LOS ANGELES — Wink Martindale, the charismatic television personality whose name became nearly synonymous with American game shows during his decades-long career, died Sunday in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 91.
His death was announced by a family spokesperson, who said Martindale was “surrounded by family and his beloved wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale,” according to Deadline. No cause of death was specified.
Winston Conrad “Wink” Martindale’s 74-year career spanned both radio and television, beginning in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, where he started as a disc jockey at just 17 years old, Deadline reported.
Martindale played a small but significant role in rock and roll history while working at Memphis station WHBQ. On July 10, 1954, according to his family’s statement cited by Deadline, Martindale phoned Elvis Presley’s mother to invite the young singer to the station after fellow DJ Dewey Phillips played Presley’s debut record “That’s All Right” repeatedly on air. This led to Elvis’s first-ever radio interview, a moment the family described as one where “music was changed forever.”
Martindale himself achieved recording success with the spoken-word piece “Deck of Cards” in 1959, which reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million copies.
After relocating to Los Angeles in 1959, Martindale worked at several prominent radio stations including KHJ, KRLA, KFWB, and KMPC, building a substantial following as a radio personality before finding his true calling on television.
Though he had earlier television experience hosting local shows in Memphis, including “Teenage Dance Party” where Elvis Presley once appeared, Martindale’s national breakthrough came in 1964 when he began hosting NBC’s “What’s This Song?” This marked the beginning of a prolific game show hosting career that would include such popular programs as “Gambit” and his most notable success, “Tic-Tac-Dough.”
He went on to carry hosting duties on numerous other game shows including “High Rollers,” “Trivial Pursuit,” and “Debt,” Deadline noted. Martindale later became a producer as well, launching “Headline Chasers” in 1985 in association with Merv Griffin.
Throughout his career, Martindale received numerous honors including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and a Beale Street Note on Memphis’s Beale Street Walk of Fame in 2024. He was also among the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame.
Beyond his entertainment career, Martindale was known for his charitable work, hosting telethons for Cerebral Palsy and St. Jude Children’s Hospital, among other causes.
Martindale is survived by his wife Sandra, sister Geraldine, daughters Lisa, Lyn and Laura, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and an “honorary son” named Eric, according to Deadline.
