Legendary Game Show Host Wink Martindale Dead at 91

Legendary game show host Wink Martindale has died.

Martindale, who hosted hit game shows like Tic-Tac-Dough and High Rollers throughout his decades-long career in TV and radio, passed away Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, California on Tuesday at the age of 91, according to a press release.

“Wink Martindale, the legendary radio and television icon, died in Rancho Mirage, California on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at the age of 91,” a statement confirming his death read. “The king of game shows who was perhaps best known for hosting the beloved Tic-Tac-Dough and Gambit, had a remarkable 74-year career. He was surrounded by family and his beloved wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale.”

Born Winston Conrad “Wink” Martindale in Jackson, Tennessee on Dec. 4, 1933, Martindale began his career in show business as a disc jockey at the age of 17 and went on to work at WHBQ radio station in Memphis, where on July 10, 1954, fellow DJ Dewey Phillip played Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right” on the radio for the very first time. The demand for the song was so overwhelming that Phillip played the song on repeat as Martindale phoned Presley’s mother to request the singer visit the station, leading to his first interview.

It was while he was still at WHBQ that Martindale first broke into television as the host of Mars Patrol, a science-fiction themed children’s television series that he led from 1953 until 1955. He later hosted Teenage Dance Party, on which Presley made an appearance on June 16, 1956, before making his way into the world of game shows with his first game-show hosting job on NBC’s What’s This Song?, a role he held from 1964 until 1965. He followed it with hosting gigs on NBC’s Words and Music, CBS’ Gambit, hosting the show’s original run through 1976 and later appearing on a Las Vegas spinoff on NBC in the early ‘80s, and Tic-Tac-Dough, and later popular game shows including High Rollers, The Last Word, The Great Getaway Game, Trivial Pursuit, Debt, Instant Recall, and Headline Chasers, the latter of which he created and co-produced with Merv Griffin.

Throughout his career, Martindale also made appearances on shows including Most Outrageous Game Show Moments, The Chase, and The Bold and the Beautiful, and scored a pop hit in 1959 with his rendition of the song “The Deck of Card,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In addition to being one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame, Martindale in 2006 was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2024, he was honored with a Beale Street Note on Memphis, Tennessee’s Beale Street Walk of Fame.

Martindale is survived by his wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale; daughters Lisa, Lyn and Laura; honorary son Eric; sister Geraldine; several grandchildren and great grandchildren; and his beloved Chihuahua, Dude, per the release.