Hollywood movie stars got kickbacks from tobacco industry.
From the first talkie in 1927 to 1951 many of Hollywood’s top movie stars made an extra $5,000 per year – that’s $75,000 today – by endorsing coffin nails, researchers revealed.
The study conducted by University of California in San Francisco claimed that smoking in movies influenced teens and impressionable adults to begin smoking and its persistent presence was the result of secret deals between the tobacco industry and major Hollywood studios.
The research team named stars Fred MacMurray, Betty Grable, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, singer Al Jolson and John Wayne as all appearing in tobacco plugs.
The study found that the studios would negotiate not only the content but which stars endorsed what.
The report published in Tobacco Control journal said that the cigarette ads were timed with the release of a star’s new movie.
Needless to say, many of the stars named in the report ultimately died from tobacco-related illnesses.
