Steve McQueen

In the early 1950s, when TV overtook radio and cut into Hollywood's box office, tobacco companies began producing or sponsoring shows on the three national networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) including variety shows, Westerns and detective dramas. Steve McQueen starred in Wanted: Dead or Alive from 1958 to 1961. By 1970, tobacco commercials were barred from TV and radio in the United States.