"Marlboro Man" Darrell Winfield, who became connected with the iconic cigarette and advertising campaign in the late 1960s, died at his residence in Riverton, Wyoming, at 85 on Monday.
Winfield, a native of Little Kansas, Oklahoma, was working at the Quarter Circle 5 Ranch in Pinedale, Wyoming, when he was discovered by Leo Burnett with Phillip Morris Advertising to become one of their Marlboro men as part of their
cigarette campaign, according to The Daily Ranger.
Winfield's image was used on billboards, signs, advertisements, and other promotional materials worldwide to promote Marlboro cigarettes from 1968 to 1989. Several actors and authentic ranchers portrayed the iconic character over the years, which was first used in Marlboro advertisements in 1949.
"At one time, [Winfield's] face was known as the most photographed around the world," The Daily Ranger reported. "His family said he once was asked what his life would have been like if he had not been the Marlboro Man and he said, 'Life would have basically been the same.' His family said he was a 'true' cowboy."
He had belonged to the Rodeo Cowboy Association, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and later the Screen Actors Guild when he became connected with Marlboro, according to the newspaper.
County10.com wrote that even after Winfield stopped appearing in Marlboro ads, he worked as a wrangler for Marlboro ad photo shoots for his successors. He was an active rancher when not assisting with the company's photo shoots and lived in a ranch north of Riverton, Wyoming.
In a 1975 interview Winfield said the ad agency "doesn't want any
phony baloney stuff," according to the Los Angeles Times.
"The image they try to portray is more that of . . . a kind of rugged individual," Winfield told the Times in the interview. "It makes us a little more mysterious, but maybe that's not the right word. It's as close to authentic as they can make it."
In a 1986 interview with Scott Ellsworth, then a Smithsonian Institution historian, Winfield told the Times that he wore his own clothes in ad shoots, and often provided his own cattle and horses in the images.
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