Marlboro man Eric Lawson dead at 72 from smoking-related lung disease

[*crickets*]

Jan 27, 2014 12:20 AM EST
By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as "Baretta" and "The Streets of San Francisco" when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include "Charlie's Angels," ''Dynasty" and "Baywatch." His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a Western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an "Entertainment Tonight" segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking. Susan said her husband was proud of the interview, even though he was smoking at the time and continued the habit until he was diagnosed with COPD.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," she said. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop."

A few actors and models who pitched Marlboro brand cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

Lawson was also survived by six children, 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

http://www.kctv5.com/story/24553092/...elated-disease

[u2addict]

Hey...can I get a light?

RIP marlboro man

[trepid]

Eh. 72 is a pretty decent age.

I'm trying to quit as we speak. It's hideous.

[u2addict]

Eh. 72 is a pretty decent age.

I'm trying to quit as we speak. It's hideous.

I don't smoke, never did. DH quit a couple months ago using the e cig and he did great, I am so proud of him.

[trepid]

I have heard of a few people quitting using the e-cig..

Hardest habit to break ever.

[becoming]

I swear he already died like 2 or 3 years ago.

[puzzld]

I swear he already died like 2 or 3 years ago.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...#axzz2rhwt2HQ0
For the longest time, the Marlboro Man was synonymous with America's image of itself -- tough, self-sufficient, hard-working.

In one of the 20th century's most famous ad campaigns, which began in the 1950s, he was a rugged but handsome man who did the jobs that needed to be done, and he almost always had a Marlboro cigarette in his mouth.

Today, the reality about the Marlboro Man is darker: At least four actors who have played him in ads have died of smoking-related diseases.

The latest was Eric Lawson, 72, who appeared in Marlboro print ads from 1978 to 1981. He died in San Luis Obispo on Jan. 10.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," his wife, Susan Lawson, told the Associated Press. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop."

She said he died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is most frequently caused by smoking. He took up the habit at age 14.

Lawson's unglamorous end has been shared by other Marlboro models, some of whom were honest cowboys. Others were just hunky California actors or similarly rugged stand-ins.

Marlboro Man David Millar of Meriden, N.H., succumbed to ephysema in 1987 at age 81.

"They used to boost him up by a rope and put him down on the horse because he didn't like horses," Charles Dudley, a friend, told the AP after Millar died. He said Millar had smoked for about 40 to 45 years before quitting, after which Millar often joked that he was "the only Marlboro Man who doesn't smoke, drink or like horses."

That's not quite true: One of the Marlboro ad campaign's first actors was William Thourlby, a Broadway actor who would later say he never even drank, let alone smoked.

Thourlby survived long enough to give a 2012 interview, at the age of 88, about living for decades in the New York Athletic Club, which has a decidedly uncowboylike dress code.

Some of Thourlby's later colleagues, however, embraced nicotine and suffered for it.

Wayne McLaren died of lung cancer in 1992 at age 51 after 25 years of smoking. His modeling job with Marlboro was followed by an anti-smoking campaign that lasted until his death.

"I've spent the last month of my life in an incubator and I'm telling you, it's just not worth it," McLaren told a Los Angeles Times reporter from his deathbed in Newport Beach, where he lay with several tubes connected to his body.

After he died a week later, his mother, Louise, told The Times that some of McLaren's last words were, "Take care of the children. Tobacco will kill you, and I am living proof of it."

McLaren had waged an anti-smoking war against Marlboro and its owner, Phillip Morris, complaining that the ads targeted kids, "the only target the companies have left."

By the late 1990s, Marlboro's ads were so effective and pervasive that one study suggested that more than 90% of schoolchildren knew who the Marlboro Man was.

Another Marlboro Man from California, David McLean, died of lung cancer at 73 in the UCLA Medical Center in 1995. His widow later sued Philip Morris, contending that McLean had to smoke pack after pack of cigarettes during Marlboro shoots so directors could create the perfect scene.

"During the taping of the commercials, David McLean was obligated to smoke Marlboro cigarettes," the 1996 lawsuit said. "The commercials were very carefully orchestrated, and David McLean was required to smoke up to five packs per take in order to get the ashes to fall a certain way, the smoke to rise a certain way and the hand to hold the cigarette in a certain way."

Years later, the McLean lawsuit was thrown out when a federal judge ruled that California law -- in those days, more protective of tobacco companies -- protected Phillip Morris from Lilo McLean's claims. McLean was billed for the costs of the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Phillip Morris did not respond to a request for comment from the Los Angeles Times for this story.

