonight which began in September 2019 and airs on The Monster Channel. Drac (1431-1477), has had a long and storied career. As the Voivode of Wallachia, he was deposed... twice. He just couldn't hold a job. Toward the end of his natural life Drac became one of the undead, and ascended to become The King of the Vampires. Things began changing for Drac when a trip to London became the basis for a novel by Bram Stoker. After the novel's publication, he retreated to his castle in Transylvania and remained there, a recluse, until being sought out and hired by Universal Studios in 1930 to act as an uncredited consultant on the motion picture Dracula. Drac remained in Hollywood through 1948 when the cycle of classic horror films came to an end. For several decades he wandered aimlessly across America. During a stint in Cleveland, OH, Drac found himself stranded and took a job as a custodian at WOIO-TV, Channel 19. After being at the station for a couple of weeks, he began hosting horror movies with his first show airing on Halloween night 1987. The show ran until June 1988 and is still a fan favorite today. After being inducted into the 2019 Horror Host Hall of Fame, Halloween Jack invited Drac to create a new show for The Monster Channel with his co-hostess, the lovely and multi-talented Countess Carita. He's currently enjoying his new found popularity and is often heard to say, "It's true! Life is better after 580!"

Portrait of "Countess Carita" by Bradley Beard.
"Countess Carita" - biography (taken from Bradley Beard's Facebook page)

She's known as The Darling of the Undead. Tonight I present Countess Carita, hostess of Transylvania Tonight which began in September 2019 and airs on The Monster Channel. She was raised on a farm in the hills of Northeast Kentucky. On the paternal side of her family she is a cousin two times removed from pioneering filmmaker D.W. Griffith. This relationship to Griffith, coupled with her love of all things old sparked her interest in early motion pictures. One evening while in self-imposed exile in Transylvania, Drac, The King of the Vampires, was scrolling through Facebook pages and spotted a photo of young Carita sporting a Bela Lugosi t-shirt. He gasped and exclaimed under his breath, "This woman must be mine!" A chance encounter was arranged where Drac was smitten, Carita was bitten, and they've been together ever since. After Drac got inducted into The Horror Host Hall of Fame and was asked to start hosting movies again, Carita convinced him to do it. Drac told her that if he did new shows, she would have to do them with him and the rest is history. In keeping with her great love for classic motion pictures, Carita takes great joy in arranging new musical scores for the silent films that are shown on Transylvania Tonight. Drac says, "I knew that Carita would be somebody that I could rely on as a co-hostess and partner. It was evident from all of the years that she spent on that farm that she had a strong work ethic; she had to be up at the crack of dawn every morning to go down to the barn and milk the horses and chickens!"

The following are some clips of Drac and the Countess from the show:

Transylvania Tonight hosted by Drac and Countess Carita (clips) from The Professor on Vimeo.