British drug smuggler Howard Marks who wrote about his exploits in an autobiography “Mr Nice” has died at the age of 70 after suffering from bowel cancer.

Marks, who learned of his condition last year, died in the early hours of Sunday at his home near Bridgend in Wales, according to a statement from his publisher Harvill Secker.

Marks turned to cannabis trafficking in the 1970s after graduating from Oxford University with a degree in physics.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

After a series of multi-million pound deals and high-profile court cases, his career in drug smuggling finally came to an end in 1988 when he was caught after a raid on his house in Spain and extradited to the United States.

He was sentenced to 25 years in a high-security American prison but released on parole after seven years.

In 1996 Marks published his autobiography, which sold over a million copies and was followed later by a film of the same name in which he was played by his friend and fellow Welshman Rhys Ifans.

“Mr Nice was above all an adventure story,” said his editor at Harvill Secker, Geoff Mulligan.

“Around the time of publication a close friend of Howard said to me: ‘people are going to think he’s made half of this up’ but I know he left out half of it.”

In later life, Marks campaigned for the legalization of cannabis and even stood for parliament in 1997 for the sole purpose of legalizing the drug.

A skilled raconteur, he toured a one-man show recounting his experiences on the wrong side of the law and in 2015 published a follow-up to his autobiography called “Mr Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament.”

He said when he first learned of his cancer last year that he had no regrets about his life.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount