For years, he delivered one great commercial after another. I remember idolizing him as a teenager, thinking about what crazy stunt he would pull off next. I started to want to know more about this mysterious man who seemed to have it all: the ladies, the near death stunts, and the catchiest quotes in all of Hollywood.

So, I started doing some digging and was honestly not that surprised to find that his real life was not that different from the life he portrayed…minus shark tank dives and the pet puma.

The Man Behind the Most Interesting Man

In 1987, bohemian actor Jonathan Goldsmith was cast in an episode of the short-lived CBS crime drama “The Law & Harry McGraw” as a Broadway star who winds up dead. To film his funeral, the director rented out a musty, rundown funeral home. As assistants searched for a coffin to use, they were shocked to find, in one, a “woman, elderly, small, and quite dead.”

As he writes in his new memoir, “Stay Interesting: I Don’t Always Tell Stories About My Life, But When I Do, They’re True and Amazing” (Dutton), Goldsmith, best known for playing The Most Interesting Man in the World in a series of popular commercials for Dos Equis beer, asked the assistant director, “Can we please get another coffin?”

“Just get in the f—ing coffin,” the director said as crew members “reached in and yanked the woman out” while Goldsmith got into his creepy position.

“I could smell the toxic traces and stench of death, the formaldehyde, old and stale,” writes Goldsmith, 78. “With the cover closed, I couldn’t help but imagine my own death.”

At first glance, it might seem odd for a man best known for beer commercials to write a memoir. But the book makes clear how well cast Goldsmith was in that role, as his own life has often matched his character’s in terms of pure excitement.

Born in the Bronx in 1938, Goldsmith has spent most of his life trying to make it as an actor. As he learned his trade at the Neighborhood Playhouse in Midtown, Dustin Hoffman was an early nemesis.

“Dustin Hoffman and I never got along,” he writes, noting that as similarly short and “swarthy” Jewish actors, they often competed for roles, and there were personality differences keeping them at odds.

“He was serious, somber, a student of the craft,” Goldsmith writes. “I was more light-hearted . . . more social oriented than Dustin.”

The pair traveled together in a road production called “A Cook for Mr. General,” and after two weeks of irking each other, Goldsmith finally called Hoffman out.

“ ‘I know why you don’t like me,’ I bellowed.” Hoffman “sat there, dumbfounded. ‘Because I’m going to make it and you’re not,’ I stated defiantly, and stood up and left the restaurant.”

“I didn’t return to that lunch,” Goldsmith writes. “But over the next 40 years, I would have those words to eat.”

Hoffman would not be his only celebrity enemy. After he appeared with Clint Eastwood in the 1968 western “Hang ’Em High,” Eastwood never spoke to him again due to a dalliance Goldsmith had with Eastwood’s girlfriend on set.

While Goldsmith never hit the heights of fame, he had great success as a Hollywood player.

The Top 22 Most Interesting Man in the World Quotes

Feel free to comment which one is your favorite below

1 )  He lives vicariously through himself

Let that one sink in…

2 ) He Once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels

Just to try it out…

3 ) His beard along has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body

Fear the Beard…

4 ) When it is raining, it is because he is thinking of something sad

The Most Interesting Tears…

5 ) His shirts never wrinkle

100% swag…

6 ) He is left-handed and right-handed

The modern man’s pursuit…

7 ) If he were to mail a letter without postage, it would still get there

Even Santa Claus would receive it…

8 ) The police often question him just because they find him interesting

What I used to think when I got pulled over in high school…

9 ) His blood smells like cologne

I would imagine it is the Sex Panther Cologne from Anchorman…

10 ) On every continent in the world, there is a sandwich named after him

Must be nice…

11 ) Cuba imports cigars from him. Mosquitos refuse to bite him purely out of respect. In museums, he is allowed to touch the art.

Prestige…

12 ) His business card simply says “I’ll call you.”

Enough said…

13 ) He has won the lifetime achievement award, twice

Let that one sink in…

14 )  If he were to punch you in the face, you would have to fight off the urge to thank him

A man’s man…

15 ) He bowls overhand

Lol…

16 ) He is fluent in all languages, including three that he only speaks

Let that one sink in…

17 ) He tips an astonishing 100%

A waitress’ go-to guy…

18 ) Once while sailing around the world, he discovered a short cut

Very carefully…

19 ) Panhandlers give him money

Touche…

20 ) He divorced his wife because he caught her littering

He is an environmentalist…

21 ) When he drives a new car off the lot, it increases in value

Just by touching it… 

22 ) His passport requires no photograph

No more LAX check-ins…

 

If I didn’t list your favorites, comment below and share some laughs with the crew.

 

In honor of the list, here is a tribute to Jonathan Goldsmith. Long live Señor Dos Equis!!