Wink Martindale, the veteran TV and radio host, has died, his family has announced.
Martindale, who was best known for hosting “Tic-Tac-Dough” and “Gambit,” was 91 when he passed away.
Born Winston Conrad Martindale on Dec. 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee, Martindale is credited with setting up Elvis Presley’s first interview.
The interview came together after Memphis radio station WHBQ played Presley’s debut recording “That’s All Right Mama” on July 10, 1954.
Martindale broke into television at WHBQ-TV in Memphis.
At the station, he hosted “Mars Patrol,” a science fiction-themed show for children.
He also hosted “Teenage Dance Party,” where he interviewed Elvis on June 16, 1956.
His first game show was NBC’s “What’s This Song?” (1964-1965), followed by NBC’s “Words and Music,” CBS’s “Gambit,” and his most famous game show, “Tic-Tac-Dough.”
Martindale also had success as a recording artist, selling more than one million copies of the spoken-word narrative song “Deck of Cards” in 1959.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
Martindale was transferred to Los Angeles to host KHJ in 1959.
He then moved between different stations in the region for decades.
He was a host on Gene Autry’s KMPC (now KSPN) for 12 years.
Martindale got his start in show business as a teenage disc jockey in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee.
At the time, he was earning just $25 a week.
He later moved up to WHBQ, where he met the King of Rock and Roll.
It was Martindale’s WHBQ colleague, Dewey Phillips, who introduced Presley to listeners by playing “That’s All Right, Mama” on his nighttime show “Red, Hot, and Blue.”
As Martindale would later recall, it was his job to call Presley’s mother to set up an interview.
Elvis was so nervous about the excitement generated by the song that he had gone to the movie theater.
During an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2018, Martindale recalled:
“They found him sitting there by himself and brought him to the station.
“Dewey put him in front of a microphone and just started talking to him.
“So I met Elvis that night.
“He became my friend and he continued to be my friend until the day he died.”
Martindale and Presley became good friends.
One of the singer’s former girlfriends, Sandy, became Martindale’s second wife in 1975.
She was at his side when he died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, on Tuesday.
Martindale also hosted annual telethons for Cerebral Palsy and St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
He is survived by his wife Sandra, his daughters Lisa, Lyn, and Laura, his sister Geraldine, and his “honorary son,” Eric.
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