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12 Facts About Igor Cassini

1.

Igor Cassini was one of the journalists to write the Cholly Knickerbocker column.

2.

Igor Cassini was born Count Igor Cassini Loiewski, the younger son of Count Alexander Loiewski, a Russian diplomat, and Countess Marguerite Cassini, daughter of aristocratic Russian diplomat Arthur Cassini.

3.

Later in his career, Igor Cassini, who was known as "Ghighi", hired a young assistant from Texas named Liz Smith.

4.

On October 8,1963, Igor Cassini pleaded "nolo contendere" to criminal charges that he had been a paid agent of Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, and had failed to register as required by the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

5.

Igor Cassini paid a fine of $10,000 and lost his job with Hearst.

6.

Igor Cassini was born in Sevastopol, Russian Empire, and his elder brother, Oleg Cassini, became a fashion designer best known for dressing First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

7.

Igor Cassini Loiewski was raised in Italy, and moved to the United States in 1936 with his parents and elder brother.

8.

Igor Cassini screen tested for the role of Melanie Wilkes in the motion picture Gone with the Wind.

9.

At the time of their marriage, Igor Cassini had already been naturalized as a US citizen and they both worked for the Washington Times-Herald.

10.

Igor Cassini was previously married to the actor Helmut Dantine, by whom she had a son, Dana Wrightsman Dantine.

11.

Igor Cassini reportedly was distraught after Attorney General Robert F Kennedy indicted her husband for failing to register under the US Registration Act, as an agent of a foreign government.

12.

Igor Cassini died at his home in Manhattan, aged 86, from natural causes.