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Marlboro Man Dead at 72 from Chronic Lung Disease

Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died on 10 January at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Susan Lawson, said on Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as Baretta and The Streets of San Francisco when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch. His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an Entertainment Tonight segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking. Ms Lawson said her husband was proud of the interview, even though he was smoking at the time and continued the habit until he was diagnosed with COPD.

“He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him,” she said. “He knew, yet he still couldn’t stop.”

A few actors and models who appeared in adverts for Marlboro cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987, and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

Lawson is also survived by six children, 18 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

New Study: Stop Smoking Today, Add 10 Years To Your Life Tomorrow

People who smoke take at least 10 years off their life expectancy, a new study has found.

On the other hand, those who kick the habit before age 40 reduce the excess risk of death associated with continued smoking by about 90%, according to the study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

“Smoking is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the U.S.,” says Tim McAfee, a co-author of the study. “We need to do more to educate the American people about these findings,” adds McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study examined data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2004.

Women who smoke now die at a similar rate for men, the study also found. Previous research from the 1980s showed that women were less affected.

“Women now lose about 11 years of life expectancy if they smoke,” McAfee says. “Men lose about 12 years.” He adds that it is presumed that women’s smoking patterns are now more similar to men’s in terms of picking up the habit at younger ages and smoking a larger number of cigarettes.

McAfee says the study has global implications because most of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries, where cessation is less common.

h/t USA Today