TSC alumnus William Thourlby personified the sophistication that has forged his name as a world-wide image-maker when he spoke to TSU students Feb. 5 as part of the Distinguished Speaker series.

Impeccable in a navy blazer and striped tie, his erect posture played off an elegant height and athletic build. Flashing a grin with perfectly even white teeth, he settled with studied grace into a chair earlier that day to share his journey as a returned soldier at TSU in the ’40s to eventual model, actor, international consultant, writer, and image-maker.

The acting bug first drew blood when Thourlby took a job as night janitor at Angola High School for some extra money during his days as a TSU business administration major. Working in the theater, he easily picked up the lines from the school play rehearsals. When the stage manager asked him to stand in after the leading man fell ill, he did the show, “and that was it,” he said.

His early modeling and advertising work led eventually to roles in major productions, like TV’s “Hawaii Five-O” and the 1962 film, “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Thourlby perfected rough-hewn good looks at a time when more delicate, even features graced the faces of leading men smiling down from movie and stage billboards. Whatever appeal he had, he didn’t know he had it. Despite his roles in major films and plays, he played down his star quality. “My family never said I was attractive, so I never had that idea,” said the St. Clair, Mich., native. “When I was young, my looks were too rough. I wasn’t a pretty boy.”

That changed dramatically when his agent called him for a Marlboro cigarette ad, a short gig Thourlby finished and forgot. “I thought, ‘Who would smoke something with a name like that?’” he said.

Performing in the Broadway show, “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” some time later, he stopped to cross a New York City street. With shock, he watched his Marlboro Man image roll by on a passing truck. “That changed the masculine look of the world. It became more macho. Overnight, I became attractive,” he said.

The original Marlboro Man was born, and the image vividly sticks in the minds of millions who experienced the heyday of TV in the 1950s.

Some time later, his TSU degree served him well in a retail venture in that drove home the power of image. After opening his men’s store, William Thourlby Limited in Atlanta, Ga., he realized the expense of advertising meant it had to pack a wallop. “Then I remembered the studio, with different types coming in and going into wardrobe and coming out as new people. I thought, ‘Isn’t that interesting? How can I verbalize that?’” he said. He purchased some inexpensive, after-midnight radio time for an ad claiming, “There’s a science to clothing, and there’s one store that knows it.”

The calls started coming in—from lawyers and a host of other professionals. Eventually, Emory University asked him to teach a course. “They asked me if I had a workbook, and I said ‘Sure.’ You can be sure I had one by the time school started,” he laughed.

His work in image creation led eventually to his role as an internationally respected communications consultant, acting as wardrobe counselor for three U.S. presidents and as adviser for such companies as Coca-Cola, Price Waterhouse, and Smith Barney.

Today, Thourlby lectures at colleges and universities across the nation, and shared some principles from his seminar, “Passport to Power: The Science of Marketing Yourself” during his TSU guest appearance. He has transformed his latest book, “Women: The New Power Class,” into a seminar and accepted an invitation to present it in China.

Throughout his multiple careers, the successful entrepreneur endorsed the power of image and put his own spin on all the options. Successful people, he said, “are just like everyone else. They just didn’t give up. A door opens, and you don’t know why, and you don’t have time to stop and ask. You just go with it.”