Darrell Winfield, one of the Marlboro Men who appeared in dozens of ads over several decades, died Monday at his home in Wyoming. He was 85.
Iframe Code
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Winfield stood out from the other men featured in the ads because he was an actual cowboy. Described by friends as a "man's man," he worked on his ranch every day. In a 1992 interview with The New York Times, a Philip Morris spokesman said, "You could look at the different cowboys that we’ve used and you could argue that they were all the Marlboro man. But Darrell is really the Marlboro man."
Born in Oklahoma, Winfield moved to California as a child, and married his wife, Lennie Spring, in 1948. In 1968, Winfield, his wife, and six children moved to Pinedale, Wyoming, where he was spotted by a photographer working for Philip Morris while working as a ranch hand. He ended up being the inspiration behind most of the company's advertising until 1998, when the use of humans or cartoon in tobacco advertisements was banned. During his time as the Marlboro Man, Winfield wore his own clothes to every shoot, and many of the cattle and horses in the photos belonged to him as well.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
