In 1956, a young disc jockey on a Memphis dance show interviewed a local singer named Elvis Presley, one of the first television interviews Presley ever gave. The DJ was Wink Martindale, and he went on to become one of the best-known game show hosts in American television, presenting nearly two dozen shows over four decades. Martindale died on April 15, 2025, at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 91. His publicist, Brian Mayes, said he had been battling lymphoma for a year.
Memphis radio
Martindale was born Winston Conrad Martindale in Jackson, Tennessee, on December 4, 1933, and picked up his nickname as a child. He started in radio as a teenager and became a popular DJ in Memphis, hosting the television programme Top Ten Dance Party, where he met Presley. In 1959 he had a hit record himself with “Deck of Cards”, a spoken-word recitation about a soldier caught playing cards in church, which reached the top ten in America.
Gambit and Tic-Tac-Dough
He moved to Los Angeles and into game shows. Gambit, built around the card game blackjack, premiered on CBS in 1972 and ran until 1976. In 1978 he took over Tic-Tac-Dough, which became his signature show and ran until 1985. On it he presided over the winning streak of the Navy lieutenant Thom McKee, who won 88 games in 1980, a record for a game show contestant at the time. He also hosted High Rollers, Debt, Headline Chasers and others, and produced several shows himself.
Later years
Martindale’s background in radio, with its constant patter and timing, suited the fast pace of game shows, and he kept working in broadcasting into old age. He wrote a memoir, Winking at Life, in 2000 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
He was one of the last links between the early days of rock and roll radio and the golden age of American game shows, and he worked in both for more than sixty years.