R.I.P.: Houston-born Anna Nicole Smith

FoxNews has confirmed that one of Houston's own, Anna Nicole Smith has passed away. Born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967 in Houston, Texas the "Reality TV Star" and former TrimSpa spokeswoman (who was just included in a class-action suit against the company) has passed away in Hollywood, Florida. She was found unresponsive in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel - where she had been photographed at a boxing match earlier this year. Anna Nicole, who was preceded in death by her son Daniel Wayne Smith, worked in topless bars to support herself and her son, prior to hitting it big as a Playboy model. She hit the cover in March, 1992 and was lauded as the next Marilyn Monroe. She was the Playmate of the Year in 1993 and became the Guess? spokesmodel after Claudia Schiffer stepped down.

Smith met J. Howard Marshall while working at Gigi's (290 @ W. 34th) she later married him on June 27, 1994 - he was 89 and she, a ripe old 26. Fourteen months later, he died and the mother of all inheritance battles began and went all the way to the Supreme Court, who unanimously decided that she could pursue her inheritance claims in federal court. E. Pierce Marshall, her stepson and legal adversary died in June, 2006 and his widow is now representing his estate, in a battle that would appear to have ended, in tragedy, today.

Smith appeared in such films as The Hudsucker Proxy, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult in 1994 and To the Limit in 1995. She appeared in, and produced Skyscraper in 1997. In 2002, The Anna Nicole Show debuted on E! and her personal and private life became neither for her until February, 2004, when the show was cancelled. Her film career continued with Wasabi Tuna (2003), Be Cool (2005) - she appeared as herself in both films. In 2006, she starred in Illegal Aliens, which she produced. Smith has been the spokesperson for TrimSpa and PETA.

She leaves behind an infant daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, born September 7, 2006 in Nassau, Bahamas. Her paternity has been controversial and the subject of legal action by all parties involved, DNA tests have been ordered. Smith's longtime boyfriend and attorney, Howard K. Stern, who is listed as Dannielynn's father on her birth certificate, was with her at her death.