Fashion designer Oleg Cassini dead at 93

NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) Fashion designer Oleg Cassini, who created gowns for former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and for many Hollywood films, has died a spokeswoman said. He was 92.

Cassini's wife, Marianne, said the designer suffered a broken blood vessel in his head and died in a Long Island hospital yesterday.

Born in Paris in April 1913 to an Italian countess and a Russian diplomat, Cassini was raised in Italy and operated a fashion boutique in Rome before moving to the United States in 1936.

He began designing costumes for film studios that year and went on to dress some of Hollywood's most famous actresses, including Natalie Wood, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Tierney, who he married in 1941.

REUTERS CS VC1105