Replete with doomed love affairs, failed bids for fame and an early tragic death, Anna Nicole Smith's life story is the stuff of opera.

At least that's the way it seems to Richard Thomas, the British writer and composer who also created Jerry Springer — The Opera.

Anna Nicole Smith, seen in 2006, lived in the spotlight and died tragically at 39. That's the stuff of opera, says British writer Richard Thomas.
(Associated Press)

Thomas plans to turn his talents to the tale of the former Playboy Playmate who died last year of an apparently accidental overdose.

"It's an incredible story," Thomas said, quoted in the London Independent on Friday. "It's very operatic and sad. She was quite a smart lady with the tragic flaw that she could not seem to get through life without a vat of prescription painkillers."

Thomas's Jerry Springer — The Opera made a splash at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then ran in London for a season before moving on to Carnegie Hall in New York this year. It pokes fun at the confessional American TV show.

"I love American culture," Thomas said. "Especially for opera, the stories seem to work on a grander, more epic scale. They seem more extreme — it's a blessing and a curse."

Anna Nicole Smith began life as Vickie Lynn Marshall and spent much of her life in the public spotlight after being named 1993 Playmate of the year.

She married millionaire J. Howard Marshall, 89, and after her husband died, she became embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over his estate.

Smith, who hankered after glamour and fame, had a reality TV show and brief movie career.

Her son, Daniel Smith, died at age 20, shortly after the birth of her second child, a girl. At the time, she was romantically involved with her attorney, Howard K. Stern, whom she later married.

Thomas said he plans to end the story with Smith's death on Feb. 8, 2007, in a Florida hotel room at age 39.

"For me, it ends when she does," he said.