A world away from Marlboro Country, wind shifts

I grew up in the United States in the 1950s and '60s with the Marlboro Man - a horse-riding, cattle-driving hunk of XY chromosomes whose chiseled visage was a model of masculinity. His gaze across the prairie in the golden sunset was sublime. The smoke from his cigarette curled away seductively, but he didn't seem to notice. He was thinking thoughts that only a legend could think.

It was the best-known cigarette advertising campaign of the 20th century. "Come to where the flavor is. Come to Marlboro Country." More than 90 percent of schoolchildren knew the Marlboro Man on TV. He was cool. He was tough. He was self-sufficient. He rode horses and fixed trucks. And many a child, especially boys, made the trip to Marlboro Country.

We know something else about the actors who played the Marlboro Man: At least four died of lung cancer, emphysema or heart disease. The latest was Eric Lawson, whose leaf fell off the tree last year at age 72. He was basically suffocated by pulmonary disease.