Born Winston Conrad Martindale and identified broadly by his nickname “Wink,” he turned a well-recognized face in American households for many years. Martindale is finest remembered for internet hosting traditional recreation exhibits like Gambit, Tic-Tac-Dough, Excessive Rollers, and Debt.
Discover out extra concerning the Tennessee native under.
He Gave Elvis Presley His First Radio Interview
Martindale started his profession in present enterprise as a disc jockey in his hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, at simply 17 years previous. He later landed a job at WHBQ radio station in Memphis.
In 1954, whereas working as a DJ at WHBQ, Martindale witnessed a historic second when fellow DJ Dewey Phillips performed Elvis Presley’s first document, That’s All Proper, on air. After continued airplay, they determined to carry the nervous younger singer—later often called the “Hound Canine” hitmaker—again to the station.
“He was so nervous about his document being performed on the air that he’d gone to the theater,” Martindale recalled in a 2018 interview with the Tv Academy Basis. “They discovered him sitting there by himself and introduced him to the station. Dewey put him in entrance of a microphone and simply began speaking to him. So I met Elvis that night time. He turned my pal and he continued to be my pal till the day he died.”
He Turned a Chart-Topping Artist with ‘Deck of Playing cards’
In 1959, Martindale launched a spoken-word rendition of Deck of Playing cards, a story tune that advised the story of a soldier utilizing taking part in playing cards as a Bible. The one turned a shock hit, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 and promoting over 1,000,000 copies, incomes him a gold disc.
He Acquired a Star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 2006
Acknowledged for his decades-long contribution to tv and broadcasting, Martindale was honored with a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 2006.
He Was Married for Almost 50 Years
Martindale was married to his spouse, Sandra “Sandy” Martindale, for 49 years. The couple tied the knot in 1975.
He was beforehand married to Madelyn Leech from 1954 to 1972, they usually had 4 kids collectively: daughters Lisa, Madelyn, and Laura, and a son, Wink Jr., who sadly preceded him in demise.
Wink Martindale’s Reason for Dying
Martindale had been privately battling lymphoma for a couple of yr, in response to TMZ. The outlet reported on April 15 that, regardless of doing nicely for a lot of that point, his situation worsened roughly two weeks earlier than his demise. He was hospitalized for remedy after taking a sudden flip for the more serious, his rep Brian Mayes confirmed.
