Billy Mays
The black beard, the blue shirt and khakis, and the friendly bellow that opened every pitch: "Hi, Billy Mays here!" He was the face and voice of the entire As-Seen-On-TV universe — the man who made OxiClean a household word by sheer force of enthusiasm.
William Darrell Mays Jr. was born on July 20, 1958. He started out in 1983 selling gadgets like the Washmatik portable washer to passersby on the Atlantic City boardwalk, then spent twelve years working home shows, auto shows, and state fairs, honing a pitch style built on genuine charisma and a voice that could not be ignored.
At a Pittsburgh home show in 1993 he befriended Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, who hired him to pitch the company's cleaners — OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orange Glo, Kaboom — on the Home Shopping Network out of St. Petersburg, Florida. That same year he befriended fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan. In October 2000, Mays shot the OxiClean infomercial that changed everything: the black beard, the blue shirt and khakis, the friendly bellow, and the greeting that opened every pitch — "Hi, Billy Mays here!" — became the visual and sonic identity of an entire era of television selling. Through his own company, Mays Promotions, he went on to pitch dozens of products, Mighty Putty among them, his enthusiasm making improbable gadgets feel essential.
In April 2009, Discovery Channel premiered Pitchmen, a documentary series following Mays and Sullivan through the direct-response business. Weeks later, on June 28, 2009, Mays died at age 50. His voice lingers — whenever anyone says OxiClean, there he is.
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