Oleg Cassini

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Oleg Cassini : biography

April 11, 1913 – March 17, 2006

Cassini also participated in golfing events, scoring three holes in one at the Deepdale Golf Club. Cassini also participated in the ABC TV Superstars Competition.

Humanitarian

Oleg Cassini was a lover of animals and an advocate of animal welfare. He received the James Herriot Award (All Creatures Great and Small) as the Man of the Year from the Humane Society of the United States. Cassini was lauded for his work and care for animals by the Humane Society of the USA – HSUS. He created collections of manmade fashion fur, the ‘evolutionary furs’.

In 1999, Oleg was awarded the Humanitarian Award at a fashion show and Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington DC, honorary chairpersons Eunice Shriver and Senator Ted Kennedy, show hosted by Montel Williams. Among the 40 models were movie starTippi Hedren. In his own words "What we’re designing is as elegant and attractive as fur and eliminates the enormous cruelty that goes on in the killing of animals for fur."

Cassini’s autobiography states Cassini provided the suggestion to President Kennedy to take steps to organize The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the action which led to the American Indian Movement. Cassini was named an honorary member of the Chickasaw and Navajo nations in 1981 due to his fund raising and organization of gala charity events for the tribes. Cassini and his brother, Igor under the pen name of society columnist Cholly Knickerbocker, threw "The Knickerbocker Charity Balls" to raise money for the tribes. In addition to organizing events, Cassini participated on The 64,000 Dollar Question donating $32,000 in winnings to the tribal charities.

Books and television

An author of best-selling books, In My Own Fashion, A Thousand Days of Magic – Dressing Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House a visually beautiful book which is a tribute to Jacqueline Kennedy and reflects the magical period of Camelot and the "Jackie Look", and Oleg Cassini – The Wedding Dress.

Oleg Cassini appeared on hundreds of television shows worldwide in many languages and also hosted a special 13-part TV series, Conversations with Cassini, on the Arts & Entertainment Network. Some of the guest stars were: Senator Ted Kennedy, Bob Hope, Anthony Quinn, Ilie Năstase, Martina Navratilova, Bo Derek, Angie Dickinson, George Hamilton, Kenny Rogers, Alan King, and Telly Savalas.

Personal life

Before moving from Italy to the United States Cassini was engaged to debutante Donnina Toepitz, later Donnina Cicogna.

On 2 September 1938, in Elkton, Maryland, Cassini became the husband of Mary “Merry” Fahrney. The couple divorced in 1940.

Cassini married actress Gene Tierney, on 2 June 1941. Antoinette Daria was born October 15, 1943, mentally retarded, due to her mother’s bout during pregnancy with German measles. The couple separated on 20 October 1946, and entered into a property settlement agreement on 10 November 1946. Tierney won an uncontested divorce in California on 13 March 1947, and finalized the divorce one year later: 13 March 1948. It was reported by the Los Angeles Times that the couple reconciled on 19 April 1948, but did not remarry. Christina "Tina" was born on 19 November 1948. Another divorce action was filed in Los Angeles, California, on 28 February 1952, and the final decree was granted on 8 April 1953.Tierney, pp. 135–45.

After his divorce from Tierney, Cassini dated and was engaged to Grace Kelly. He and Tierney remained friends until her 1991 death, when she bequeathed one dollar to her daughter Daria and the residue to Christina. Cassini was quoted as saying, “Gene is the luckiest, unlucky girl in the world, all of her dreams came true, at a cost.”Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait, The Biography Channel 03/26/1999, interview Oleg Cassini.