Oleg Cassini, chief designer for Jacqueline Kennedy, dies

New York – Oleg Cassini, who designed the dresses that helped make Jacqueline Kennedy the most glamorous first lady in history, died Friday. He was 92.

Cassini died at a Long Island hospital, said his widow, Marianne. She said her husband was taken to the hospital after complaining of a headache last Saturday, but that he did not have a stroke.

Kennedy, only 31 when her husband was elected president, was the pinnacle of style in the White House years from 1961 to 1963. Her simple, geometric dresses in sumptuous fabrics, her pillbox hats and her elegant coiffure were copied by women from 18 to 80.

Cassini was born in 1913 in Paris to wealthy, aristocratic Russian parents who were later forced to flee their homeland after the Revolution. They settled in Italy, their fortune gone, but his mother gained some success as a dressmaker and he eventually decided to go into the fashion business, too.

Cassini came to the United States in 1936 and held various design jobs in New York before going to Hollywood and landing a job at Paramount in the early 1940s.

With the fame that came with his White House assignment came new business opportunities. He was one of the first designers to pursue licensing agreements that put his name on a large variety of products from luggage to nail polish.

Richie simply irritating

Los Angeles – Nicole Richie irritated a local family during taping of “The Simple Life” by asking an 11-year-old boy, in graphic language, if she looked attractive.

The boy was playing basketball Wednesday in the driveway of his home. Richie, pushing a baby carriage, approached and questioned the youth about how she looked, using a profane word. Two camera operators and another crew taped the exchange.

The boy’s father refused the crew’s request that he sign a release giving them the right to use the clip with his son. Instead he complained to the show’s production company.

“The Simple Life,” which features Richie and Paris Hilton thrown into normal jobs and responsibilities, has been dropped by Fox. But the show was picked up this season by E! and renamed “Simple Life 4: Till Death Do Us Part.”

The episode shot in the Castaic neighborhood of Los Angeles is scheduled to air in the spring, show publicist Chris Delhomme said.

“The girls are taking turns on their own as wife and mother in their own house,” Delhomme said. “The premise is fish out of water. These rich celebutantes in the environment they know little about. That’s the comedy.”

Real stars are in Iraq theater

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Ben Stein says the people who were snubbed on Oscar night weren’t the stars who were passed over for Academy Awards, but American troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The conservative humorist, writer and political pundit said movie stars and film industry professionals failed to highlight the sacrifices of soldiers during the awards ceremony on March 5.

“Not one prayer or moment of silence for those who have given their lives,” Stein said, speaking Thursday at a Republican Party fundraising dinner.

He said the real stars aren’t his Beverly Hills neighbors but the soldiers “wearing body armor in 130-degree heat, pulling 24-hour shifts” in the Sunni triangle, the dangerous area of armed insurgents in Iraq.

Stein, who starred in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and hosted a game show titled “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” noted that Hollywood executives have complained about falling box office revenue.

“Stop spitting in the face of Americans and maybe we will go to the movies,” he said.

Trying to channel Lennon, with pay-per-view seance

In an awe-inspiring disregard of decency, taste and respect, not to say a sublimely cynical bet on the stupidity of the public, Starcast Productions will air a pay-per-view seance from the grave of Beatle great John Lennon.

Responding to claims that the show, which says it’ll try to speak to the singer, is tasteless, producer Paul Sharratt said, “We’re making a serious attempt to do something that many, many millions of people around the world think is possible.” (What, separate a fool from his money?)

Sharratt, who does not have Yoko Ono’s blessing, says he’s not a believer in the paranormal, but claims his previous effort, the “Spirit of Diana,” had a therapeutic effect for the 500,000 folks who paid $14.95 each for its inspiration. At $9.95, the April 24 Lennon atrocity is a bargain.