Wink Martindale, the genial host of such hit game shows as “Gambit” and “Tic-Tac-Dough,” who also did one of the first recorded television interviews with a young Elvis Presley, has died. He was 91.
Martindale died on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, California, according to his publicist Brian Mayes. Martindale had been battling lymphoma for a year. “He was doing pretty well up until a couple weeks ago,” Mayes said by phone from Nashville.
Born Winston Conrad Martindale on December 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee, he developed a passion for radio at a young age. At just 17, he began his career as a disc jockey at WPLI in Jackson, earning $25 a week. His early love for entertainment led him to Memphis, where he became a prominent radio personality.
Martindale's big break came in July 1954, when he was at WHBQ in Memphis. It was there that fellow DJ Dewey Phillips played Elvis Presley’s first record, “That’s All Right,” for the very first time. The excitement surrounding the song prompted Martindale to invite Presley to the station for his first interview. This early encounter with the King of Rock and Roll marked the beginning of a legendary career in entertainment.
After his success in radio, Martindale transitioned to television, hosting his first show, “Mars Patrol,” at WHBQ-TV in Memphis in 1955. He later became the host of “Teenage Dance Party,” where he famously interviewed Presley in 1956.
Martindale's game show career took off in the mid-1960s when he hosted NBC’s “What’s This Song?” He later hosted several popular game shows, including “Words and Music,” “Gambit,” and his most significant success, “Tic-Tac-Dough.” “Gambit” debuted in September 1972, airing alongside “The Price is Right” and “The Joker’s Wild.”
Despite the initial success of “Gambit,” the show was eventually overshadowed by the debut of “Wheel of Fortune” in 1975, leading to “Gambit” going off the air by December 1976. However, Martindale bounced back in 1978 with “Tic-Tac-Dough,” which ran until 1985 and became a staple of American television. During his tenure, Navy Lt. Thom McKee achieved an impressive 88-game winning streak, earning over $300,000 in cash and prizes, a record at the time.
Martindale’s charm and ability to connect with contestants made him a beloved figure in television. He once reflected, “I love working with contestants, interacting with the audience and to a degree, watching lives change. Winning a lot of cash can cause that to happen.” His hosting career spanned decades, during which he presided over 21 different game shows, including “Headline Chasers,” “High Rollers,” and “Debt.”
In addition to his game show success, Martindale found fame as a recording artist. In 1959, he released a spoken-word rendition of “Deck of Cards,” which climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over a million copies. He performed the piece on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” further solidifying his status in the entertainment industry.
Martindale's contributions to television and radio were recognized with numerous accolades. In 2006, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2024, he was honored with a Beale Street Note on Memphis’s Beale Street Walk of Fame. He was also one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame.
His personal life was equally rich; Martindale was married to his second wife, Sandy, for 49 years. He is survived by his wife, sister Geraldine, daughters Lisa, Lyn, and Laura, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son, Wink Jr., from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1972.
Martindale's legacy as a television icon and a pioneer in the game show genre endures, and his contributions to the entertainment world will not be forgotten. As he once noted in his memoir, “From the day it hit the air, ‘Gambit’ spelled winner, and it taught me a basic tenant of any truly successful game show: KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid.” His ability to engage audiences through simple yet captivating games will remain a hallmark of his career.
