Stories Behind TV’s Top Commercial Pitchmen — From Colonel Sanders to Mr. Whipple and More

Colonel Sanders

Colonel Harland Sanders was a real person who founded the “finger lickin’ good” Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. He first served meals in front of his Corbin, Kentucky, service station in 1930 and began frying chicken in a pressure cooker in 1939.

New outlets for his fast food chain proliferated in the late 1950s and he ultimately sold KFC in 1964. “You’ll rust out quicker ’n you’ll wear out!” said the hardworking honorary Kentucky colonel, who stayed on as spokesman until his death in 1980 at age 90.

Mr. Whipple

“Please, don’t squeeze the Charmin!” actor Dick Wilson implored shoppers in over 500 bathroom tissue ads from 1964 to 1985 — although he could never resist a pinch! This character actor frequently appeared on TV series like Maverick, but Charmin made his career.

“It was like a paid vacation,” said Wilson, who earned as much as $320 when one of his spots aired. “I had a great run.” He returned for a Charmin campaign in 1999 before passing in 2007 at age 91.

Mother Nature

“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” Dena Dietrich scolded the announcer when he revealed that she had tasted Chiffon margarine, not butter. (Cue thunder!) The ads, which began running in the early 1970s, gave a big boost to Dietrich’s acting career.

“Calls started coming from Hollywood. They were curious,” said the actress, now 91.

Mikey

Actor John Gilchrist, who rose to fame at age 3 as the kid who “hates everything” but loves Life cereal, would like to clear up a popular urban myth. “The folklore that I ate Pop Rocks, the exploding candies, and I drank a soda and my stomach blew up” is untrue, said Gilchrist, 52.

He filmed the spot in 1971 with his two real-life older brothers and it aired from 1972 to 1984. Gilchrist went on to appear in 250 more ads before leaving acting, but he still eats Life cereal! “I love talking about it,” he’s said. “It’s a part of me.”

Today he’s director of media sales for MSG Networks.

Madge

The manicurist, played by Jan Miner from 1966 to 1992, told clients that Palmolive softens hands while you do dishes. “You’re soaking in it!” she revealed. Miner, who died in 2004 at 86, felt blessed that the gig paid her enough to indulge her real, less well-paid passion for theater.

“I’d dip my hands in Palmolive the rest of my life!” she said.

Clara “Where’s the Beef?” Peller

Confronted with a “very big bun,” Clara Peller barked “Where’s the beef?” in a 1984 Wendy’s hamburger advertisement — and took the country by storm! Presidential hopeful Walter Mondale even used the line to zing fellow candidate Gary Hart in a debate.

“I never knew I could make all this money, as old as I am,” said Peller, a 4-foot-10 former beautician from Chicago who was cast in the commercial at age 81. Unfortunately, repeating her catchphrase in a 1985 Prego spaghetti sauce ad cost her the lucrative gig. She passed away in 1987 at 85.

Jack “Mama Mia” Somack

“Mama mia, that’s a-spicy meatball,” Jack Somack wailed in ads for Alka-Seltzer. Because the character played by this former chemical engineer needed multiple takes to get his one line right in this 1971 ad-within-an-antacid-ad, it became a classic — although it was eventually pulled for perpetuating negative Italian stereotypes.

Somack died at age 64 in 1983.

Morris

In 1968, animal trainer Bob Martwick searched for the purr-fect feline to play “the world’s most finicky cat” in 9-Lives ads. He met Lucky at the Hinsdale, Illinois, Humane Society. “He’s the Clark Gable of cats!” the ad agency director gushed after being head-bumped by the grumpy feline.

Lucky starred in 58 commercials from 1969 until his death in 1978. His droll commentary was voiced by John Erwin, 83, who years later became the voice of the cartoon hero He-Man.