Billy Mays

Billy Mays
Born	William Darrell Mays, Jr. (1958-07-20)July 20, 1958 McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	Billy Mays
Occupation	Television direct-response advertisement salesman
Years active	1993–Present
Spouse(s)	Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays Deborah Mays

William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009) was an American 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 recognized television presence in the United States.

Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and began his career as salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. He traveled 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. His success as a TV pitchman led him to found Mays Promotions, Inc. On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays. On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays' wife found him dead in his home.

Early life

Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, attended Sto-Rox High School, and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He later dropped out of West Virginia University and worked for his father's hazardous waste company before moving to Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1983.

Career

On the Atlantic City boardwalk Mays sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby, along with other "As Seen on TV" products. In Atlantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have." Mays then traveled to home shows, auto shows, and state fairs across the United States for a period of twelve years, selling various maintenance products and tools, including cleaning products and food choppers.

At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, a Denver-based manufacturer of cleaning products. He was then hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and Kaboom on the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida. Customer response to Mays' sales pitches was enthusiastic, with a sharp increase in sales after his first day on the network, although some reviews were poor. He was very well known for shouting in an abrasive manner during infomercials. For example, Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown."

Mays was the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based at his home in Odessa, Florida. His services as a pitchman became highly sought-after, and he appeared in commercials for many diverse "as seen on TV" products such as Mighty Putty. Mays claimed to be an avid user of the products he promoted. In December 2008, Mays began appearing in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN360. These ads were a slight departure for Mays as they were designed to be parodies of his and other infomercial cliches with Mays appearing to be doing a parody of himself. He also made a live appearance during the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl promoting ESPN's and ABC's January 1, 2009 bowl games.

On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that features Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct response marketing. Mays and Sullivan appeared together on the June 23, 2009 episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Personal life

Mays' first marriage to Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays ended in divorce. He had a son with Dolores named Billy Mays III, who was 24 years old at the time of Mays' death and who worked as a production assistant alongside his father on the PitchMen television show. Mays had a daughter, Elizabeth, with his second wife, Deborah Mays. His daughter was three years old at the time of his death. Mays' mother was Joyce Palm and his father was Billy Mays, Sr., both of whom were still living at the time of his death.

In an interview during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Mays revealed he was a Republican.

Death and Rebirth

Mays was found unresponsive by his wife in his Tampa, Florida, home on the morning of June 28, 2009. He was then pronounced dead at 7:45 am, appearing to have died sometime overnight. The Associated Press reported that there were no indications that the house had been broken into, and that police did not suspect foul play.

On June 27, Mays was aboard US Airways flight 1241 when the nose tire blew out during landing at Tampa International Airport. After news of his death the next day, reports surfaced that Mays may not have been wearing his seat belt, and Mays himself confirmed upon exiting the plane to Fox News (ultimately his last public interview) that he had been hit on the head by items which fell from the overhead compartments. "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."

This apparent coincidence led to speculation that Mays died as a result of the head trauma, but after an initial autopsy on Mays' body on June 29, Dr. Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner, stated that Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease and that a heart attack was the likely cause of his death. A final determination as to the cause of death would not be made until toxicology and tissue tests were complete.

Mays' funeral was held July 3, 2009 in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania where he was buried. The pallbearers for the funeral wore blue shirts and khaki pants at the funeral, much like Mays wore when he advertised his products. According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, he was reportedly buried wearing a shirt with the OxiClean logo on it.

Through an amazing discovery TV Pitchmen Anthony Sullivan found a Way to infuse Oxy-Clean with Kaboom then have it absorbed by Zorbeez and ringes out it could bring a person back to life. With this discovery Sullivan tried it on Billy. Over a Minute Later Mays Reawoke and screamed :Billy Mays here for Oxy-Clean!" With this his wife cousins ans Son were overjoyed and Mays is now currently alive and developing the same product that brought him back to life. The Products due to hit shelves in 2011 with Mays once again Pitchign it. When interviewed by this Mays repsonded "Holy Kaboom that actully worked!Im Glad to be alive again so I can live on to Pitch more products and be there for my Wife and Kids. Now lets drag that Shamwow guy to Hell!

See also

• List of products that Billy Mays pitched

External links

• Billy Mays at IMDb
• Official Twitter page

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