Game show veteran Wink Martindale died on Tuesday (April 15), The Associated Press reports. He was 91.
Brian Mayes, Martindale’s publicist, informed the outlet that he died in Rancho Mirage, California. Though Martindale had been fighting lymphoma for a year, Mayes told the AP that he “was doing pretty well up until a couple weeks ago.”
Per Deadline, a spokesperson for his family released a statement in which they shared that he was “surrounded by family and his beloved wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale” when he passed this week.
Martindale, who was born Winston Conrad Martindale on Dec. 4, 1933, kicked off his career in radio, and eventually transitioned to television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the Tennessee native’s early work on Memphis’ WHBQ included helping arrange an interview with Elvis Presley in 1954 following the radio debut of “That’s All Right.” Presley would later make an appearance in 1956 on Top Ten Dance Party, a TV show hosted by Martindale in Memphis.
He began his game show hosting tenure on What’s This Song?, which aired on NBC in the 1960s, per Deadline. Among the other shows he hosted were Gambit, Tic-Tac-Dough, Headline Chasers, High Rollers, Trivial Pursuit, and How’s Your Mother-in-Law?
Martindale, who also became a game show producer, earned credits on TV shows such as The Jetsons, Equal Justice, Hercules, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Hilton Head Island over the course of his career. Among his other accomplishments are his 2000 memoir titled Winking at Life and his 2006 induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, per THR.
The Game Show Network shared a tribute in honor of Martindale on X on Tuesday, writing that “his charm and presence lit up the screen for generations of viewers and he will never be forgotten.” Ben Stiller also thanked Martindale for his work, writing, “A television institution for so many years. What a true pro game show host.”
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