Biography - Anna Nicole Smith

Former Playmate, actress, and reality star Anna Nicole Smith has in recent years been more famous for her legal shenanigans and weight-loss efforts than her screen appearances, but then again the Blonde Bombshell label tends to create celebrities by its very existence. Regardless, Smith is one of the most beloved Playboy models in history, and has provided the world with countless hours of entertainment with her television appearances and her hilarious E! Network reality show.

Smith was born in Houston, Texas on November 28, 1967 and grew up in the small town of Mexia. Raised by her mother and aunt after her father left the family, Smith dreamed of becoming the next Marilyn Monroe, and started her career as an exotic dancer in her early 20s to support her young son Daniel. It was at the Houston strip club where she worked that she met J. Howard Marshall, an oil billionaire over 60 years her senior. The pair married on June 27, 1994, in a union that lasted only slightly over a year due to his death on August 4, 1995.

Before her marriage to Marshall, Smith gained fame as a Playboy model, appearing on the March 1992 cover and soon after replacing Claudia Schiffer as a model for Guess? Jeans. She was then featured as Playmate of the Year in 1993, and was featured in two major 1994 films, the Coen Brothers’ “The Hudsucker Proxy” and the slapstick sequel “Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult”. Since Marshall’s death Smith has been involved in a series of court cases with her former stepson E. Pierce Marshall regarding her late husband’s $1.6 billion dollar estate. Though Smith was apparently not included in Marshall’s will, she has battled for the right to a large portion of the oil tycoon’s money. The case has gone through various decisions for and against Smith, and most recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Smith’s right to pursue the matter in federal court.

Though Smith’s acting career never quite took off, she has continued modeling and for the past 4 years has been the spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a diet pill program that helped her lose over 70 pounds. In 2002 she starred in the reality series “The Anna Nicole Show”, which premiered on the E! Network to decent ratings but was cancelled after a year. Nonetheless the amusing program has found an afterlife in syndication and on DVD. She is also a prominent celebrity spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, appearing in several ad campaigns for the organization protesting the use of fur and also the alleged animal abuses of Iams dog food.

On February 8, 2007, Smith was found dead in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The cause of death was ruled as an accidental drug overdose. Survived by her infant daughter Dannielynn, Smith's death caused a firestorm of legal battles over the paternity of the child in addition to her long-running case to gain control of ex-husband J. Howard Marshall's fortune. If that case is successful, Dannielynn is set to inherit millions.