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The Surprising Lives of Famous Pitchmen: The Marlboro Men 

That was the notion dreamt up by ad exec Leo Burnett in 1954. The Don Draper of his day, Burnett devised the mascots for Green Giant (GIS), Froot Loops (K), 9Lives (DLM), and 7 Up (PEP), among many others. Employed by Philip Morris -- rebranded as Altria (MO) in 2003 -- to inject new life into Marlboro, Burnett transformed the brand's female-targeted slogan "Mild as May" into something more substantial and electrifying.

Burnett was inspired by a spread in a 1949 issue of Life magazine focused on a ranch foreman by the name of C.H. Long. Weathered purveyor of such pithy summations of masculinity like "If it weren't for a good horse, a woman would be the sweetest thing in the world," Long exemplified Burnett's new direction and cash cow for Philip Morris: the Marlboro Man. . . .

Wayne McLaren, David McLean, and Dick Hammer -- three actors who appeared in the Marlboro Man ads -- were diagnosed with lung cancer and each eventually succumbed to the disease. After McLaren learned he had cancer, he became a renegade . . .

As awareness of the dangers of smoking grew and cigarette ads were banned from the television airwaves, the Marlboro Man was relegated to print and billboard ads, eventually fading from public view. The high-profile deaths of three pitchmen hired to promote cigarettes prevented legitimate glorification of the Marlboro Man -- an irony too poignant to be ignored.

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