Wink Martindale, who was best known as host of Tic-Tac-Dough and Gambit , has died. He was 91. The iconic television host died “surrounded by family and his beloved wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale” at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
on Tuesday, April 15, according to a press release . Martindale began his career in show business as a disc jockey in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee at 17 years old. He went on to work at WHBQ radio station in Memphis.
After fellow DJ Dewey Phillips debuted Elvis Presley 's first record "That's All Right" on the radio on July 10, 1954, Martindale phoned the legendary singer’s mother to request Presley visit the station leading to the "Hound Dog" singer to come to WHBQ and do his first interview. “Wink was the last living witness to ‘Presleymania’ and the birth of Rock & Roll,” the press release states. Related: Paying Tribute to the Celebrities Who Have Died in 2025 “He was so nervous about his record being played on the air that he'd gone to the theater,” Martindale recalled of Presley’s visit during an interview with Television Academy Foundation in 2018.
“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.” He later moved to Los Angeles to host the morning show at KHJ before landing jobs at KRLA in 1959 and KFWB in 1962.
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