HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith, the pneumatic blond whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale -- jeans model, Playboy centrefold, widow of an octogenarian billionaire, reality-show subject, tragic mother -- died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.

She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator of the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done today.

Just five months ago, Smith's 20-year-old son died suddenly in the Bahamas, believed to be a drug-related death.

Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said a private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room. He said Smith's bodyguard administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation about an hour before she was declared dead.