As reported by Deadline, game show host and all-around entertainer extraordinaire, Wink Martindale (Debt, High Rollers), passed away this Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, CA surrounded by his family and loving wife of 49 years, Sandra Martindale. He lived to see 91.
According to NPR, Martindale’s publicist, Brian Mayes, claims he lost a year-long battle with lymphoma. He goes on to state that the Gambit host was doing “pretty well up until a couple weeks ago.”
Martindale was well known as the King of game shows, with many titles such as High Rollers, The Last Word, The Great Getaway Game, Trivial Pursuit, Debt, Instant Recall, Tic-Tac-Dough, and Gambit under his belt. He also hosted other shows, such as a science fiction-themed kids show, Mars Patrol, and Teenage Dance Party, which saw an appearance by his friend and King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
Martindale didn’t start off stealing the hearts of Americans and contestants on TV game shows. Prior to his fame on camera, Deadline reports he was quite the star across the radio waves. Not only as a DJ and radio show host but also as a top hit recording artist. Martindale’s 1959 record ‘Deck of Cards’ shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, resting at No. 5. The song was a spoken-word rendition of a tale that features a WW2 soldier being arrested and charged with playing cards during church service. In his defense, the soldier claims that without a Bible, he has used the cards as a way to remember the Gospel, relating its concepts and books to each card.
Martindale’s passing comes early in a year that has already seen the loss of many of the Greatest Generation. Vaughn P. Drake Jr, the oldest survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, also passed on Tuesday at the age of 106. Peter Yarrow, member of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and co-writer of “Puff the Magic Dragon” passed away in January. David Lynch (Eraser Head, Elephant Man), widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, passed from emphysema earlier this year after claiming he had begun smoking at the early age of eight. Actor Gene Hackman (I Never Sang For My Father, Mississippi Burning) died in February under mysterious circumstances when him, his wife, and his dogs remains were discovered by maintenance workers. The official cause of death was ruled to be from a rare disease that develops from mouse droppings.
