Shelley Smith passed away at age 70: Model turned actress and rose to fame on the game show The $10,000 Pyramid and founded the Egg Donor Program

Model actress Shelley Smith died on Tuesday at the age of 70, with husband Michael Maguire and twins Nicholas and Miranda at her bedside.

Maguire was in tears when he broke the news of her death in a Facebook videodays after announcing she had gone into cardiac arrest and been hospitalized.

She began her career in fashion in the 1970s before breaking into acting, starring opposite Martin Short in the legal sitcom The Associates.

However, her greatest fame on television came when she discovered an outlet for her intelligence in the game show circuit, specifically The $10,000 Pyramid.

In the 1990s, despite her own problems having children, she devoted herself to helping other couples with fertility problems by establishing the Egg Donor Program.

Born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1952, Smith entered the fashion industry after graduating from Connecticut College in the early 1970s.

She modeled for several top magazines, including Vogue and Mademoiselle, and in 1981 landed the cover of Harper’s Bazaar.

At that time, she had embarked on a burgeoning acting career, which began in 1979 with the TV movie Mirror, Mirror, starring Janet Leigh of Psycho fame.

That same year, she successfully launched her own show – The Associates, a sitcom about a group of young lawyers at a Wall Street firm.

With James L. Brooks as the creators and Martin Short as the stars, the series was a hit with the critics but only lasted one season on ABC.

However, Smith returned and got another show of his own in 1983 – For Love And Honor, a drama thought to be inspired by An Officer And A Gentleman.

Amidst a cast that included Keenan Ivory Wayans, Smith acted as a beautiful nurse who treated members of the 88th Airborne Division.

That same decade, Smith burst onto the game show scene, winning audience hearts with shows like Body Language and Super Password.

Radiant: In 1979, the year she broke into acting, she successfully launched her own show – The Associates, a sitcom about a group of young lawyers at a Wall Street firm

Remember when: With James L. Brooks among the creators and Martin Short (left) among the stars, the series was a hit with the critics but only lasted one season on ABC

Her most enduring performance was Pyramid, which she followed from its inception as The $10,000 Pyramid through various markers until it became The $100,000 Pyramid.

Smith used the combination of her sharp mind and soothing sangfroid to become a formidable player and crowd favorite.

In his video statement about her death, her widower noted that she had been “so proud” of the money she helped her teammates win on the show.

However, her personal life was marred by years of heartbreak as she and her then-husband Reid Nathan tried to have a baby.

They welcomed a son together named Justin in 1989, but were struck by tragedy when their 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 planned vasectomy when his sister called asking for his help.

She apparently wanted to get a donor from her own family because she wanted to have a genetic connection to her children.

Triumphant: Her greatest fame on television, however, came when she discovered an outlet for her intelligence in the game show circuit, most notably The $10,000 Pyramid

Making it happen: Smith used the combination of her sharp mind and soothing sangfroid to become a formidable player and crowd favorite

Nicholas was the first of her twins to arrive, and she told them Los Angeles Times: ‘I will never forget the moment when I looked this little boy in the eye.’

When Nicholas was born, he wasn’t arguing or crying. He came straight down from heaven and he just looked right at me,” his mother said.

Her widower Michael Maguire recalled in his obituary video that “when she wanted children and was struggling herself, she went through the process and saw what was wrong with the industry.”

He added that “after her own attempts to have Nicky and Miranda, she started a business called the egg donor program, which later added the surrogacy program, which helped thousands and thousands of people have babies.”

His voice rose with emotion and 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 see.’

Smith’s last acting credit was an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1991, the year she left showbiz and started her egg donor program.

She went back to college, earned a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Antioch, and took up a new profession as a marriage and family therapist.

Despite selling the egg donor program, she continued to provide therapy over the Internet for the last few years of her life.

Maguire revealed that when she died this week, Smith was “not in pain, and she passed away peacefully with me and Nicky and Miranda, her children, holding her hand and kissing her head and telling her how much we loved her.”