Billy Mays dies at age 50

Before you go and start poking fun, let’s be serious. Billy Mays, the undisputed King of the Infomercial, has died today at the age of 50. His body was found by his wife this morning inside their home in Tampa, Florida. Mays was a passenger on a US Airways flight recently that blew out it’s tires resulting in a hard landing in which Mays allegedly incurred head injuries from items falling from overhead compartments. There is no word yet on whether this was somehow connected to his death this morning, whereas there was no sign of forced entry at his home and foul play is not suspected.

Mays never did any acting work in TV or film, but he had become a household name and especially a familiar, if not iconic face to Americans watching television. Billy Mays built a successful career out taking creative products invented by everyday people and stepping them up a notch and promoting them on paid television informercials. The recent success and popularity of the Discovery Channel’s show ‘Pitchmen’ threw Mays and co-star/colleague Anthony Sullivan even further into the spotlight, chronicling the life of TV pitchmen.

Hands down, Billy Mays was the best at what he does. I wanted to show a little respect for a man passionate about his work, that’s not entirely removed from the television and motion picture work we here at WAMG love so dearly. With the recent passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, I felt compelled to spread the love to Mr. Mays as well. So, next time you’re sprinkling that OxiClean on that dirty laundry, remember who introduced you to that and so many other great products and helped many inventors’ dreams come true.

[source: NPR News, FoxNews.com]