Billy mays quotes

Billy Mays II and Billy Mays III in the late 1980s (left), and again in the early 2000s.Photo: Courtesy of Billy Mays III Billy Mays' son, Billy Mays III, has worked hard to keep his dad's memory alive in the 15 years since his deathThe 37-year-old tells PEOPLE what it was like to witness his dad's rise to fame and what his legacy has becomeBilly Mays died at 50 in 2009 Billy Mays III shared a special bond with his father. The son of the late iconic pitchman Billy Mays tells PEOPLE that although he didn't grow up with his dad in his life every day as a child, they later developed a close relationship. "My parents were divorced. I lived with my mom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spent summers with my dad in Florida. I would also see him when he would come to town. He was like a traveling pitchman for years and years, and so I would see him every time he would come through for the Pittsburgh home show," Billy tells PEOPLE exclusively of his father. Billy remembers "playing with X-Men toys under the booth while my dad was pitching" at conventions and later, visiting his dad during marathon stints at the Home Shopping Network. Billy was in high school when his dad started becoming a bonafide public figure. "He was definitely known by then because some of the big commercials had come out in 2000. I was a freshman in high school then, and he was very well-known in our town. It was a big thing that people were picking up. By the time I was in college, it definitely changed to him being very famous." Billy recalled a teacher who would call his name during attendance and then ask, "Like the guy on TV?" "I would always say, 'Never heard of him,' and the rest of my class would laugh because they knew who he was and who I was." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Despite the joke, Billy says he was "excited" about his father's fame. "It was cool that my dad was doing his thing. He was beloved by the common man because that's where he came from. He started to make it in his career when he was in his 40s. He was a hard-working dude. A lot of the time, I feel like I enjoyed it." The two would get to spend more time together when Billy graduated high school and moved to Florida, both for college and to be closer to

Today, the Flex Tape Guy might be sitting at the top of the meme-able product spokesman pyramid, but back in the day, Billy Mays was king. Though his throne was occasionally challenged by the pitch-savvy ShamWow guy, even Mays' obituary at the New York Times noted his status as a bona fide pop culture icon. From his punchy name to his kind eyes and good-natured, yet intensively booming speaking style, Mays was the ultimate pitchman until his untimely death in 2009, at just 50 years old. AdvertisementFrom OxiClean to Kaboom, Mays could sell it all, and sell it all he did. He started learning his skills at a young age, selling mops on the Atlantic City boardwalk, and found success by always, always appearing to utterly believe in the product he was selling. Reportedly, he even gave an OxiClean pitch at his own wedding, complete with free bottles for all guests. His trademark "Hi, Billy Mays here" became a subject of countless parodies, and Mays himself was all too happy to be in on the joke, capitalizing on his wink-and-nod fame in reality shows and commercials. Still, ultimately, he was just the pitchman, and not the owner of the company that produced the goods. How much could a guy like that earn? Let's see how much Billy Mays was worth when he died. Advertisement Hi, it's Billy Mays' thick wallet Billy Mays' biggest individual professional break came in the 1990s, when Orange Glo International hired him as the promotion guy for their line of cleaners. Had he lived longer, there might have been even further fame and fortune for Mays: Shortly before his death, he started breaking into other TV formats with his Discovery Channel documentary series, Pitch Men.AdvertisementStill, when a person is extremely good at something, and said something happens to be a business, there's a fair chance that they can use their talents to make a fair few dollars. Mays may have been "just" a pitchman, but he was very much the pitchman. The world of direct-response marketing served him well, and the sheer amount of products he pitched on TV is testament to his talent, even before you take his pop culture icon status into account. According to wealth estimation site Celebrity Net Worth, in fact, Mays did so well that his net worth may have been as high as $10 million.

His dad. "Eventually, after college, I moved into his house for about two or three years. It turned out to be the last five years of his life that I spent with him. We were getting to know each other as adults because we didn't spend as much time together as dads and sons do growing up," he says. "We watched a lot of movies together in that time that I was with him. When I lived in Florida, he had a little eight-seat movie theater in his house that he had built," Billy recalls. "I took that over when I moved in, but we would watch a lot of movies. I remember his favorite movie of all time was Gladiator with Russell Crowe. We watched that a couple of times in there." Billy says there were even a few "perks" he got to enjoy as Billy Mays' son. "I always thought it was a big deal when he would bring me on camera. Sometimes we'd go and crash other people's live demonstrations, try the bread or whatever they were making," he says, laughing. As an adult, Billy got into production assistant work, which his dad encouraged. "I started out on his shoots. He brought me in one day after I was out of college and he basically told the producer to put me to work — a true nepo baby in the infomercial world," he jokes. "I started out and I had to actually work hard. There was no pressure on them to keep hiring me after it was not my dad's shoots anymore, but at that point I really ended up liking the industry and moved outside of the sphere of infomercials." At the same time, Billy was watching Pitchmen, his dad's reality series with Sully, former business partner [Anthony 'Sully' Sullivan], unfold. "I got to work on the whole Pitchmen season, which was basically them filming us working in that year before he died," he recalls. "There's one episode where I was heavily featured, and I got to direct my dad in a local commercial for a pizza shop that was his brother-in-law's restaurant in Florida. I ended up directing it and the episode was called 'A Tale of Three Billies' and it's about me and my dad and my grandfather, Billy Mays I. It was fun working with my dad all the time, but it was really cool working with him in that way." Over the last few years, Billy shifted from his production work to focusing on music. He fell in love with exploring instruments in high school, with the support of both his mom and dad. "My parents got along really well despite being

Across three weekends in the summer of 2007, an Israeli-born filmmaker and entrepreneur named Offer Shlomi shot a two-minute commercial extolling the virtues of the ShamWow, a cleaning towel that promised to soak up 20 times its weight in spilled liquids.-->Across three weekends in the summer of 2007, an Israeli-born filmmaker and entrepreneur named Offer Shlomi shot a two-minute commercial extolling the virtues of the ShamWow, a cleaning towel that promised to soak up 20 times its weight in spilled liquids.Shlomi—going by the name Vince Offer—handled the yellow cloth with the dexterity of a stage magician, wiping up small puddles and blotting soda-soaked carpets.-->Shlomi—going by the name Vince Offer—handled the yellow cloth with the dexterity of a stage magician, wiping up small puddles and blotting soda-soaked carpets.The towels were made in Germany. “You know the Germans always make good stuff,” Offer told the camera. And it wasn’t just for the kitchen: you could use it as a bathmat, as an RV polisher, or to dry the dog. “Olympic divers use it as a towel," Offer said. Did they? Who knew?-->The towels were made in Germany. “You know the Germans always make good stuff,” Offer told the camera. And it wasn’t just for the kitchen: you could use it as a bathmat, as an RV polisher, or to dry the dog. “Olympic divers use it as a towel," Offer said. Did they? Who knew?In contrast to the polished infomercial pitchmen of the era, like the high-decibel Billy Mays, Offer’s approach was more conversational. “You following me, camera guy?” he asked, motioning for a close-up of a wring-out. Even the ad’s catchphrase (“You’ll be saying 'wow' every time”) was delivered as though Offer had just rolled out of bed. He seemed profoundly unconcerned with the whole thing. If viewers didn't know a good deal when they saw it, it wasn't his problem.-->In contrast to the polished infomercial pitchmen of the era, like the high-decibel Billy Mays, Offer’s approach was more conversational. “You following me, camera guy?” he asked, motioning for a close-up of a wring-out. Even the ad’s catchphrase (“You’ll be saying