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© Retna/ Lois Smith with Rosie O'Donnell

By Todd Cunningham
TheWrap

Lois Smith, the New York-based publicist who helped promote the careers of Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford and Martin Scorsese among many others, died early Sunday of a brain hemorrhage after an accidental fall. She was 85.

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Smith, along with Pat Kingsley, Gerry Johnson and Pat Newcomb, formed Pickwick Public Relations in 1969, a company that would later become PMK/HBH.

Smith and her husband Eugene Smith were visiting Hebron Academy, where they was being honored for their fund-raising efforts. During the night she fell, sustaining a head injury and was taken to a local hospital.

Smith's clients also included Gina Lollobrigida, Meryl Streep, Warren Beatty, Liza Minnelli and Whitney Houston.

Smith won the Publicist Guild's Life Achievement Award in 2003. her friend Scorsese testified, "Lois stands out as a beacon in the industry," Scorsese said at the time. "What matters to her is the art as it should be."

In addition to her husband, she is survived by three children, Eric, Luke and Brooke, and four grandchildren. Her fourth son Scott died in 1985.

Photos: In Memoriam 2012

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