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Celebrity hair stylist Vidal Sasson has died aged 84, police have reported.
The London-born fashion icon was found at his home in Mulholland Drive in Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The man often credited as the 'founder of modern hairdressing' and called 'the Chanel of hair' died from natural causes after suffering from an 'unspecified illness' reported the Los Angeles paper.
Celebrity hairdresser Lee Stafford paid tribute to him tonight, saying: "Vidal Sassoon revolutionised the way everybody wears their hair today, he also made British hairdressing the best in the world, he was my hero."
The man who started life with what he described as "an Artful Dodger" accent cut and styled the hair of royalty, film stars and models during a career in which he revolutionised hairdressing.
He was also prominent in a campaign on behalf of Jewish ex-servicemen, and in 1982 founded the Vidal Sassoon International Centre for the Study of Anti-semitism, a non-political organisation.
Sassoon was born to Jewish parents in London on 17 January 1928. His father abandoned the family, who then moved to the East End of London with his aunts.
When his mother couldn't look after him, he was sent to an orphanage in Maida Vale where he spent six years, before being evacuated during the war to Trowbridge, in Wiltshire.
On his return, aged 17, he was apprenticed to a hairdresser. At that time, Sassoon became interested in anti-semitism, opposing "fascists preaching hate on every corner".
He subsequently joined the 43 Group, which originally comprised 43 Jewish ex-servicemen, but which grew to be 1,000-strong.
During one heated fray, he was arrested and spent the night in jail, only to be freed the next morning by a judge who told him to "be a good boy".
In 1948, he left Britain to fight in the Israeli War of Independence for the Palmach (Israeli army).
On his return, he began to work for Raymond "Mr Teasy-Weasy" Bessone, but he needed to do something about his Cockney accent.
"In those days, you couldn't get hired in the more fashionable West End with an Artful Dodger accent like mine. I went to the theatre week after week to hear English the way it was meant to be spoken."
He opened his own Bond Street salon in 1958, and his trademark five-point bob revolutionised hairdressing. Sassoon was the father of modernist style and was also a key force in the commercial direction of hair-styling, turning his craft into a multimillion-pound industry. Mary Quant called him the "Chanel of hair".
Among his many celebrated clients were the Duchess of Bedford, model Jean Shrimpton, actor Terence Stamp and Quant.
He conducted his business in the United States as well as Britain, and he was hailed in both countries as a master of his art.
See pictures from Vidal's life below:
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PA/Huffington Post UK | Posted: 09/05/2012 20:43 Updated: 09/05/2012 22:57