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I have a love hate relationship with infomercials. Part of me loves the nights when I happen to stay up a little too late and catch a nifty new product like redesigned hot rollers or the best new cleaning product on the planet. The other part of me hates infomercials because of their obnoxious salesman and because sometimes I just can't resist making a purchase. So, over time I've become familiar with the Shamwow guy and the guy in the blue shirt that convinced me that OxiClean could remove anything. That guy in the blue shirt was Billy Mays.

Infomercial guru Billy Mays was born July 20, 1958 and who knew he would go from being an Atlantic City salesman to an international pitchman. Mays entered many homes and his products changed many lives. Unfortunately, at the age of 50 he was found dead in his Tampa, Florida home by his wife. On Sunday, June 28, 2009 Mays' wife called the police at 7:45 am and reported him as unresponsive. At this time, no cause of death has been reported although foul play is not suspected. An autopsy report will reveal the culprit. Mays' death comes on the foothills of a sad week following the deaths of Hollywood greats Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson.

Mays was best known as a pitchman, but he began his career humbly as a salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. In 1993, he was hired by the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Florida to promote OrangeGlo and Oxiclean products. Mays had enormous success with the products and ultimately he was able to become CEO of his own company. After starting Mays Promotions, Inc, Mays was featured in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN30. Most recently, Mays entered the world of reality television by being featured on the Discovery Channel's Pitchmen.

Mays had a gift for selling and leant his sales skills to dozens of products. He not only leant his skills to the products he taught his style and technique. The day before his death he was on a US Airways flight that landed in Tampa International Airport. The flight blew out its tires, but no passengers were reported as seriously injured. Mays reported having been hit in the head by falling objects from the overhead compartment. Mays' death remains a mystery, but for now it has thwarted the superstitious belief that things happen in threes. Media rumors have also begun to surface that deadly cocktails are responsible for the numerous celebrity deaths this week. We will have the second set of autopsy results on Michael Jackson shortly and we will also be awaiting the results of Billy Mays' autopsy.

Learn more about this author, Nina Hammiel Turner.
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