Was the Marlboro Man ever a Jehovah's Witness?

by sparky1 4 Replies latest social entertainment

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  sparky1

  

  Darrell Winfield, perhaps the most famous Marlboro Man died in 2015 at the age of 85. He portrayed the Marlboro Man from 1968-1989. His brother was a long time Bethelite named Marion "Bud" Winfield. Many ex-Bethelites probably remembered Bud as one of the receptionists at the 124 desk. Bud died in the year 2000 at the age of 65. My question is, Does anyone know if Darrell was raised as a Witness and left the religion early in life? I found an obituary page for him with a condolences section and some of the postings are 'witness like' in nature. It's interesting that he was a lifelong smoker and yet he lived 20 years longer than his 'morally clean' non-smoking brother.
  
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  _Morpheus

  Holy shit i kew bud, pretty well, at one point. One of my best friends was his roommate... buds life was pretty interesting in and of itself. He was in a terrible accident that caused him to lose much of his memory and, if i recall correctly, that was when he found the org. I could be foggy on the timeline and im not going to swear on a stack of bibles that i have it right, but if thats true then buds family wasnt in the org.

  How do you know the connection? Did bud mention it?
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  sparky1

  Yes, Bud told me that Darrell was his brother. Interestingly enough, I found an obituary that mentions that all of Darrell's brothers and sisters had pre-deceased him. Bud was named after his father, Marion. Thanks for telling me about the accident. That reminds me of something else that I will P.M. you on.

  http://thedavisfuneralhome.com/home/obit/1916
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  _Morpheus

  Man isn't that something... im sure bud mentioned it but it was a long long time ago and i dont recall... i knew he was from the mid west, so was my friend, which is why they hit it off... well one reason ;) small small world. im glad you shared this
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  neat blue dog

  Wikipedia says that 2 of the Marlboro Men were HIV positive, and Darrell Winfield, among a few others, died of cancer according to Snopes.

  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/marlboro-manslaughter/