Who was that guy from the Oxiclean commercial?
TAMPA, Fla. – Billy Mays, the burly, bearded television pitchman whose boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean made him a pop-culture icon, has died. He was 50. Tampa police said Mays’ wife found him unresponsive Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m. It was not immediately clear how he died. He said he was hit on the head when an airplane he was on made a rough landing Saturday, and his wife, Deborah Mays, told investigators he didn’t feel well before he went to bed about 10 p.m. that night. There were no signs of a break-in at the home, and investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department, who wouldn’t answer questions about how Mays’ body was found because of the ongoing investigation. The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon. “Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days,” Deborah Mays sai
It’s been a strange and sad week for America. First, Ed McMahon then Farrah Fawcett, then Michael Jackson, and just today, the news that OxiClean spokesman Billy Mays sadly and abruptly passed away. The 50-year-old OxiClean commercial star was found unresponsive in bed by his wife, TMZ reported. Mays had apparently just returned from a trip to Philadelphia where he had filmed a commercial for the stain removing cleaning product and had suffered a blow to the head during the flight home. Mays was on a commercial airline that blew a front tire during landing and he subsequently hit his head when something landed on him during impact. TMZ reports that Mays’ family reports he was acting normal after the flight, but did feel ill last night. Billy’s wife Deborah released the following statement: “Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days.
Mays was born on July 20, 1958 in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. The commercial superstar was best known for his catch phrase “Billy Mays here,” and the pitching of cleaning products such as OxiClean and Orange Glo. He was also featured on Discovery Channel’s reality TV show “Pitchmen” which follows Mays’ and Anthony “Sully” Sullivan’s adventures as they search the world for the next biggest inventions.
