Wink Martindale, the genial host of such hit recreation exhibits as Gambit and Tic-Tac-Dough who additionally did one of many first recorded tv interviews with a younger Elvis Presley, has died. He was 91.
Martindale died Tuesday at Eisenhower Well being in Rancho Mirage, based on his publicist Brian Mayes. Martindale had been battling lymphoma for a 12 months.
“He was doing fairly properly up till a pair weeks in the past,” Mayes stated by cellphone from Nashville.
Gambit debuted on the identical day in September 1972 as The Value is Proper with Bob Barker and The Joker’s Wild with Jack Barry.
“From the day it hit the air, Gambit spelled winner, and it taught me a fundamental tenant of any really profitable recreation present: KISS! Preserve It Easy Silly,” Martindale wrote in his 2000 memoir Winking at Life. “Like taking part in Outdated Maids as a child, everyone is aware of methods to play 21, i.e. blackjack.”
Gambit had been beating its competitors on NBC and ABC for over two years. However a brand new present debuted in 1975 on NBC known as Wheel of Fortune. By December 1976, Gambit was off the air and Wheel of Fortune grew to become an establishment that’s nonetheless going robust as we speak.
Martindale bounced again in 1978 with Tic-Tac-Dough, the basic Xs and Os recreation on CBS that ran till 1985.
“In a single day I had gone from the outhouse to the penthouse,” he wrote.
He presided over the 88-game successful streak of navy Lt. Thom McKee, who earned over $300,000 US in money and prizes that included eight automobiles, three sailboats and 16 trip journeys. On the time, McKee’s winnings had been a report for a recreation present contestant.
“I really like working with contestants, interacting with the viewers and to a level, watching lives change,” Martindale wrote. “Successful a variety of money could cause that to occur.”
Martindale wrote that producer Dan Enright as soon as instructed him that within the seven years he hosted Tic-Tac-Dough he gave away over $7 million US in money and prizes.
Radio beginnings
Martindale stated his a few years as a radio DJ had been useful to him as a recreation present host as a result of radio requires fixed ad-libs and he discovered to deal with nearly any state of affairs within the spur of the second. He estimated that he hosted practically two dozen recreation exhibits throughout his profession.
Martindale wrote in his memoir that the query he bought requested most frequently was “Is Wink your actual title?” The second was “How did you get into recreation exhibits?”
All the Recreation Present Community household mourns the lack of Wink Martindale, the host of the unique “Tic-Tac-Dough” and a real legend of tv recreation exhibits. His attraction and presence lit up the display for generations of viewers and he won’t ever be forgotten. pic.twitter.com/DNqLToCv5r
He bought his nickname from a childhood good friend. Martindale is not any relation to College of Michigan defensive co-ordinator Don Martindale, whose faculty teammates nicknamed him Wink due to their shared final title.
Born Winston Conrad Martindale on Dec. 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tenn., he beloved radio since childhood and at age 6 would learn aloud the contents of commercials in Life journal.
He started his profession as a disc jockey at age 17 at WPLI in his hometown, incomes $25 every week.
After transferring to WTJS, he was employed away for double the wage by Jackson’s solely different station, WDXI. He subsequent hosted mornings at WHBQ in Memphis whereas attending Memphis State. He was married and the daddy of two ladies when he graduated in 1957.
Interview with Elvis
Martindale was within the studio, though not working on-air that night time, when the primary Presley report That is All Proper was performed on WHBQ on July 8, 1954.
Martindale approached fellow DJ Dewey Phillips, who had given Presley an early break by taking part in his tune, to ask him and Presley to do a joint interview on Martindale’s TV present Prime Ten Dance Occasion in 1956. By then, Presley had change into a serious star and agreed to the looks.
Martindale and Presley stayed in contact every so often by the years, and in 1959 he did a trans-Atlantic phone interview with Presley, who was within the Military in Germany. Martindale’s second spouse, Sandy, briefly dated Presley after assembly him on the set of G.I. Blues in 1960.
In 1959, Martindale moved to Los Angeles to host a morning present on KHJ. That very same 12 months he reached No. 7 on the Billboard Scorching 100 chart with a canopy model of Deck of Playing cards, which bought over 1 million copies. He carried out the spoken phrase wartime story with spiritual overtones on The Ed Sullivan Present.
“I might simply have thought, ‘Wow, that is straightforward! I come out right here, go on radio and TV, make a report and everyone desires to purchase it!” he wrote. “Even when I entertained such ideas, they quickly dissipated. I discovered in due time that what had occurred to me was removed from the odd.”
A 12 months later he moved to the morning present at KRLA and to KFWB in 1962. Amongst his many different radio gigs had been two separate stints at KMPC, owned by actor Gene Autry.
RIP Wink Martindale.
I met Wink at Casey Kasem’s memorial in 2014. I instructed him my mom in regulation was on Tic Tac Dough, and nonetheless makes use of the forged iron pan she received.
In full recreation present voice, he stated you Danny, we actually did have some fabulous items and prizes. 
pic.twitter.com/UTE7CBPn2T
His first community internet hosting job was on NBC’s What’s This Music? the place he was credited as Win Martindale from 1964-65.
He later hosted two Chuck Barris-produced exhibits on ABC: Dream Lady ’67 and How’s Your Mom-in-Legislation? The latter lasted simply 13 weeks earlier than being cancelled.
“I’ve jokingly stated it got here and went so quick, it appeared extra like 13 minutes!” Martindale wrote, explaining that it was the worst present of his profession.
Martindale later hosted a Las Vegas-based revival of Gambit from 1980-81.
He shaped his personal manufacturing firm, Wink Martindale Enterprises, to develop and produce his personal recreation exhibits. His first enterprise was Headline Chasers, a co-production with Merv Griffin that debuted in 1985 and was cancelled after one season. His subsequent present, “Bumper Stumpers,” ran on U.S. and Canadian tv from 1987-1990.
He hosted Debt from 1996-98 on Lifetime cable and Instantaneous Recall on GSN in 2010.
Martindale returned to his radio roots in 2012 as host of the nationally syndicated The 100 Best Christmas Hits of All Time. In 2021, he hosted syndicated program The Historical past of Rock `n’ Roll.
In 2017, Martindale appeared in a KFC advert marketing campaign with actor Rob Lowe.
He’s survived by Sandy, his second spouse of 49 years, and youngsters Lisa, Madelyn, Laura and Wink Jr. They’re from his first marriage which led to divorce in 1972.
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