Posted on 02/08/2007 1:17:38 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the untimely death of her son, died Thursday after collapsing at a South Florida hotel, one of her lawyers said.
Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to a hospital.
"She checked in Monday at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out tomorrow," said Danielle Giordaano, a spokeswoman for the hotel.
Smith had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy's playmate of the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his estate, her weight fluctuations, and last year, the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith.
A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her Guess magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.
In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the head of oil-based Koch Industries, which is part of a family fortune worth at least $400 million.
He died in 1995, setting off a feud with her former stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, over whether she had a right to his estate.
A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million in a complicated legal twist that began after she declared bankruptcy. That was later overturned.
But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she deserved another day in court in her battle with her former stepson.
The justices said only that federal courts in California could deal with her case despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall was the sole heir to the estate.
Then, the stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would continue.
Daniel Smith died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas, just days after she gave birth to a daughter.
An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he had methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died. Low levels of the three drugs interacted to cause an accidental death, Wecht said.
Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of dispute.
She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six children of Donald Eugene and Virgie Hart Hogan.
She married Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two years later.
Very sad.
Stern. The official investigation has begun.
Anna was a beauty, but her demons got the best of her. Rest in peace.
"You obviously don't know the meaning of the word talent. I also doubt if you have seen more than 2 or 3 of her films."
Now, why don't you call my mother names, you idiot.
The list below is from IMDB.COM
Something's Got to Give (1962) .... Ellen Wagstaff Arden - Forgettable
The Misfits (1961) .... Roslyn Taber - Saw it just recently for the nth time.
Let's Make Love (1960) .... Amanda Dell
... aka The Billionaire
... aka The Millionaire - Cute but no true display of talent
Some Like It Hot (1959) .... Sugar Kane Kowalczyk - Already commented.
The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) .... Elsie Marina - Unremarkable.
Bus Stop (1956) .... Cherie - Pretty good.
... aka The Wrong Kind of Girl
The Seven Year Itch (1955) .... The Girl - Her best performance.
There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) .... Vicky Hoffman/Vicky Parker
... aka Irving Berlin's There's No Business Like Show Business (USA: complete title) - Quite average.
River of No Return (1954) .... Kay Weston - Mitchum is great, Tommy Rettig is good, Marylin is there.
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) .... Pola Debevoise - cute
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) .... Lorelei Lee
... aka Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (USA: complete title) - Also cute
Niagara (1953) .... Rose Loomis totally unremarkable
O. Henry's Full House (1952) .... Streetwalker (The Cop and the Anthem)
... aka Full House (UK) Didn't see it
Monkey Business (1952) .... Miss Lois Laurel
... aka Be Your Age
... aka Howard Hawks' Monkey Business (USA: complete title) - Gee, was she in this?
Don't Bother to Knock (1952) .... Nell Forbes - Never saw it to my knowledge (I was 11 then)
We're Not Married! (1952) .... Annabel Jones Norris - Same as above
Clash by Night (1952) .... Peggy
Let's Make It Legal (1951) .... Joyce Mannering
Love Nest (1951) .... Roberta Stevens
As Young as You Feel (1951) .... Harriet
Home Town Story (1951) .... Iris Martin
Right Cross (1950) (uncredited) .... Dusky Ledoux
All About Eve (1950) .... Miss Caswell
The Fireball (1950) .... Polly
... aka The Challenge
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) .... Angela Phinlay
A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950) (uncredited) .... Clara
Love Happy (1949) .... Grunion's Client
... aka Kleptomaniacs (USA)
Ladies of the Chorus (1948) .... Peggy Martin
Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) (unconfirmed)
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948) (uncredited) .... Girl in Canoe (lake scenes)/Girl Exiting Church
... aka Summer Lightning (UK)
You Were Meant for Me (1948) (unconfirmed)
Dangerous Years (1947) .... Evie
**Who's responsible for getting/giving her this drug?**
Methadone is frequently prescribed by pain management physicians.
It is one of the only drugs for pain that the DEA doesn't come down hard on because you cannot get "high" on it.
After the big oxycontin scare the DEA put pressure on doctors to quit prescribing oxycontin and substitute methadone instead.
Methadone has proven to be a MORE dangerous drug than oxycontin because people keep taking more and more of it in an attempt to get high. They overdose and die. It takes about 3 days to get to steady state in your bloodstream.
It is found on the streets because opiate addicts will use it to prevent withdrawal when they can't get their regular opiates.
It's also very nasty stuff to come off of.
I smell Trimspa. I suspect it was too much for her heart. Guess we'll find out eventually.
I feel so sorry for her baby also. My friend lost her hubby when she was 5 months pregnant with their third child. It so tragic to lose a parent.
Ditto.
I've never understood the attraction to that.
She had a potato nose in her early photos. Still, she lit people up. There were lots of other chesty blonds around. She developed her attractive side in many ways and added her open mouth, half-closed eyes pose. She could "become Marilyn" instantly and attract crowds.
Too bad Marilyn got mixed up with the Kennedy brothers. They were more toxic than the Mob and far more powerful.
Has anyone noticed that the life expectancy of the very rich is shockingly brief? Get a load of money and poof, dead. Thrown out of a plane. Burnt to a crisp in a high security apartment. Drug overdose. Arkancide. I'm glad no one wants my money because I don't have any.
Don't know if it was suicide or not. This has STRANGE written all over it.
Ditto. Those calling Marilyn fat have obviously never seen the Bert Stern photos...
Ditto. Those calling Marilyn fat have obviously never seen the Bert Stern photos...
Ditto. How sad for it all to end like this. Too bad; she could've had so much time to turn it around. I'm no fan either but things like this are just kind of shocking, and sad.
Talent = Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant, Bette Davis
Please. Marilyn was just a thing for some men to pant over - which is virtually all she did, by the way, with that stupid "sexy" pouting, posturing, and ooohing and aahing.
She and James Dean by far the MOST overrated ever - that iconic status makes me sick; their movies are really in the end totally ignored (except SOME LIKE IT HOT - NOT because of MM) except by the fringe. But at least 1 could argue Dean had some kind of acting ability. Or at least he - being a man - was allowed to show it. Marilyn was generally allowed only to be a sex pot. A pretty pathetic, stupid 1 at that.
Not sure what that is supposed to prove other than that you know how to cut and paste from the internet. I guess it does show that clearly the people in the business at that time understood talent. Her career included 30 films (1 unfinished) over a 15 year period starting with small roles and building to her becoming a top box office draw. She put in a lot of work in those small roles to reach the top of her profession. Several of those films are considered the very best from the 1950s.
I smell an evil lawyer.
Hillary and Nazi Pulosi. No wait, they just have big egos'
No court ever awarded her "the entire family fortune," or anything close to that.
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