Pitchman Billy Mays Found Dead

[Boxkicker]

According to the Tampa PD, the 50-year-old TV pitchman was found unresponsive by his wife Deborah at 7:45 AM.

Mays had just returned from Philadelphia, where he shot a new OxiClean commercial. He was a passenger aboard a plane that suffered a blown front tire upon landing. He told a local TV station, "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."

We're told Mays was at his home around 6:00 PM last night, and according to a source Mays was "acting fine and normal ... he was talking business with his father-in-law."

According to cops, there are no signs of forced entry to the residence and no foul play is suspected.

The Medical Examiner's office is expected to complete the autopsy by tomorrow afternoon.

Billy's wife Deborah just released the following statement:

Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times.

 

[REWahoo]

Makes me glad I'm not a celebrity - they're dropping like flies.

 

[Midpack]

First Ed McMahon was eclipsed by Farrah, then Farrah by Michael Jackson, and now this! The news will be non-stop Billy Mays now, so much for MJ...next!

 

[soupcxan]

This is a shame, I was really hoping the "Shamwow" guy would go next.

 

[ziggy29]

It's been a terrible week to be famous. Wow. And other than McMahon, all quite young. Mays, like MJ, was only 50. When I was a kid, 50 seemed ancient. It doesn't feel so ancient any more.

Certainly we've been reminded of our mortality of late.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I was just watching that Pitchmen show too.

 

[ls99]

Shees, another high profile gone.

Lemme see here, I'm not a celebrity, well past 50, guess I'm safe for a while. When the mid sixties celebrities start exiting, maybe then time for concern.

Meantime must make every day count..... in the leisure and life enjoyment departments. Glad to be retired.

 

[bbbamI]

I don't know if I should get in a fetal position, or hop on my motorcycle.

 

[Orchidflower]

Well, I've learned from Natasha Richardson and now Billy Mays to not take getting klunked in the head by something so lightly anymore...wow...sad.

 

[mickeyd]

I hope that he leaves his beard to a medical museum. It was damn-near perfect.

 

[Cattusbabe]

OK , anti embolism stockings and a bike helmet for every flight.

Oh, for those following Walter Cronkite is near death. He is 92.

 

[Cattusbabe]

This is a shame, I was really hoping the "Shamwow" guy would go next.

That was a cold shot. Here is your boy hip hopped.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Yeah the slap chop guy makes me not want to buy the product

 

[bbbamI]

This website will be getting full.......

Dead or Alive? - Search Page

 

[ziggy29]

Well, I've learned from Natasha Richardson and now Billy Mays to not take getting in the head by something so lightly anymore...wow...sad.

Yep. Don't assume it's just a "bump on the head." I don't know if any head injury has been confirmed as a contributory factor in Mays' death but the timing is very suspicious.

 

[samclem]

There's a lot that doesn't make sense here. Almost all civilian jets have dual nosewheel tires. As a passenger, you'd hardly notice if one blew. And, if one/both DID blow, it would be more likely to have been the result of, rather than the cause of, an abrupt dropping of the nose. As far as "stuff falling down," that would take one heck of a vertical acceleration to cause the latches and suspension parts on the overhead compartments to fail.

Anyway, there might be a silver lining to all this. US Air (the carrier he was on) is one of the airlines that charge ($15) for the first checked bag. As a result, more people are carrying more and heavier bags into the passenger compartment to avoid the fee. This slows the loading/unloading process and also isn't very safe. I fly US Air often and have noticed the problem getting worse. Maybe Mr Mays's death had nothing at all to do with faling objects, but regardless maybe the issue will bubble to the top and US Air will change this dumb policy.

 

[Arif]

Geez, so who is next to bite the bullett?

 

[bbbamI]

Geez, so who is next to bite the bullett?

Oh, for those following Walter Cronkite is near death. He is 92.

Could it be Walter?

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

I originally thought that Farrah and Michael Jackson were have a secret love affair--and when she died he was overcome with grief and killed himself with drugs. Now I'm wondering if Billy and Michael had a secret gay love affair, and when Michael died, Billy was overcome with grief and did himself in by some mysterious way. Should I start my own tabloid?

 

[samclem]

Here's a link to the Tampa news story that was done immediately after the landing incident. This was apparently quite a big deal, a lot more than just a blown tire. The plane ended up resting on a stub of the nose gear, people were jarred forward into the back of the seat in front of them, etc. Other reports indicate a few of the overhead compartments did open up, and I suppose Mr Mays might have been hit by some stuff falling out of them.

 

[TromboneAl]

I bet this is another Natasha Richardson head bump type thing.

 

[Dawg52]

I wonder if he was taking blood thinners for some reason? My old boss just lost his wife due to what seemed to be a minor fall, but she was on blood thinners due to a heart condition and she bled in the brain. She thought she was fine and waited until the next morning to to go to the emergency room. But she slid into a coma and died a couple of weeks later.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Don't take those head bumps lightly. My wife was getting a boxed article off of an upper shelf and it slipped and knocked her on the head. She said it hurt but didn't think anymore of it until her vision went blurred. She called me, I took her to her eye doctor who diagnosed it as a torn retina. She had to undergo laser surgery and has had vision problems since due to that retina tear.

 

[freebird5825]

The only time I ever heard my doctor raise his voice, and I mean loud, and shake his finger at me, was when I got bopped in the head with a slow moving but heavy sailboat boom. It was a glancing blow, not a direct hit TG.
Whew!
I did not go to the hospital because I "felt fine". I could walk and talk and recite Pi to the usual 6 digits.
I used ice for the slight swelling in the dent in my scalp. Head scan the next day (ordered by my very PO'd doctor) was OK. But the headache that followed for a week was horrendous.
I was lucky lucky and even luckier yet. The outcome could have been much worse.
I will never again take any kind of head blow lightly.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Head trauma

Very good advice to get head injuries checked out right away. I was particularly sad when Natasha Richardson died as she was a young wife and mother. I saw one of her films recently, The White Countess....loved it! I think she was a better actress than her mother.