Wink Martindale is the popular game show host on “Tic-Tac Dough” and more people die in 91
Wink Martindale, a radio figure who became a TV star on game shows such as “gambit” and “tic-tac-dough” in the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s, and died Tuesday at Rancho Mirage, California.
The Nashville propaganda team, who represented him, announced his death in a statement.
Mr. Martindale is a veteran of the Game Show Tour, and has been involved in more than 20 shows as a producer or host.
His first competition show in 1964 was “What is this song,” where contestants paired with celebrities to identify cash prizes for music. The show and many other shows he tried were short-lived.
“Gambit” is based on the card game Blackjack, while “Tic-Tac Dough” combines trivia with the classic puzzle game TIC-TAC-TOE. In “debt”, the prize is the main focus: the contestant will carry a bill with a credit card, a car payment or a student loan, which will be paid off if a series of questions are answered correctly.
As a singer, Mr. Martindale recorded about 20 singles and seven albums. His 1959 narrative recording of his speech, “Cards”, sold over a million copies, earning him the Golden Records, a designation by the American Recording Industry Association to sell 500,000 copies or more. “Ball Cards” also brought him an appearance on the Ed Sullivan variety show, telling the story of a young American soldier in North Africa who was arrested and charged with playing cards while serving in a church.
Mr. Martindale won a star on the Hollywood Celebrity Tour in 2006 and was one of the earliest inductees in the American Television Game Hall of Fame in 2007.
He attributes his success to his unique nickname.
When I was a kid, one of my playmates, Jimmy McCord, couldn’t say ‘Winston’, it was my name, he had speech barriers and it sounded like ‘Winky’, Mr. Martindale told ABC News in 2014.
Winston Conrad Martindale was born on December 4, 1933 in Jackson, James A. and Francis M. (Mitchell) Martindale. After graduating from high school in 1951, he attended Memphis State College (now the University of Memphis), where he boarded his first record jockey performance at a local station, earning $25 a week. He graduated with a degree in speech and theater.
“I think I’m born with a desire to be a broadcast announcer,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to sit behind a microphone. My first “microphone” was two paper cups on the rope. Soon after, I sat behind the real thing.”
Later, he took the WHBQ in Memphis, a powerful radio station in the south, where he especially helped live interviews with Elvis Presley, who after Presley’s first record was released, “It’s OK.” (The interview itself was conducted by DJ Dewey Phillips of the station).
Mr. Martindale moved to Los Angeles in 1959 and published on several radio stations in and around the city, including KMPC, then known as the Star Station, and was owned by “Singing Cowboys” and actor Gene Autry. Even when he was found on TV as the host of the game show, Mr. Martindale was the station’s noon personality from 12 years since 1971.
In 1954, his marriage to Madelyn Leech ended in 1971 with a divorce. They have four children, Lisa, Lynn, Laura and Little. Complete information about survivors is not immediately available.
