TAMPA, Fla., June 29, 2009
Heart Attack Likely In Pitchman's Death
Infomercial Star Billy Mays Found Dead At Home; 911 Tapes Reveal Frantic Call
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Billy Mays (AP)
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Monday the boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking Oxiclean suffered from hypertensive heart disease. He was found dead Sunday in his Tampa home. A day earlier he bumped his head during a rough landing on a commercial airliner, but Adams says there was no evidence of head trauma.
He says Mays was taking the prescription painkillers Tramadol and hydrocodone for hip pain. But Adams says there was no indication of drug abuse, and pill counts showed Mays had been taking the correct amount of the drugs.
Meanwhile, a frantic woman tells emergency operators she found the television pitchman cold and unresponsive on 911 tapes released by authorities in Florida.
On emergency tapes released Monday, a woman said she found Mays cold to the touch after waking up. The caller, who isn't identified, says his lips are purple and that he isn't breathing.
When asked what had happened, she says she doesn't know.
A second person who got on the phone tells the operator that Mays is dead.
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Add a Comment See all 18 Comments
- I think his enthusiasim was infectious. That's why he was so good at what he did. I thought his commercials were entertaining. We should all strive to be as good at what we do as he was. RIP Billy.
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- Oxy Clean works! I have been using it for about 9 months and it is great. Add it to your laundry by dissolving about 1/4 scoop in hot water first and you will not believe the difference. Entire load is brighter. Also watched a blood stain disappear right before my eyes the other day when applied directly to the stain. Works great as a carpet cleaner. I cannot comment on any other products, but Billy Mays had a charm about him that made you want to watch in spite of his "yelling"
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- People say celebrities die in threes. Farrah, Michael, Ed McMahon, and Billy Mays threw one in for FREE!!!
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- I think Mr. Mays was a genuinely wonderful person. One could see happiness and sincerity on his face. My message is to the advertising industry in general. Like millions of other people I detest blaring sales pitches. When one comes on I go straight to another station. It is an insult to our intelligence that the ad industry thinks they can ?hook? us by blasting decibels and having someone scream at us. It has the opposite effect. Perhaps the networks should survey to see how many viewers they lose from their programs due to obnoxious advertising tactics.
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- Remember the motto of the advertising industry, "Nobody ever lost a dime by underestimating the intelligence of the American consumer." Their whole credo is that we're a bunch of idiots. Personally I'm LESS likely to buy a product because of an ad than to buy it.
- Agreed-I hit the mute button every time a salesperson yells during a commercial on TV. If Billy Mays and others didn't yell, I would have probably bought the products they mentioned in their advertisements.
However, I heard he was a good man also-Condolences to his friends and family, and may Billy Mays rest in peace.
- Yes, Billy Mays sold a lot of crap that didn't work. But, he really wasn't a bad guy. He approached his work with the attitude that it wasn't his job if the stuff worked or not, his job was to be good at the actual craft of pitching, and he took tremendous pride in being a great pitchman.
Criticizing him for the failures of products like OxyClean to actually do anything is missing the point. The real criminals are the guys taking patents out on stuff like that, and creating the stuff and packaging it. All Billy was doing is advertising it. You might as well criticize CBS for Rogaine not working (after you stop applying the stuff) just because they carry commercials for it.
Besides that, didn't your mother ever teach you that you can never trust a salesman to give you accurate information about a product? That's why we have stuff like Consumer Reports. Get a clue! - Reply to this comment
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- Bernie Madoff could have used you today at his sentencing.
"Mr. Madoff approached his work with the attitude that it wasn't his job if the stuff worked or not, his job was to be good at the actual craft of pitching, and he took tremendous pride in being a great pitchman."
- Bernie Madoff could have used you today at his sentencing.
- Is Obama going to make a statement? CBS News, are you going to pursue that story?
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- I hated and liked the guy at the same time.
He definitely was one of a kind. He disgusted me with his screaming and yet I could not turn away.
I read that he was a really nice person in real life.
Not a bad way to go, too soon of course, but dying in your sleep in your own bed is as good as it gets. - Reply to this comment
- 99% of the crap he sold didn't do what it was supposed to.
Maybe he was punished by God for lying to all of us. - Reply to this comment
- He was like a ray of sunshine compared to the other salesmen out there,
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- The product of his that I will always remember is his miracle putty that he personally invented.
He took ordinary plumbers putty, changed the colors from black and white to green and white and sold it for twice the price of the plumbers putty.
The ray of sunshine you thought you saw was actually just him blinding you with his bull.
I am sure that at the time of his death he was busy preparing to market his next great invention; a matching set of right AND left handed monkey wrenches.
- The product of his that I will always remember is his miracle putty that he personally invented.
- This guy was THE MAN. I'm gonna go out and buy some OxiClean in his honor.
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