A man who helped glamorize a fatal habit has now died because of it. Will this make any difference to today’s smokers?
Alan Landers was the self-proclaimed “Winston Man,” a lesser-known facsimile of the “Marlboro Man.” Landers posed in ads for Winston cigarettes that appeared in print advertisments and billboards. He was required to smoke on the sets where those photos were shot, he said, but he started smoking as a child and continued for many years.
Later in life ó after his initial lung cancer diagnosis in 1987 ó Landers quit smoking and became a critic of the tobacco industry, travelling the world to spread his anti-smoking message. Eventually, a lawyer sued four cigarette makers on Landers’ behalf.
Landers died last week at the age of 68, leaving no heirs or parents, so his case probably will die, too. He’d had lung and heart problems related to his smoking for decades. At the time of his death, he was undergoing treatment for throat cancer.
Sad to say, this is not a first. At least two actors who portrayed the Marlboro Man died of cancer, victims of the very product they promoted. Anyone who encourages cigarette smoking is recruiting people to a habit that can kill.
So what’s new? Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing approximately 400,000 deaths each year, not including deaths from secondhand smoke. One studenet found that men who smoke were 23 times more likely to die from lung cancer than male non-smokers.
If health statistics don’t convince people to quit smoking, maybe the death of another high-profile smoker will. Landers was hardly alone. Other smokers who died of cancer ó some of whom also depicted tough guys on screen ó include John Wayne, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Johnny Carson, Yul Brenner, Walt Disney, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Steve McQueen,Gary Cooper, Duke Ellington, Desi Arnaz, George Harrison, Louie Armstrong, Lucille Ball, Clark Gable, Don Knotts, Groucho Marx, George C Scott, Ed Sullivan, Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner and Peter Jennings.
Then there are the less-famous victims ó your grandfather, perhaps, or an aunt or uncle.
As Yul Brynner said in a commercial that was aired after his death in 1985, “Now that I’m gone, I’ll tell you, don’t smoke. Whatever you do, don’t smoke.”
The New York Times reported that some people questioned how Landers could have been as ignorant of the dangers of smoking as he said he was. He answered that his addiction was too strong, and government warnings not sufficiently forceful.
His lawyer offered a better explanation: “He knew a lot less than R. J. Reynolds did.”