Billy Mays - Oxi Clean's recognizable television personality - deceased at 50

June 28, 11:55 PMActing ExaminerDeborah Smith Ford

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Billy Mays                                                                                                  (Photo/Wikipedia)

William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. was a television direct-response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products. His distinctive beard and loud sales pitches made him a recognizable television presence.

Mays travelled across the United States for 12 years, selling various items before he was hired to sell OxiClean and other products on the Home Shopping Network.

When Mays moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, it was there that he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen in Atlantic City, saying:

I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have."

In Atlantic City boardwalk he sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby, and other "As Seen on TV" products.

Billy Mays' success as a TV pitchman lead him to found Mays Promotions, Inc. On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing Pitchmen, a documentary series that featured Mays.

The Discovery Channel not only began airing Pitchmen, a documentary series that features Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct response marketing, but Mays and Sullivan also appeared together on the June 23, 2009 episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

The commercials for his products became a popular on the internet and have spawned countless video remixes.

But on the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays was found dead in his home by his wife.  On June 27, Mays had been aboard US Airways Flight 1241, which landed roughly when its front tires were blown out. The violence of the landing caused some loose objects in the cabin to strike some passengers.

Mays told a local Tampa television station that:

[Some of the objects] hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

It is unclear whether Mays' death was related to the incident. His wife noted that he felt unwell when he went to bed that night early at 10 pm. The next morning he was pronounced dead at 7:45 am by a local fire rescue crew.