Billy Mays, one of the most successful infomercial salesmen, passes at 50

Billy Mays, known for his late night infomercials and wildly energetic pitches for products like Oxiclean, Mighty Putty, Steam Buddy, and Impact Gel, has died at the age of 50 of as-of-yet unknown causes. On the day prior to his death, Mays was involved in a relatively minor airplane accident on a US Air flight landing in his hometown of Tampa and was hit on the head, presumably by falling luggage. He was talking with family later that day and seemed to be fine afterwards, but was found dead in bed the next morning by his wife.

Mays was one of the most well known and successful infomercial spokespeople of all time. He was working on a documentary-style reality show for the Discovery Channel with Swivel Sweeper salesman Anthony Sullivan called Pitchmen. Mays and Sullivan appeared on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien just last Tuesday:

TMZ has confirmed TV pitchman Billy Mays was found dead today in his home in Tampa, Florida early this morning.

According to the Tampa PD, the 50-year-old TV pitchman was found unresponsive by his wife Deborah at 7:45 AM.

TMZ has learned Mays' body has already been removed from his home.

Mays had just returned from Philadelphia, where he shot a new OxiClean commercial. He was a passenger aboard a plane that suffered a blown front tire upon landing. He told a local TV station, '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.'

We're told Mays was at his home around 6:00 PM last night, and according to a source Mays was 'acting fine and normal … he was talking business with his father-in-law.'

According to cops, there are no signs of forced entry to the residence and no foul play is suspected.

The Medical Examiner's office is expected to complete the autopsy by tomorrow afternoon.

Billy's wife Deborah just released the following statement:

Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times.

[From TMZ]

We don't know what happened yet, but this could be another sad example of a minor head injury leading to death. My mom hit her head hard a couple of weeks ago and we got very worried because she started to act confused. We took her to the hospital and it turned out that everything was fine, but these kind of accidents can happen to anyone at anytime. That's incredibly sad and sudden and our thoughts go out to his family and friends. Mays' son has mentioned his shock at his father's passing, and posted on his Twitter account that it hasn't really sunk in yet:

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.

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.

With the family. Um… Not quite sure what to say right now. All the support from you guys does help.

[From Billy Mays III's Twitter]

I heard a very compelling profile of Mays and other infomercial success stories on NPR's On The Media last month. It was about their unique method of selling and how they draw us in and make us want the product. Mays featured heavily, and he was honest and open about his success, saying 'if you asked me what I am right now, I am a pitchman. I only know how to do one thing, sell products. And it was taboo at certain times during my career where we would call ourselves professional demonstrators. Now I'm proud to say I, Billy Mays, am a pitchman. That's what I am.'

Billy Mays worked his charm on so many of us and will be deeply missed.

TMZ is reporting that the FAA's first statement was to blame Mays, saying 'The passenger needs to wear a seat belt during landing and he didn't.' It's unclear how a seat belt would have helped him avoid being hit from something falling from above. I hope that the statement was by a clueless employee and that it will soon be retracted.

Here are Billy and Andrew Sullivan on The Tonight Show last Tuesday, 6/23/09:


And here's Billy Mays teaching Dana Carvey how to pitch products. This episode of The Tonight Show aired 3/27/09:


And Billy Mays for Oxiclean: