Darrell H. Winfield (July 30, 1929 – January 12, 2015) was an American rancher and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

best known as "The

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by advertising executive ...

" in

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

s and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

s for

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...

cigarettes.

Biography

Winfield was born in

Kansas, Oklahoma Kansas is a town in Delaware County, Oklahoma, Delaware County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 711 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and an estimated 744 in 2023. Geography Kansas is located in southern Delaware County. S ...

. His family relocated to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

when he was six years old. This move was part of the "

Okie An Okie is a person identified with the state of Oklahoma, or their descendants. This connection may be residential, historical or cultural. For most Okies, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their bei ...

migration" of the 1930s in which many midwest farming families, devastated by the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...

, headed west to California to start over. He was the Marlboro Man from 1968 until 1989. He is also credited with being the most portrayed man in the world by some. Philip Morris has used many cowboys for their ads but has declared that Winfield was "really the Marlboro man." As an adult, Winfield moved to Wyoming and began ranching. Executives from

Leo Burnett Worldwide Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc., also known as Leo Burnett Company, Inc., is an American advertising company, founded on August 5, 1935, in Chicago by Leo Burnett. In September 2002, the company was acquired by Publicis Groupe, the world's third ...

, an advertising agency, visited the ranch where Winfield was working in June 1968 to take photographs for a new Phillip Morris sales campaign. They liked Winfield's looks and asked him if he would be interested in working for Marlboro. The first Marlboro advertisement featuring Winfield was "The Sheriff". In a 1986 interview, Winfield stated that he thought that his "life would have basically been the same" had he not been given the chance to work for Marlboro.

Death and legacy

Winfield died in

Riverton, Wyoming Riverton is a city in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. The city's population was 10,682 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the county. History The city, founded in 1906, is an incorporated entity of the state of Wy ...

, on January 12, 2015, aged 85. That year Winfield was inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winfield, Darrell 1929 births 2015 deaths Male models from Oklahoma People from Riverton, Wyoming