Charles Atlas

CHARLES ATLAS d1972. Italian bodybuilder. The developer of a famous bodybuilding method and associated exercise program that became known for its landmark advertising campaign, featuring Atlas's name and likeness. It has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all time. According to Atlas, he trained himself to develop his body from that of a "scrawny weakling", eventually becoming the most popular muscleman of his day. He took the name "Charles Atlas" in 1922 after a friend told him he resembled the statue of Atlas on top of a hotel in Coney Island. His company Charles Atlas Ltd was founded in 1929 and as of 2010 it still continues to market a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling" [44 kg]. He died of heart failure aged 80 in 1972, after taking his habitual daily jog along the beach (his family had a history of heart attacks)