BBC4 to produce opera on Anna`s life

London: Former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith`s turbulent life and her controversial death is now the subject of an opera by BBC4. `Anna Nicole: The Opera` will dramatise the life of Smith, who married oil tycoon J Howard Marshall, more than 60 years her senior, in 1994 and then after his death the following year was drawn into a lengthy legal battle over the settlement of his estate, the Guardian reported. Smith died of a prescription drugs overdose in 2007, aged 39. The opera is a collaboration between BBC Productions, the Royal Opera House and Olivier award-winning composer Mark Anthony Turnage. Dutch actress Eva-Maria Westbroek will play the lead role in the drama the title role will be sung by Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek. The librettist is Richard Thomas and the director is Richard Jones, with Antonio Pappano on the podium. `Anna Nicole: The Opera` is due to be broadcast on BBC4 in early 2011. PTI