Anna Nicole Smith was an American model, actress, and television personality who was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967. Smith rose to prominence after winning the 1993 Playmate of the Year award in Playboy magazine. Guess, H&M, and Heatherette was among the brands for which she modeled.
Smith dropped out of high school in 1982 when he was 14 years old, married in 1985, and divorced in 1993. Her second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall in 1994 was extensively publicized, leading to speculation that she married him for his money, which she rejected.
Smith initiated a lengthy court struggle over a piece of Marshall’s assets after his death in 1995. Marshall v. Marshall, a question of federal jurisdiction, and Stern v. Marshall, a matter of bankruptcy court authority, both reached the United States Supreme Court.
Smith appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine’s March 1992 issue as Vickie Smith. In the May 1992 issue, she was featured as the Playboy Playmate of the Month in a photoshoot by Stephen Wayda. Smith was hired to fill in for supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess jeans ad campaign that included a series of seductive black-and-white photos.
Smith was a successful model, but she never achieved the same level of fame or success as an actress. She made her screen debut as Za-Za, a flirty celebrity who flirts with the central character, played by Tim Robbins, in a barbershop scene in the 1994 screwball comedy film The Hudsucker Proxy.
Smith died of an accidental overdose of prescription medications in a Hollywood, Florida hotel room in February 2007. Smith was the subject of renewed media attention in the months preceding her death, due to the loss of her son, Daniel, and the paternity and custody fight over her newborn daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead.
