(CNN) -- Anna Nicole Smith, the voluptuous former model whose life as a Playboy centerfold, billionaire's widow and reality TV star made her the center of tabloid attention, is dead.
She was 39.
Smith was found Thursday "unconscious and unresponsive" in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, according to Hollywood Fire and Rescue. (Full story)
"I am very saddened to learn about Anna Nicole's passing," a statement from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said. "She was a dear friend who meant a great deal to the Playboy family and to me personally."
Rise to fame
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in the small Texas town of Mexia -- about 90 miles south of Dallas -- on November 28, 1967. She was raised by her mother, a police officer.
She married her 16-year-old boyfriend, Bill Smith, in 1985, quitting high school after 11th grade. According to Biography Resource Center Online, after her husband became abusive following the birth of Daniel, Smith left, supporting herself as a waitress and by working in a discount store. The couple divorced in 1987.
Smith was working as a topless dancer in Houston, Texas, when she made her first appearance in Playboy. The magazine put her on the cover in March 1992 and made her Playmate of the Month in May. In 1993 she was named Playmate of the Year.
Not long after, Smith appeared in ads for Guess jeans and had a small part in the movie "The Hudsucker Proxy." That led to appearances in several movies, including "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" in 1994.
"She had something magic," Paul Marciano, CEO of Guess jeans, told CNN. "People still ask me about Anna Nicole."
Marciano recalled his first encounter with Smith, for a 1992 Guess photo shoot.
"From the first day I met her, every moment was filled with excitement and drama," he said.
"Her personality was very complex, but yet she had a charming, sexy, and seductive side," he added.
Marciano said he was the one who changed Smith's name. "I did not like Vickie Smith," he said.
In June 1994, the then-26-year-old Smith married Texas oil baron J. Howard Marshall II, 89, a wheelchair-bound tycoon whom she met while working as a dancer. According to People magazine, after their wedding at Houston's White Dove Wedding Chapel, Smith kissed her husband and told him, "Bye, darling, I'm off to Greece."
Marshall, who was worth $1.6 billion, died 14 months later. The lack of a prenuptial agreement set off a huge, 12-year legal battle between Smith and Marshall's son, E. Pierce Marshall.
At first, Smith was evicted from the Marshall ranch and her money -- a $50,000 monthly allowance -- was cut off. She filed for bankruptcy in 1999.
In 2000, Smith won a $474 million judgment, but that was scrapped when a Texas state court ruled that Pierce Marshall was the sole heir. In May 2006, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Smith could pursue her fight in federal court. Pierce Marshall, 67, died in June. The Marshall family said at the time they would continue the legal battle over the fortune.
In 2002, Smith launched a reality television program, "The Anna Nicole Show," on the E! Entertainment network. At one point, the show -- featuring Smith, Stern, Daniel Smith and Anna Nicole Smith's Prozac-laced dog, Sugarpie, was the network's highest-rated program.
CNN's Larry King interviewed Smith several times during her career.
"She was a special person; she was an unusual person," King told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" on Thursday. "She was genuine; she was funny; she had some class.
"I feel very, very sorry for everybody concerned, but mostly for that little girl."
King said Smith reminded people of late movie star Marilyn Monroe. Monroe died at 36 of a drug overdose in 1962.
Smith "had a very troubled life," Lenard Leeds, a former lawyer for Smith, told the Web site TMZ.com.
"She wanted to be like Marilyn her whole life and ironically died in a similar manner,"
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