Tobacco pitchman hoping to beat cancer in time for lawsuit

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL--A south Florida man who once made his living selling cigarettes now hopes he lives long enough for his lawsuit against the tobacco industry to make it to trial.

Alan Landers was the actor who appeared as the Winton Man in print and billboard advertising across America in the 1960's and 70's.

A life long smoker, he was diagnosed with his first bout of lung cancer in 1987. In 1992, doctors found cancer in his other lung. Multiple surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments followed, some with devastating side effects.

During one operation, for example, a nerve was cut to his vocal cords, making normal sounding speech impossible, a crushing blow to a man who once owned Alan Landers Acting Studio in Hollywood.

Landers now lives in Ft. Lauderdale and is one of thousands of Floridians who have lawsuits pending against various tobacco companies, seeking to hold those corporations responsible for their precarious health.

In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion class action verdict that would have included Landers and others, calling the award excessive. But the court allowed the case's conclusion that tobacco companies sold dangerous products and hid the health risks associated with smoking.

Landers' case may have gotten a boost last week when a Broward County jury agreed the widow of Stuart Hess that his death from lung cancer came from his addiction to nicotine. The jury held tobacco giant Philip Morris responsible for Hess's death and determine how much the company should pay Hess's estate.

On his blog, called 'Winston Man,' Landers wrote that he receiving radiation treatments for a tumor in his throat.

"I feel very positive about this whole journey because I know the doctors are doing their best to keep me alive," he wrote.

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