It was a haunting image — the famous shaved head, the famous face of King Siam from Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I; the visage that appeared in thousands of stage plays as well as on the silver screen appearing now on television before an unadorned backdrop and talking about the dangers of smoking. Two years after his death.

On this day, February 19, in 1987, the first anti-smoking advertisement, produced by American Cancer Society, was broadcast on television. Yul Brynner, the famous stage and film actor appeared as the Cancer Society’s spokesman. Filmed shortly before his death from lung cancer, Brynner, who was often spotted with cigarettes in his mouth, urged his listeners: “Don’t smoke. Just don’t smoke.”

This first anti-smoking commercial was a culmination of efforts beginning in the middle of the 1960s when the Surgeon General issued his report stating that smoking is hazardous to health. Following the report, tobacco advertisements were heavily restricted: television and radio ads were completely banned, while packages were required to contain a clearly visible label with the Surgeon General’s warning.