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Times
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Wink Martindale obituary: American TV game show host
Sometimes childhood names stick and so it was with Wink Martindale. In infancy, a young playmate had trouble saying his given name, Winston, and it came out as 'Winkie'. Shortened to Wink, he went on to use the name on his Top Ten hit Deck of Cards and throughout his long career as the king of American television game shows — with just one exception. When he took over his first in 1964, hosting NBC's What's This Song? the network decided 'Wink' sounded juvenile and billed him as Win Martindale. Common sense prevailed and for the 20 further game shows he went on to host he reverted to Wink. He joked that the name had served him well but that as long as he was
Express Tribune
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Wink Martindale, iconic host of 'Tic-Tac-Dough' and 'Gambit,' dies at 91
Wink Martindale, the legendary game show host known for classics like Tic-Tac-Dough, Gambit, and High Rollers, has died at the age of 91. The news was confirmed on Tuesday via his official Facebook page, with a tribute calling him 'amazing, funny and talented. Truly a LEGEND!' With a career spanning more than seven decades, Martindale was a major figure in both radio and television. He began his journey as a radio DJ at age 17, rising to prominence at Memphis station WHBQ. In 1954, he played a pivotal role in Elvis Presley's early career, calling Elvis' mother after hearing his debut track and helping arrange one of the singer's first interviews. Martindale also had a brief but successful music career of his own. His spoken-word single Deck of Cards reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. In the 1960s, he transitioned to television in Los Angeles, working with KHJ and several other major radio stations before landing his first TV hosting job in 1964 with What's This Song?. His game show career took off with hits like Gambit, Words and Music, and Tic-Tac-Dough, where his charm and signature voice made him a household name. He also hosted other shows including The Last Word, Headline Chasers, Trivial Pursuit, and The Great Getaway Game, cementing his legacy as a staple of American game show history. Martindale is remembered as a pioneering entertainer who helped define a genre that captivated generations.
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Wink Martindale, Popular and Durable Game Show Host, Dies at 91
Wink Martindale, a radio personality who became a television star as a dapper and affable host of game shows like 'Gambit' and 'Tic-Tac-Dough' in the 1970s and '80s and 'Debt' in the '90s, died on Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 91. Nashville Publicity Group, which represented him, announced his death in a statement. A veteran of the game show circuit, Mr. Martindale was involved in more than 20 shows, either as a producer or host. His first game show, in 1964, was 'What's This Song,' in which contestants paired with celebrities to identify tunes for cash prizes. The show was short-lived, as were many others he experimented with. 'Gambit' was based on the card game blackjack, and 'Tic-Tac-Dough' combined trivia with the classic puzzle game tic-tac-toe. In 'Debt,' the prize was the main focus: Contestants would arrive with bills for credit cards, car payments or student loans, which would be paid off if they answered a series of questions correctly. As a vocalist, Mr. Martindale recorded about 20 single records and seven albums. His 1959 spoken-voice narrative recording, 'Deck of Cards,' sold more than a million copies, earning him a gold record, a designation by the Recording Industry Association of America for records that sold 500,000 copies or more. 'Deck of Cards' also brought him an appearance on the Ed Sullivan variety show, where he told the tale of a young American soldier in North Africa who is arrested and charged with playing cards during a church service. Mr. Martindale received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007. He credited some of his success to his distinctive nickname. 'When I was a kid in Jackson, Tenn., one of my playmates, Jimmy McCord, couldn't say 'Winston,' which is my given name, and he had a speech impediment, and it came out sounding like 'Winky,'' Mr. Martindale told ABC News in 2014. 'So Winston turned into Winky, and then I got into the business and Wink! It served me well, and I just kept Wink all these years.' Winston Conrad Martindale was born in Jackson on Dec. 4, 1933, to James A. and Frances M. (Mitchell) Martindale. After graduating from high school in 1951, he attended Memphis State College (now the University of Memphis), where he landed his first disc jockey gig at a local station, where he was paid $25 a week. He graduated with a degree in speech and drama. 'I think that I was born with a desire to be a radio announcer,' he was quoted as saying. 'I always had that great desire to sit behind a microphone. My first 'mic' was two paper cups attached to a string. It wasn't long before I was sitting behind the real thing.' He later ascended to WHBQ in Memphis, a powerhouse station in the South, where in 1954 he notably secured an on-air interview with Elvis Presley — by calling his mother — after the release of Presley's first record, 'That's All Right.' Mr. Martindale moved to Los Angeles in 1959 and was featured on several radio stations in and around that city, including KMPC, which was known then as the 'Station of the Stars,' owned by the 'singing cowboy' and actor Gene Autry. Even after finding his calling in television as a game show host, Mr. Martindale was the station's midday personality for 12 years starting in 1971. His marriage in 1954 to Madelyn Leech ended in divorce in 1971. They had four children, Lisa, Lyn, Laura and Wink Jr. He married Sandra Ferra, who survives him, in 1975. Mr. Martindale also had a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
