Vidal Sassoon
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Vidal Sassoon CBE |
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Sassoon in 2006.
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| Born |
17 January 1928 Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom |
| Died | 9 May 2012 (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Leukemia |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Hair stylist, businessman |
| Known for | Founder of Sassoon |
| Notable work | Bob cut hair style |
| Title | CBE |
| Spouse(s) | Elaine Wood (m. 1956–1958; divorced) Beverly Adams (m. 1967–1980; divorced) Jeanette Hartford-Davis (divorced) Rhonda "Ronnie" Holbrook (m. 1992–2012; his death) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Jack Sassoon Betty Bellin |
| Website | Sassoon.com |
Vidal Sassoon, CBE (17 January 1928 – 9 May 2012) was a British and American hairstylist, businessman, and philanthropist. He was noted for repopularizing a simple, close-cut geometric hair style called the Bob cut, worn by famous fashion designers like Mary Quant and film stars such as Mia Farrow, Goldie Hawn, Cameron Diaz, Nastassja Kinski and Helen Mirren.
His early life was one of extreme poverty, with seven years of his childhood spent in an orphanage. He quit school at age 14, soon holding various jobs in London during World War II. Although he hoped to become a professional football player, he became an apprentice hairdresser at the suggestion of his mother.
After developing a reputation for his innovative cuts, he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, where he opened the first chain of worldwide hairstyling salons, complemented by a line of hair-treatment products. He also co-founded Paul Mitchell Systems with Paul Mitchell, one of his former students. Mitchell said that Sassoon was "the most famous hairstylist in the history of the world."
He sold his business interests in the early 1980s to devote himself to philanthropy. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie, a documentary film about his life, was released in 2010.
Sassoon was born to Jewish parents in Hammersmith, London, and lived in Shepherd's Bush. His mother, Betty (Bellin) (1900–1997) was born in Aldgate, in the East End of London, in 1900. Although she was surrounded by grinding poverty, Sassoon writes that she nonetheless resolved to make the best of her life. Her family had emigrated to England from Ukraine in the 1880s to escape the antisemitism and pogroms then prevalent. His father, Jack Sassoon, was born in Thessaloniki, in the northern part of Greece. They met in 1925 and married in 1927. They then moved to Shepherd's Bush, which contained a community of Greek Jews. Sassoon had a younger brother, Ivor, who died from a heart attack at the age of 46.
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