3 days Ago By Audrey Enjoli
Veteran emcee Winston “Wink” Martindale, who hosted more than a dozen game shows throughout his decades-long career, including “Tic-Tac-Dough,” “Gambit,” and “High Rollers,” has died at the age of 91. “Today we lost a legend,” Mayes wrote on Instagram. “We had some incredible adventures together.
.. including two unforgettable trips to NYC, and just last year, when we were honored to accompany him to Memphis where he received a note on the Beale Street Walk of Fame.
” Recalling their friendship, Brian Mayes noted that he and his wife, Jessica Mayes, had spoken to Martindale almost daily for the past 10 years. “To many, he was a radio and TV icon. To @jesmayes and I, he was family,” he penned.
“We love you, Wink. We will miss you very, very much.” The entrepreneur said the beloved game show host had been “doing pretty well” up until a couple of weeks ago, noting that he passed away at Eisenhower Health, a medical center in Rancho Mirage, California.
“From the time I was seven or eight, I began listening to the radio. My Sunday school teacher, Chick Wingate, also happened to run the little 250-watt station, WPLI. I remember saying to him at Sunday school, ‘Chick, when are you going to give me a job? I want to work at the station.
’ And he would put me off — until one night when I was 17, right out of high school.” During his time in Memphis, Martindale began hosting the children’s television program “Mars Patrol,” later helming a show called “Teenage Dance Party,” where he interviewed Elvis Presley early on in his career. Martindale told the Television Academy Foundation that he and the “Hound Dog” singer, who passed away in August 1977 at the age of 42, hit it off.
“He became my friend, and he continued to be my friend until the day he died,” the radio personality said. After moving to Los Angeles in 1959, Martindale began hosting a variety of morning radio shows before helming his first network game show, NBC’s “What’s This Song?” The disc jockey went on to host an array of game shows, including “Dream Girl ‘67,” “How’s Your Mother-in-Law?,” “Gambit,” “Tic-Tac-Dough,” “High Rollers,” “Trivial Pursuit,” and “Debt.” Martindale, who also founded his own production company, Wink Martindale Enterprises, chronicled his life in his 2000 memoir “Winking at Life.
” Speaking to the Television Academy Foundation, Martindale, whose career in broadcasting spanned more than 70 years, touched on what he enjoyed most about hosting game shows. “I like people, and you get to meet so many different people in the world of game shows,” he said. “I enjoy finding out what makes people tick.
As you play a game, you see why one person is more successful than another. But I just love working with people, and I love talking. I could sit here and talk all day.
” Martindale is survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Sandra, his three daughters, Lisa, Lyn, and Laura, and his sister, Geraldine..
