Dave Goerlitz

Monday, May 17th, 1999

Rendez-vous with Dave Goerlitz, former Winston Man.

Thank you, Dave, for accepting our "rendez-vous." May I ask you to introduce yourself?

"Sure, Philippe. I come to tobacco-free activism through  a "backdoor approach," if you will.
In the early 80's, an ulcer forced me to lose a lot of weight I had been saddled with from my early childhood. Lo and behold!  The kid who had been about 233 pounds (at 5'5"), cross-eyed and a bedwetter at 13 had grown up to become a 6' guy who had some pretty classic looks:
bright blue eyes and lips that had an androgynous appeal to them.

And, at age 30, I did something that geeky kids like I had been all through that rite of passage known as adolescence had always wanted to do: be a model and actor. And through it all, I was smoking 3-and-a-half-packs-of-cigarettes-a-day!

To make along story short, that modeling adventure took me straight into the heart of the tobacco advertising industry for R.J. Reynolds' Winston Cigarettes.