Model-actress Shelley Smith died this Tuesday at the age of 70, with her husband Michael Maguire and their twins Nicholas and Miranda at her bedside.
Maguire broke down in tears as he broke the news of her death in a Facebook video, just days after it was announced she had suffered cardiac arrest and had been hospitalized.
She began her career in fashion in the 1970s before pursuing her career in acting, starring alongside Martin Short on the legal sitcom The Associates.
However, she found her greatest fame on television when she found an outlet for her intelligence in the game show scene, most notably The $10,000 Pyramid.
In the 1990s, faced with her own difficulties in having children, she dedicated herself to helping other couples with fertility problems and founded the egg donor program.
Throwback: Former model-actress Shelley Smith died this Tuesday at the age of 70; pictured in a 1979 promotional photo for her sitcom The Associates
Born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1952, Smith entered the fashion industry after graduating from Connecticut College in the early 1970s.
She was a model in various top magazines, including Vogue and Mademoiselle, and in 1981 she landed on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar.
By this time, she had embarked on a burgeoning acting career, beginning with the 1979 TV movie Mirror, Mirror, which starred Psycho’s Janet Leigh.
That same year, she successfully landed her own show – The Associates, a sitcom about a group of young lawyers at a Wall Street law firm.
Created by James L. Brooks and starring Martin Short, the series was a critical hit but only ran for one season on ABC.
Smith bounced back, however, and got another show of his own in 1983 – For Love And Honor, a drama thought to have been inspired by An Officer And A Gentleman.
In the cast, which also included Keenan Ivory Wayans, Smith played a beautiful nurse who treats members of the 88th Airborne Division.
That same decade, Smith burst onto the game show scene, capturing audiences with shows like Body Language and Super Password.
Beaming: In 1979, the year she began acting, she successfully landed her own show – The Associates, a sitcom about a group of young lawyers at a Wall Street law firm
Remember when: With James L. Brooks as its creator and Martin Short (left) as its star, the series was a critical hit but only ran for one season on ABC
Her most consistent performance was “Pyramid”, which she followed from its beginnings as “The $10,000 Pyramid” through various serves until it became “The $100,000 Pyramid”.
Smith used the combination of a sharp wit and a reassuring insouciance to become a formidable player and a crowd pleaser.
In his video explanation of her death, her widower noted that she was “so proud” of the money she helped her teammates win on the show.
However, her personal life was marred by years of heartache as she and then-husband Reid Nathan attempted to have a child.
In 1989, they gave birth to a son together named Justin, but then tragedy struck her when her newborn died at just three days old.
Finally, in March 1995, she was able to give birth to her twins, Nicholas and Miranda, after combining her own brother’s sperm with a donor’s eggs.
Smith’s brother Leigh, who had three children of his own, was just days away from a scheduled vasectomy when his sister called for help.
She apparently wanted to recruit a donor from her own family because she wanted a genetic link to her children.
Triumphant: However, she found her greatest fame on television when she found an outlet for her intelligence in the game show scene, particularly ‘The $10,000 Pyramid’
We make it happen: Smith used a combination of sharp wits and a reassuring insouciance to become a formidable player and a crowd pleaser
Nicholas was the first of her twins to be born, and she told the Los Angeles Times, “I will never forget the moment that I looked into that little boy’s eyes.”
When Nicholas was born, “he was neither excited nor cried”. “He came straight down from heaven and looked straight at me,” his mother said.
Her widower, Michael Maguire, recalled in his memorial video: “When she wanted children and was struggling with it herself, she went through the process and saw what was wrong in the industry.”
He added, “Following her own efforts to get Nicky and Miranda, she started a business, the egg donor program, which was later joined by the surrogacy program, which has helped thousands and thousands of people have children.”
In a soulful voice, he said, “It was so sweet, and she loved every time, and she got to relive her own struggles and help other people avoid those struggles.” It was beautiful. It was beautiful to look at.’
Smith’s last acting appearance was on an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1991, the year she left show business and started her egg donor program.
She returned to college, earned a Masters in Psychology from Antioch University, and began a new career as a marriage and family therapist.
In the last years of her life, she continued to offer therapies over the internet, despite having sold the egg donor program.
Maguire announced that when Smith died this week, she “was in no pain and died peacefully with me and Nicky and Miranda, her children, holding her hand, kissing her head and telling her how much we love her.” “