David McLean Movies and Career Information

David McLean (b. May 19, 1922, Akron, Ohio - d. October 12, 1995, Culver City, California) was an American film and television actor, best-known for appearing in many Marlboro television and print advertisements, starting in the early 1960s. David McLean was born as Eugene Joseph Huth in Akron, Ohio. In addition to his work for Marlboro, McLean also starred as the title character in the short-lived 1960 NBC Television series, Tate, and appeared in numerous television series and feature films in the '60s and '70s. A lifelong smoker, McLean started suffering from emphysema in 1985, and had a tumor removed in 1994. After he found out that he had cancer, he became an anti-smoking advocate. At a meeting of stockholders of Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, McLean requested they limit their advertising. He died of lung cancer at the age of 73, on October 12, 1995. In 1996, McLean's widow and son filed suit for wrongful death against Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro, claiming that they encouraged or even required cigarette smoking which caused his lung cancer. A fictitious version of these purported events were featured in the comic novel Thank You for Smoking.