Sunday, June 28, 2009

Infomercial Pitchman Billy Mays Dead at Age 50


Billy Mays, the bearded commercial pitchman known for promoting OxiClean and other products, died this morning at age 50 in his home in Tampa, Florida Sunday morning. No cause of death has been identified. His wife found him unresponsive this morning.

The death of Billy Mays was mentioned this morning in several posts by his son, Billy Mays III, on his Twitter account, http://twitter.com/YoungBillyMays.

A post from Mays III made at about 11 a.m. EST reads, "My dad didn't wake up this morning. I'm sure you'll all hear about it. It hasn't yet hit me but it's about to." About a half hour later he posted, "On my way to the house. He's gone. I'm gonna be strong for him. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers everyone."

Billy Mays was known for his beard and his loud voice, and he found success doing commercial pitches for OxiClean and Orange Glo, as well as other household and cleaning products.

Recently Mays also done a series of commercials for ESPN in which he poked fun at his own image.

Billy Mays was a passenger on board a U.S. Airways jet that made a safe landing at Tampa International Airport yesterday after suffering a blowout of one of its front tires. It's not known if his death is in any way related to that incident.

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