By the time the McLean lawsuit ran its course, the Marlboro Man campaign had concluded its decades-long run in the U.S. media.

Cigarette use had continued a long plummet among Americans, which began with a groundbreaking 1964 U.S. Surgeon General report on smoking's harmful effects.

But the Marlboro Man was finally finished off by the 1998 Master Settlement between tobacco companies and state attorneys general, which forbade the companies to use humans or cartoons on tobacco advertising in the U.S.

"The Marlboro Man will be riding into the sunset on Joe Camel," Florida Atty. Gen. Robert Butterworth quipped to reporters after the deal was reached.

Lawson, the actor from San Luis Obispo, had done his part in later years to make up for the smoking ads that he'd done with Marlboro, at one point appearing in an anti-smoking ad that parodied the Marlboro Man.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nation...#ixzz2rhx2XtDo

As opposed to a man who wasn't the Marlboro man:
For years he was commonly known as the "Marlboro Man." But former Congressman Clint Roberts of South Dakota has a much quieter and less hectic life these days. Early in his career Roberts appeared in a few cigarette and beer commercials and roles in a handful of movies.

So what has he been up to since his days in Washington, D.C.?

As said in a 1975 Schlitz commercial "life is too short to settle for less."

Clint Roberts never settled for less. In fact, he was involved in more than just politics. His appearance in a Schlitz Beer commercial was just one of a few of his other wild adventures. It premiered in the 1975 Super Bowl. But that was then.

We sat down for a cup of coffee with him recently to talk about the good old days as a Congressman and of course a cowboy.

Roberts grew up in Presho and knew how to ride a horse and today still jokes about filming that beer commercial.

"They said, 'would you stampede those buffalo and then stop them before you get to the fence?' Well you don't stampede 4,500 buffalo and then stop them when they get to the fence," Roberts said.

Before he was ever elected to Congress, Roberts moonlighted as a TV commercial and feature film actor. The ruggedly handsome cattle rancher played a sheriff in the 1976 comedy Western, "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox," starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal. He also auditioned for the cigarette role of "Marlboro Man," but was snuffed out by a Wyoming cowboy instead.

"He photographed a lot better than I did. He couldn't ride any better than I could," Roberts said.

Even though he didn't get the part, the cigarette label stuck. In fact, many still refer to him as the "Marlboro Man."

"That was a little overused. I never perpetuated it; I tried to put it down," Roberts said.

But his cowboy acting career got him noticed and saddled into politics, riding down the same path as his mentor, the late Senator Jim Abdnor.

"I ended up in the legislature and Senate for three terms, six years, took his Congressional seat when he went to the Senate," Roberts said.

After being newly elected to Congress in 1980, Roberts grabbed the headlines once again, this time for his legendary ride into the town's Centennial Ball in the Capitol Rotunda.

"I even got coverage in Texas on that. But they say get your name in the paper, it really doesn't make a difference of what for," Roberts said.

But Roberts didn't hold onto the reins of Congress for very long. When South Dakota went from two house seats to one in 1982, Roberts was forced to run against a young but popular politician named Tom Daschle and lost.

Today in retirement, Roberts and his wife of 59 years live along the banks of the Missouri River in Ft. Pierre.

"It's pretty quiet over here and we're still West River," Roberts said.

Roberts never lost his rough and tough cowboy mentality, nor his love for politics. He's no longer actively involved but often sits at his old Congressional desk that he brought back with him from Washington and spends time on Facebook publishing political views.

"Most of it's all pro-Republican. You know once in awhile I will put something that doesn't look very good for Republicans. But it's really hard to find something that makes Republicans look bad," Roberts joked.

All kidding aside, the Marlboro Man quit smoking real cigarettes ten years ago, is in pretty good health and still gets recognized.

"Oh yeah, a lot of them do, younger people don't," Roberts said. "A lot of my older friends are gone. We never get to weddings anymore. It's always funerals and most of the time it's a going away party for them."

But at age 77, this cowboy isn't ready to ride off into the sunset just yet.

Roberts and his wife Beverly have four kids, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.c...man/?id=133779

Coincidence? I think not...

[Gram Parsons]

Of course smoking is bad for you and all, but I don't think this is worth the big uproar it has been getting across the internet. Plenty of people don't smoke a single cigarette and end up dying before the age of 72. It isn't like he died young or anything, 72 is a respectable age.

[becoming]

Yeah I would actually prefer to kick off by 72... Maybe I should take up smoking.

[Boston Babe 73]

I have heard of a few people quitting using the e-cig..

Hardest habit to break ever.

