Billy Mays, late-night TV pitchman, found dead in Tampa home

June 28, 11:59 AMLate Night TV ExaminerGail Gedan Spencer

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TV pitchman Billy Mays has died. He was found unresponsive by his wife in their Tampa, Fla., home early Sunday, police said.

Known for his enthusiastic endorsements of OxiClean and other OrangeGlo products, Mays, 50, became famous on Home Shopping Network with his trademark "Hi, Billy Mays here!"

• More news on Billy Mays

Recently, he has been appearing on ESPN touting its ESPN360 Internet service.

He and fellow infomercial pitchman Anthony Sullivan were featured in the Discovery Channel show Pitchmen.

A Fox affiliate in Tampa reported that Mays was on board a US Airways flight that blew out its front tires as it landed at a Tampa airport on Saturday. Mays had been filming a commercial in Philadelphia. CNN Headline News had reported that Mays had said he was hit by falling items  during the landing. MyFox Tampa quoted him as saying "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman released a statement Sunday on a tribute page to Mays: "Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth," Hillman's statement said. "Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend."

Here's a clip of Mays and Sullivan from last week's Tonight Show: