The right celebrity doesn’t just get your brand noticed. They change what people believe about it.
For more than three decades I’ve worked where celebrity, advertising and public trust meet, including a decade developing campaigns with Betty White. This guide looks at 25 living Hollywood legends aged 75 and older, the campaigns that worked for them, and what each one shows about the kind of trust a famous face can bring to a brand.
The shorter version, with fourteen of these names and why brands keep missing them, is my essay Still Here, Still Selling.
Why it workedA reverse mortgage asks an older homeowner to trust a stranger with the house. Wagner had been a welcome guest in their living rooms for forty years.
What it showsWhen the product asks for trust, hire a face that has already earned it.
Why it workedSelleck reads as steady and unflashy, which is what someone deciding about their home wants. AT&T used the same calm to make the future sound reassuring.
What it showsCalm credibility sells big, nervous decisions.
Why it workedShe was playing a sharp, no-nonsense newswoman on television, and Sprint borrowed that authority for a crowded, confusing category.
What it showsA persona trusted for straight talk can cut through a cluttered market.
Why it workedHis voice and authority turned a car company’s comeback story into something that sounded national.
What it showsA legend can give a brand’s message a stature the product alone can’t.
Why it workedShe didn’t just endorse the clothes. She put her name on them and stayed involved, and women trusted her taste. CBS News reported that roughly 100 million women bought from the line.
What it showsOwnership builds more trust than endorsement.
Why it workedHer name was already a standard of quality in the home. Macy’s was buying that standard.
What it showsWhen a person is shorthand for expertise, the name is the product.
Why it workedHer name made exercising at home feel serious and glamorous at once. The tapes eventually sold about 17 million copies, according to Mental Floss.
What it showsA star’s name can create a product category, not just sell into one.
Why it workedA fragrance is a promise of allure, and few names promised more.
What it showsSometimes the name is the product’s entire meaning.
Why it workedA brand that sells what’s new chose a woman whose glamour had lasted four decades. That said its products were timeless, not trendy.
What it showsLongevity can be the message.
Why it workedHe let the joke be on himself, and the self-mockery made an unfamiliar new website feel friendly.
What it showsA legend willing to laugh at their own image can make a new brand feel familiar fast.
Why it workedBoth played her glamour against slapstick: the drink spilled on her, the diva in a football locker room.
What it showsGlamour plus a willingness to be the punch line is rare, and audiences remember it.
Why it workedShe sent up her own soap-star glamour, which made a value retailer feel stylish without feeling snobby.
What it showsCamp works when the star is in on the joke.
Why it workedThe ad was built on a film people already love, and he committed to it completely.
What it showsA beloved role, revisited with the star’s blessing, gives an ad an instant story.
Why it workedJersey roots and good humor. He sounds like a regular telling you where to eat.
What it showsRegional authenticity travels nationally when the star embodies it.
Why it workedA carrier built for older customers hired a star they grew up with, and he plays it warm and wry.
What it showsA face from the customer’s own generation tells them the brand is for them.
Why it workedThat voice signals grit and honesty before he finishes a sentence.
What it showsSometimes the asset is a voice, and it can carry a brand with no face on screen.
Why it workedEasygoing, Texan, unpretentious. The restaurant’s personality is his.
What it showsThe best pairings feel inevitable.
Why it workedEach one surprised people, and the surprise made the brands look confident.
What it showsAn unexpected pairing earns attention a predictable one can’t.
Why it workedHis reputation for plain-spoken sincerity carried a message about common ground.
What it showsA star known for meaning what he says lends a brand that same conviction.
Why it workedIt told his life story backward to the piano he was given as a child, tying the store’s Christmas to a gift that changed a life.
What it showsA legend’s real biography can be the whole story.
Why it workedSmooth, confident, and his line “It works every time” entered pop culture. The brand brought him back thirty years later.
What it showsA great spokesperson can become the brand’s memory.
Why it workedThe speech about fighting for every inch was already beloved. Pointed at cancer research, it took on new weight.
What it showsA legend’s most famous moment can work as hard as the legend.
Why it workedGucci paired its most fashion-forward work with a Hitchcock heroine in her late eighties, and looked cultured, not just current.
What it showsLuxury brands use legends to borrow history.
Why it workedHer screen glamour gave a handbag a story.
What it showsIconic style doesn’t age, and a fashion house said so out loud.
Why it workedJeannie’s charm was mischievous but wholesome, which suited an everyday product sold at the grocery store. Years later I built a campaign around her, and the recognition was still there.
What it showsA beloved character can carry warmth into the most ordinary purchase.
Yes. Consumer Cellular has used Ted Danson since 2022. Jersey Mike’s made Danny DeVito its first celebrity that same year. In 2026 Pfizer built a World Cancer Day ad around Al Pacino’s speech from Any Given Sunday.
An influencer rents a brand attention. A legend lends it trust that took decades to build. Three generations recognize these faces without a caption, and the audience that grew up with them is older now, buying, and tired of being sold to by strangers.
Start with what you need people to believe about your company, not with who is famous. Wagner and Selleck sold trust. Shatner and Collins sold approachability. Smith and Stewart sold taste. The right face is the one whose persona already says what your brand needs to say.
Don’t assume so. This guide records what each person has done, not what they will do.
It is checked monthly. The date at the top is the last check.
The question isn’t which star you can book. It’s which personality can make people believe what your brand needs them to believe, and how to bring them in without costing either side its reputation.
That’s the work I do. I help companies identify the personalities who can make their brands matter, and build campaigns that are worthy of the talent and useful to the business. If you’re weighing a celebrity for your brand, I’d like to talk: Stephen@stepheneterrell.com or 1-855-UNBLAND.
I don’t represent anyone named in this guide, and nothing here suggests that any person named endorses me, my work or any product. Names are included because their advertising history is public.