ANNA NICOLE SMITH (1967-2007)

Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

Anna Nicole Smith was posing outlandishly on the red carpet in front of the Hard Rock Hotel following a Las Vegas awards show in September 2004 when fellow Playboy alum Pamela Anderson passed by.

Photographers implored Anderson to stop and pose with the nearly 6-foot-tall Smith, but the considerably shorter "Baywatch" beauty walked on, rolling her eyes at the very thought of it.

Smith, who collapsed and died Thursday at a Florida resort at age 39, personified today's celebrity - people who for the most part are famous simply for being famous.

The curvaceous bombshell, who made great tabloid fodder for years, gained superstar status in an era when reality TV and big-money network quiz shows can make practically anyone famous for 15 minutes.

In addition to being Playboy magazine's 1993 Playmate of the Year, the voluptuous Smith will be remembered primarily for marrying an 89-year-old oil tycoon 63 years her senior whose death made her a young, rich widow.

Despite not being included in his will, she initially won a $474 million court judgment. But after her husband's now-late stepson challenged that decision, she was forced to battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in a still-unresolved attempt to get her hands on a share of the fortune.

She again was in the headlines last September when, within days, she gave birth to her second child only to lose her first, 20-year-old Daniel, who died mysteriously during a visit to his mother's hospital room.

Although a model and actress, Smith's true career was being a larger-than-life figure - in more ways than one.

The Texas-born ex-stripper, who often talked in a young girl's voice and slurred her words, starred in her own over-the-top reality TV show after ballooning to about 200 pounds.

She pitched Guess jeans before she became heavy, then later peddled the TrimSpa dietary supplement after shedding about 70 pounds.

But, fat or thin, Smith knew how to grace the red carpet in bodacious gowns and size 10 designer pumps. That talent made her a regular at glittery Las Vegas openings and other events, as when Revolution Eyewear hired her as eye candy at its booth at a convention at the Sands Expo & Convention Center.

Cable TV news coverage of Smith's death Thursday afternoon rivaled the attention given to the deaths of many heads of state and even Princess Diana's fatal 1997 car crash.

While some would roll their eyes at such extensive news reports, it was the one story everyone was talking about Thursday. To the end, that was another of Anna Nicole Smith's talents.