This.

I've been smoking 30 years and I'm convinced I won't be around much longer. Almost couldn't breathe last night. Scared the crap out of me and my Husband. Yet here I am. Smoking a cigarette. I'm going to try to wean off of it with the E-cigs. Replacing a real one with that throughout the day. I've tried everything. Being hypnotized, gum, patch, Wellbutrin. The drug almost worked but started giving me hallucinations.

Have. To. QUIT.

[andrea0121]

I had smoked for 15 yrs before trying the eCig. Used the eCig for almost 2 yrs...haven't used either a cig or an eCig for well over a year. I had quit dozens of times before that and could never stick to it. Super hard nasty habit to quit.

RIP Marlboro man (I'm one of the odd ones who thinks 72 is still young)

[Boston Babe 73]

I had smoked for 15 yrs before trying the eCig. Used the eCig for almost 2 yrs...haven't used either a cig or an eCig for well over a year. I had quit dozens of times before that and could never stick to it. Super hard nasty habit to quit.

RIP Marlboro man (I'm one of the odd ones who thinks 72 is still young)

Good for you! Very hard to do.

[andrea0121]

Good for you! Very hard to do.

There's a thread here somewhere about eCigs when a bunch of the girls all started up around the same time. If you have a facebook, there's a group too of peeps from here who post a bunch of questions and helpful hints. Give it a try...it's awkward to start up but once you're set up, they're great!

[Boston Babe 73]

There's a thread here somewhere about eCigs when a bunch of the girls all started up around the same time. If you have a facebook, there's a group too of peeps from here who post a bunch of questions and helpful hints. Give it a try...it's awkward to start up but once you're set up, they're great!

Thank you!

[animosity]

seiously though. quitting sucks. i started using the e-cig on friday and have been managing to smoke 5 or less real ones per day! i bought my pack on friday and i still have 5 left... considering buying a pack but trying not to open it once this one is done.

This.

I've been smoking 30 years and I'm convinced I won't be around much longer. Almost couldn't breathe last night. Scared the crap out of me and my Husband. Yet here I am. Smoking a cigarette. I'm going to try to wean off of it with the E-cigs. Replacing a real one with that throughout the day. I've tried everything. Being hypnotized, gum, patch, Wellbutrin. The drug almost worked but started giving me hallucinations.

Have. To. QUIT.

i too have been having a harder time breathing, otherwise, quitting would never have crossed my mind. i want to end it before i develop one of those forever illnesses that don't fix themselves by quitting.

[*crickets*]

Yeah I would actually prefer to kick off by 72... Maybe I should take up smoking.

This guy did not die suddenly at 72. He was most likely debilitated for years from his chronic lung disease, on oxygen etc. Imagine not being able to breathe, progressing to being short of breath with any activity, tethered to an oxygen tank 24/7 until you finally die. If that sounds good to you by all means, take up smoking.

This.

I've been smoking 30 years and I'm convinced I won't be around much longer. Almost couldn't breathe last night. Scared the crap out of me and my Husband. Yet here I am. Smoking a cigarette. I'm going to try to wean off of it with the E-cigs. Replacing a real one with that throughout the day. I've tried everything. Being hypnotized, gum, patch, Wellbutrin. The drug almost worked but started giving me hallucinations.

Have. To. QUIT.

Noooooo, not you BB! And Trepid too??

PLEASE quit, you guys!!

[u2addict]

This.

I've been smoking 30 years and I'm convinced I won't be around much longer. Almost couldn't breathe last night. Scared the crap out of me and my Husband. Yet here I am. Smoking a cigarette. I'm going to try to wean off of it with the E-cigs. Replacing a real one with that throughout the day. I've tried everything. Being hypnotized, gum, patch, Wellbutrin. The drug almost worked but started giving me hallucinations.

Have. To. QUIT.

Yes you do have to stop but see a doc first, sounds like you have COPD. They can give you oxygen, ect, but your not stoopid.

I'll be rooting for ya.

[neenerneener]

I quit in January 2009. just hit my 5 year smoke - free anniversary. I went cold turkey, that was the only way for me to do it. I can't only smoke a few per day, and I know that about myself. Some people *quit* but have a few when they're out drinking or just hanging out with people who smoke......I soooooooooo cannot do that. If I have one, it's all over. Every once in a while I still get the urge to light up, but I'm a stubborn bitch. I won't give in.

[Shins]

I have heard of a few people quitting using the e-cig..

Hardest habit to break ever.

That's because it's an addiction and not a habit.


I quit cold turkey after 6yrs, but I'm weird.